626: Make Job Boards Effective for Your Career Search: Angie’s Secret to Finding Her Ideal Role

(00:00) Scott Anthony Barlow: Picture this: You're sitting at your laptop at 7:00 AM. You got your coffee in hand. You're scrolling through Indeed for the third hour this morning. You've already applied to 47 jobs this week alone, and your inbox remains painfully quiet.

(00:15) Angie Griffith: And I did do a lot of Indeed searching.

(00:18) Scott Anthony Barlow: The good news—you are not failing at job searching. The bad news? The system is failing you.

Most people treat job boards like slot machines, pull the lever enough times, and eventually, you'll hit the jackpot. But what if I told you there's a completely different way to use these platforms that actually can work so much better?

(00:37) Angie Griffith: Back in the day, you said things that the employer wanted to hear, and now I was like, “No, I'm not gonna do that.”

(00:47) Scott Anthony Barlow: In this podcast, we'll break down the story of Angie, who went from months of mindless applications to landing her actual dream job in just one week. Not by applying to more jobs, but by knowing exactly what she wanted.

(01:02) Angie Griffith: If I'm uncomfortable with something, I'm just gonna say I am uncomfortable with it, or I don't like that. I thought, “Well, if you don't hire me, you don't hire me.” And I kind of got over myself a little and just kind of decided to be me.

(01:17) Scott Anthony Barlow: There's something crucial in Angie's story about job searching that most people miss entirely. The difference between failure and success isn't about how many applications you submit, it's about whether or not you know what you're looking for in the first place.

(01:33) Angie Griffith: I've come home and I've told my husband, I said, “I feel like I'm playing.” Like it's so easy for me in these situations, and I love the clients. And I just have so much fun.

(01:47) Scott Anthony Barlow: Angie's journey to clear clarity was not straightforward. Not at all. After years of bouncing between finance roles that left her feeling disconnected and unfulfilled, she reached a breaking point.

(01:59) Angie Griffith: I knew that I could do more.

I knew that my strengths were more in a social aspect. And finance wasn't cutting it. It was boring and not social, so that's kind of where I started the journey—is just I knew that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to make a difference in someone's life.

I wanted to feel good at the end of the day, that I was helping someone.

(02:27) Scott Anthony Barlow: Okay, let me point out that this clarity did not happen overnight. For Angie, like most of us, the first challenge wasn't finding opportunities. It was overcoming the voices in her head about what work was supposed to be.

(02:40) Angie Griffith: Basically, you’d be thankful for what job you have, and you stick with it forever.

I mean, there's no such thing as job satisfaction as far as my parents were concerned. I've always grown up that you have to have a job, you have to be bringing in income. Work is work. It's not supposed to be fun and it's that kind of attitude.

So that was hard on me 'cause those are very instilled things in me.

(03:05) Scott Anthony Barlow: This is truly the first roadblock that keeps most people trapped in ineffective job search. We've been conditioned to believe that wanting fulfillment from work is selfish, or it's not realistic. It just can't happen. But here's what Angie discovered: when you stay in survival mode, just grabbing any job that pays the bills, you never actually build the clarity needed to find something that truly fits.

Angie made a decision that terrified her. Despite growing up, believing you should never leave a job without lined up, she quit a role that was just a paycheck to her, and then she dedicated herself to figuring out what she actually wanted from work.

Ironically, this is where the real work began. Angie didn't just sit around hoping clarity would strike. She started examining her past experiences with fresh eyes, what she had actually enjoyed in previous roles, beginning to break it down, where has she felt energized versus drained.

(04:01) Angie Griffith: It was nice 'cause it had the aspects of working on financial things and also talking to clients. I guess patients, in this case, patients, about their bills and setting up contracts and doing that.

And so I really enjoyed that for quite a while. I mean, I think I was there for 14 years, and then it was like, okay, I need something new.

(04:25) Scott Anthony Barlow: She also recognized clear patterns in what had frustrated her the most, like that early banking job where she felt pressured to sell products she didn't feel were right for the customers.

(04:35) Angie Griffith: And what I didn't like was the fact that no one cared about the customer. It was all about making the sale. And I had a customer come in who got put into something that was totally wrong for her, and she ended up losing money because she needed her money. And I was like, “I can't do this. I can't push sales onto somebody who doesn't know better.”

