Targeting Your Job Search

Targeting is all about having a clear idea of the kind of job you are looking for and gives your job hunt its sense of direction. The two principal aims are:

• Reducing failure
  Not being selected for interview or going for an interview and not getting the job has a discouraging and demoralising effect. The less of this you have to deal with, the better.
• Reducing time-wasting
  Looking for a job is time consuming. The time you spend on it has to be put to most effective use.

Both these aims illustrate the point that you need to be selective with your job applications. There is no value in applying for hundreds of jobs just because they happen to be advertised. All you'll do is collect a large number of rejection letters, inviting discouragement, and wasting your time, both on making the application and on attending interviews for jobs for which you are not suited or not committed to.

You must also be realistic in your expectations of what the job market can offer. If you set off in pursuit of impossible targets then, practically speaking, it is almost as bad as setting off with no targets at all. Examples of unrealistic expectations are:

1. Jobs That Don't Exist.

Many people waste their time pursuing jobs that don't exist in the real world or jobs that are in very short supply. Examples may include people who want to:

• Make a career change without taking a drop in salary.
• Work in a senior management job where they don't have to put up with any stress.
• Move away from working shifts, but don't want to take a drop in the high level of earnings they currently receive for working unsociable hours.
• Have a high powered career in advertising without having to travel far from where they live.

The conditions that the people in these examples are imposing on the jobs they're looking for effectively wipe out most, if not all, of the available market.

2. Jobs You Can't Do.

As much as we hate to admit it to ourselves, there are some jobs that quite clearly we can't do because we don't have the necessary experience, qualifications or skill set. Whilst there is no harm in applying for a job that asks for five years experience, where you only have four, the danger in constantly over-reaching is that you can end up feeling rejected and discouraged.

If your job hunting has been essentially unsuccessful, ask yourself if you could be falling into the trap of applying for jobs you can't in fact do.