The 7 Mistakes Job Seekers Make

When you've decided it's time to get a new job, maximizing your time, energy, and focus is critical to ensuring you can navigate the journey. In our research interviewing over 1,000 job seekers, we've distilled the most common mistakes people make when they officially get started. Avoiding these not only helps you stay on track, it maximizes your odds of landing something that fundamentally will bring you progress - what we at Vocation are all about.

1. Not understanding what progress looks like for YOU

It's easy to look at your resume and think very linearly about what you should do next, or interview for roles that others in your situation typically move into. But rather than follow a standard path, you need to stop and reflect on what you actually want. Maybe you don't want to manage people anymore? Maybe you want to enter a new industry to gain new experiences, even if it makes you a 'nontraditional' candidate? Without defining progress, you'll be applying endlessly to roles that won't fundamentally help you get to where you truly want to go.

2. Focusing on what you'll be instead of what you'll do

Job titles come with a certain gravitas, but what we do all day actually determines how happy and successful we feel. Many job seekers are chasing titles, assuming that something sexy will bring them fulfillment, respect, and career growth. But if the daily tasks in that job fundamentally drain you, you will not be performing in a way that earns you what you're seeking. Instead, ask people with jobs you are seeking very carefully about what they do each day. If it sounds exactly like what you want to be doing, then you're on to something!

3. Confusing assets with strengths

Depending on where you are in your career journey, you may have developed and self-identified with very clear strengths and hope to land a new job that leverages them. But your career doesn't have to be confined solely by your strengths, many of which may be inherent. Instead, remember that you can develop new skills, new knowledge, and gain new experiences that will serve as assets in your career journey later on. Assets can be developed and honed over time.

4. Trying to fit yourself to your job description

Despite what sounds like very reasonable advice to modify your resume to match a job description, the underlying problem with that approach is that you're force-fitting your own narrative to match one that is a very poor reflection of what the actual job entails. HR Departments and hiring managers put together massive lists of qualities, experiences, and credentials in a job description, effectively hoping to land a unicorn that has all of those traits. The reality is that nobody does, and AI is making everyone's application fit the same keywords anyway. Instead, focus on the progress you're seeking, not whether you do or don't fit the mythical archetype a job posting is looking fir.

5. Rushing to send resumes before evaluating tradeoffs

The average job seeker now applies to more than 100 jobs before landing a role. These can feel dauntless, but the reality is that if you stop and think critically about the roles you are applying for, you'll soon realize that the vast majority of roles aren't even good fits to begin with once you understand the tradeoffs you'd be making to land that job. A sacrifice of your time, energy, or professional goals is not worth the rush of applying to one more job, hoping you are increasing your chances of getting hired.

6. Not crafting a career story

You know you're going to get asked "Why are you interested in working for X"? in your first interview. Do you really have an answer? Or are you going to reproduce the same talking points as every other candidate? To maximize your chances of success, you need to know your story. What happened that caused you to apply for this role? What about the role matches your quest for progress, your career themes, or your energy drivers and skills? We recommend following a Pixar story spine to clarify what you're really after, and our process helps you do exactly that.

7. Believing that job switching is solitary

We all know that it's 'who you know', but so many job seekers don't act accordingly. Up to 85% of jobs are secured via one's network, a number that may increase with the rise of AI hiring tools mass-applying on people's behalf. Once you have a sense for what you're looking for, activate your network! Connect with individuals who work at firms you're eyeing, lean on alumni databases, and connect directly with hiring managers to learn more.