How to be more persistent in your job search

Should you be more persistent in your job search? Should you be more persistent in your career? Let’s talk about persistence!

What does persistence mean?

From dictionary.com:

to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action, or the like, especially in spite of opposition, remonstrance, etc.

How I view persistence

Many people are all too willing to give up. In another post, I talked about not throwing in the towel. For me, I have to exercise persistence regularly. I do most of my own website maintenance and creation. I have taught myself basic code to help with fine tuning areas of my website. Sometimes it is harder to get something to work than other times.

3 ways to be more persistent in your job search

1. Identify the hiring decision maker and follow-up. Many people mistakenly think that decisions are made by HR only. In many cases, the decision maker is an executive, a director, or a department head. If you only make contact with HR, you will lose out. Use LinkedIn to gain more information on the decision maker for a specific area. If you can identify that decision maker, you can communicate directly to let them know your application was sent and you want them to know you are the right candidate for the job. When you are persistent in the job search, it will pay off.

2. Follow up after the interview with a thank you.  Many hiring managers say that those people who sent thank yous are more likely to be hired than the ones who skip this important step. Make sure that you provide feedback on the interview. This is another way to be more persistent in your job search. With a recent client who later landed, I asked him to provide answers to these questions.

• What impressed you about the company?
• Did you diagnosis a problem or area that you could be of help to them?
• Is there a new process that impressed you?
• Is there a new product that wowed you?
• Did you tell them a story that you would like to expand on?
• Are there deadlines for hiring that you want to comment on?
• Did the team impress you?

3. Say thank you for the No. If you have never heard of this concept, it works. You tell the company that you understand that you were not chosen for the role but you want to say thank you for their consideration. Why?

1. The first candidate may bow out. The company offered the job to someone else and had an initial yes but things change. A hard to sell house, a reluctant spouse, or another preferred offer could change their yes into a no and the company will be looking again.
2. The person hired may not work out. You never know when things can change. A company hires someone with the perfect credentials but once on the job, things change. The candidate talked a better talk than you did in the interview, but he didn’t deliver.
3. You may make such a great impression that they hire you for another position that needs similar attributes but was not the one you interviewed for originally.
4. You make such a great impression that they create a position for you to fill.

You can find more details on Thank you for the No in this post.

If you practice persistence in your job search, you are more likely to reach your goals.

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