Cracking the Code of Job Searching

It's not the rejections that driving you nuts.

When you face rejection, there's some form of communication involved; you are in reception of a outer world signal. But when the radio silence follows your job applications, it feels like a deafening void. When you're turned down after an interview, it's perceived as feedback from the environment – there's some information to work with. Your resume might be solid, but something went wrong during the face-to-face meeting. But what exactly? You can request mock interviews, hire an interview coach, or watch 10 hours of interview tutorials on YouTube and practice in front of a mirror. There's always something you can do.

However, what do you do when no one responds to your resume? What's the plan when the airwaves are silent?

To answer that question, you need experience. And if you've been out of active job hunting for about seven years, you've just moved to a new country, or you've never worked in a particular industry, you lack that experience. You may have other experiences, but in different circumstances, and this often leads to attribution error: we misinterpret signals from the environment.

Let me explain. When I sent out a hundred resumes and received zero responses, I told myself, "It's because I lack American experience," "It's because I have gaps in my resume," "It's because I don't have corporate experience."

All of these reasons were partially true, but the harsh reality was that my resume wasn't passing through the initial filters. There are two ways to bypass these filters, but at that time, I wasn't focused on that; I was fixated on what I couldn't change.

One method is tailoring your resume to fit these filters, but for that, you need an in-depth understanding of the specific job you're applying for. Yet, if you're a newcomer to the job market, you lack this crucial information. This brings us back to my usual advice: research the market. Yes, it's time-consuming, and you can't accomplish it in a couple of days, or even weeks. It's a challenging process. However, without taking this specific step, progress becomes virtually impossible.

The more you learn about the job market, the clearer the signals become, making it easier to navigate. Want to delve deeper? Check out my resources below.