(05:02) Scott Anthony Barlow: It was through this reflection that Angie started to see themes, and she thrived when she could help people directly. She enjoyed variety. She wanted autonomy to make decisions based on what was truly the best fit for that person who was right in front of her.

This process was not quick, and it was not easy. She explored HR. She looked at engagement specialist roles. She was building relationships and networking extensively. She even went through three interviews with one organization that she thought was perfect, only to be rejected every time.

But here's where the story gets interesting. Those rejections were not failures. They were actually data. Each conversation taught Angie something new about what she did and what she didn't want. When she found this posting for employment services, she recognized it immediately.

(05:55) Angie Griffith: And I ended up finding this job on Indeed, which was very similar to the place that I wanted to work initially.

And I'm like, “Okay, I'm gonna just apply for this.” And I wrote a cover letter that really was from the heart. I thought, “Well, why not? I'm gonna just say what I feel,” and it got me an interview. I mean, pretty quickly, like I applied, and two days later, I had a phone call for an interview.

(06:28) Scott Anthony Barlow: Okay. Notice what happened here. Angie didn't apply to hundreds of jobs; she actually only had to apply to one job, but as she applied, she knew exactly what she was looking for, so that clarity allowed her to show up very differently. For example, writing a cover letter that wasn't generic, but instead deeply personal and specific.

(06:47) Angie Griffith: I basically explained that I am looking for a career to help people, and I felt that this really aligned with who I am, and that really talked from the heart on my cover letter.

I totally put all my emotions into this letter, and I do think that's what got me the interview because I made it very clear that I thought that this would be such a rewarding opportunity.

(07:21) Scott Anthony Barlow: The interviews felt completely different, too. Instead of trying to be what she thought they wanted, Angie was able to show up authentically.

(07:28) Angie Griffith: And when I went for my interview, it just felt so easy and so good, and the person who interviewed me was easy to talk to, and we talked about the backgrounds of the other job coaches, and none of them had experience doing this, and they chose people purposefully that didn't have this kind of experience or a social service degree or that type of industry because they wanted to think outside the box.

They wanted some people who would think outside the box for a position.

(08:06) Scott Anthony Barlow: Within days after that, Angie had an offer, but more importantly, she had found something that felt very differently than work.

(08:14) Angie Griffith: I've come home and I've told my husband, I said, “I feel like I'm playing.” Like it's so easy for me in these situations, and I love the clients. And I just have so much fun.

(08:28) Scott Anthony Barlow: So, how can you make job boards work for you during your job search? Well, it turns out it's not just about figuring out if you should be on LinkedIn or Indeed or Glassdoor. It's also not about crafting the perfect resume. It's about doing that internal work first.

Angie spent months getting clear on what energized her, what frustrated her, what kind of impact she wanted to make. That level of clarity and specificity transformed everything from how she wrote her cover letter to how she showed up in those interviews.

When you know what you're looking for, you can stop casting a super wide net and hoping something sticks. Instead, you can become much more precise. You recognize your ideal opportunity when you see it, and you can articulate exactly why you are a fit. By the way, I've added a link to another episode in the description and show notes specifically about building what we call an ideal career profile, and that can help you get clear on what creates fulfilling work for you. Starting with that podcast is my advice on where to begin, but here's Angie's advice after making the change.

(09:33) Angie Griffith: Don't have a negative mindset. I know for myself, I did have a negative mindset, and I don't know where all that came from exactly, but it's okay to want more. And my advice would be if you're not happy, do something about it. If you're not happy in your work or any area of your life, do something.

Just take the steps to try something. Even if they don't work, at least you tried, and you know that they don't work.

(10:06) Scott Anthony Barlow: Hey, if you're doing that whole thing that Angie was doing, where she was just like sending applications out into the void, maybe it's time to step back and ask yourself, “Do I actually specifically know what I'm looking for?” Because if you can't answer that question clearly, every job board in the world is not gonna help you.

The good news is you don't have to figure this out alone if you don't want to. If you're ready to be clear on what you want and find what fits you, I would say just email me — pause this right now — scott@happentoyourcareer.com. Put “Conversation” in the subject line. I'll connect you with somebody on my team, the right person on my team, who can help you discover your ideal career profile.

Again, it's scott@happentoyourcareer.com.

Happen To Your Career - Meaningful Work, Career Change, Career Design, & Job Search