Are You Willing To Change How You’ve Always Conducted A Job Search?

I recently gave a talk on using LinkedIn to the “American Council for Blind Students” and really had to rethink how I’ve always conducted my presentations. I have led many presentations through the years and although the topic varied, the preparation process was always the same – create / update my PowerPoint slides so it followed my talk and create handouts for future reference for attendees. For this presentation I was challenged to really rethink my thought process. My PowerPoint slides would be only notes for myself and unless my handouts were in braille, they were also of no use. I also brought my bio for introduction of myself and made sure I had plenty of business cards. Again, both of no use in this situation since I did not have a braille version.

After the presentation, I reflected that I had resisted to “change my way of thinking”. I relate my resistance to jobseekers who continue to conduct their job search the same way they have always done it. Even though their search continues much longer than they had anticipated and what they are doing is not working, they refuse to adapt. The easy, safe and comfortable job search is to apply to online job board positions. Even though it is not effective, they continue down the same path and don’t consider changing their way of thinking. Did you know that only about 20% of jobs are found by online job boards and about 80% are found by who they know, their contacts? Step away from what is safe and comfortable and consider doing it another way that may be much more effective. Once you get your start in networking it gets easier! More on ‘Effective Networking’ in a future blog!