Are you in a Digital Coma?
Published on May 7, 2014 at 8:15 pm
Watch the TED Talk video below.
“The average 18-29 year old sends and receives 110 texts a day and spends 7.5 hours in front of a screen.” More words of wisdom from Gen Y Career Consultant, Crystal Kadakia of CareerIndulgence.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fgzoOilf6w
If you are looking for a job, a digital coma will impede your progress. For example, many people featured on the news state they routinely apply for 20-40 jobs a day. This makes for a compelling sound bite but does little to shed light on effective job searches.
When I ask clients to talk to me about what they’re doing to find jobs, they admit that their searches are almost entirely virtual. I reply, “Pressing the ‘APPLY’ button is no way to find your next job!” The likelihood of getting a meaningful response because you pressed the “APPLY” button is akin to winning the lottery. Chances are slim. There are many reasons for this but the most compelling is simple if you follow the money. Internet job advertising is a bargain. Companies sign monthly and/or annual contracts with the major job boards. In most cases, Companies post multiple jobs for months and the contracted rate remains the same. In short, it is very inexpensive to advertise on an Internet Job Board. The aim of is to create mega data bases made of millions of resumes and they do this exceedingly well. When a job searcher presses “APPLY” their resume falls into a virtual black hole in cyberspace comprised of a sea of resumes.
Connecting to others is a far more effective strategy. Tell the people you know that you are looking for a job. Cast a wide net. Tell many people, especially the everyday people in your life like the produce manager, your barber, and your pastor or Rabbi. These people are likely to know someone, who knows someone, who works where there are job openings. It’s very likely that your next boss is currently the friend of a friend. So try this. Ask many of the people you know how they got their first job or current job. The majority will tell you that a friend, or the friend of a friend played a key role in helping them snag that job.
Please wake up from your Digital Coma and connect to real people.
This post was written by Lisa Jacobson
Categorized in: General, job search
1 Comment
Thanks Lisa – another great video to watch created by a Millennial is Look Up on Youtube. It tells the story of a couple who never would have met had they been stuck looking down at their phones as we often do when walking. Connection, meeting someone’s eyes, is becoming a lost art. If you need help getting out of your digital coma, feel free to connect with me.