728: Mass Applying Isn’t Getting You Hired: The Targeted Job Search Strategy and Mindset Shift That Actually Will

[00:00:00] Stephanie Drumright: I was so worried about not getting a job in time for my visa expiring that I thought, "Oh, I need to go out there and pretty much blast as many organizations as I can in order to make sure I'm optimizing the touch points with different companies."

[00:00:17] Scott Anthony Barlow: That's Stephanie Drumright. In application 91, with her work visa ticking down in London after a layoff, she did what most people do when a job search starts to feel like a race against the clock– apply to absolutely everything she could find.

[00:00:32] She'd sent 54 more applications before something specific shifted in how she was approaching the whole entire search. And then, eight days after that, she had two offers. The real question is, "What happened between application 91 and application 145?" When people get scared, I mean really scared, then we tend to do the same thing.

[00:00:51] We either freeze and do nothing, or we create a flurry of activity. In this case, in the case of job search, we apply to more. More roles, more industries, more companies, more, more, more. And it feels logical. It feels like taking action. It feels like making progress. More inputs should mean more outputs, right?

[00:01:12] But here's what the data actually tells us. The broader you cast that net, the worse that your results tend to be. Not marginally worse, significantly worse. Your brain says, "I can't afford to miss anything. Apply everywhere. Maximize all the touch points. Do all the things." And this feels very logical. It makes sense on the surface. But the problem that Stephanie faced when she was applying was this.

[00:01:37] Stephanie Drumright: It just felt like something was not quite working, and something was not quite there, and I really attribute that to this net that I was so broadly casting. And I think that as I was having conversations with people about what I wanna do, and I was really starting to think about the type of environment I wanted to be in, it was still, oh, so many possibilities.

[00:02:01] Scott Anthony Barlow: So many possibilities might sound like a good thing. But in a job search, having too many possibilities makes you unfocused. And then there's the cost most people don't see coming.

[00:02:11] Stephanie Drumright: If you get multiple interviews for the various different kinds of roles, you're having to do a lot more context switching throughout, and you're having to remind yourself around, "Oh, how would I phrase this differently by wearing this type of hat and in this type of role versus something else over here?" And it certainly tripped me up. And so I think that it really was detrimental to me in my interviewing process because of the context switching.

[00:02:39] Scott Anthony Barlow: What Stephanie called context switching has a clinical name, and that's cognitive load. Every time you shift between different roles, different industries, different versions of your professional story, your working memory has to reload.

[00:02:50] And when your cognitive load is high, performance drops, including interview performance. You're burning mental energy on recalibration that should go towards connection and clarity, confidence, building relationships. This is just one of many of the hidden costs of the volume game. Applying to everything, it just doesn't spread your effort thin; it splits your attention so many ways that you can't fully show up in any single room.

[00:03:17] Now, a lot of times, the natural assumption is that you just need to work harder or prepare more. And instead, there's a different fix. It's, reduce the load. And the way that we can reduce the load in job search is to narrow down to one clear focus. Now, this could mean one role. It could mean one type of company.

[00:03:37] It could mean one clear version of what it is that you want. For example, when you've already vetted companies and decided that they match up with what you want, then you're not context switching. Instead, you're just sharing your story and what it is that you're looking for. And then that means that every time you do it, your story's actually getting sharper.

[00:03:58] This applies to any version of job search, and it's exactly what happened for Stephanie. Nothing on her resume changed, but the more she narrowed her focus, the less she had to hold in her head, and the more of herself she could actually genuinely bring into the room, into interactions, into interviews.

[00:04:14] Stephanie Drumright: The more I practiced reviewing the job descriptions, tailoring my resume, contacting these organizations that were hiring Head of Ops, and the more I interviewed for those types of roles, the more I realized, "Oh, I am well qualified for these types of roles."

[00:04:30] Scott Anthony Barlow: Hold on. What? She didn't just start out believing she was qualified and then apply to only the things she felt qualified for? No, of course not. Instead, she started applying in a targeted way, and then the evidence built the belief. It also taught her how to stop treating her visa requirement as a limitation on what she could ask for and start treating it as one of her requirements.

[00:04:53] Stephanie Drumright: A little bit of that switch in my brain around, this not being a limitation of me getting a job, but this being one of my requirements I have to getting a job, really changed the narrative in my head, and really allowed me to go, "Cool, I can walk away without feeling annoyed or frustrated by this."

[00:05:14] Scott Anthony Barlow: Her mental state moved from "Hey, they're making an exception for me," instead, they moved to, "Hey, I have requirements, so do they. We're just trying to figure out if they match." This is a very, very different mindset to walk into, not just an interview, but any type of conversation with. I'd like to point out, though, that if you're playing the volume game, if you're just trying to apply to everything, then it's scarcity mindset in action.

[00:05:40] It's the belief that opportunities are limited, competition is overwhelming, and you have to grab anything that you're, possibly can, anything that's available before it disappears. When Stephanie got specific, it wasn't just a better strategy. What it was was a change in mindset as well. This is shifting more towards what you might have heard called an abundance mindset. The belief that the right fit exists, that she has the real value to offer, and she doesn't need every single door to open, just the right ones.

[00:06:11] More importantly, it allowed her shift to become possible. It allowed her to stop applying everywhere and start targeting and start building relationships with precision. For her, this meant she was looking at Head of Operations or very similar functions. She was looking at companies that were under 250 people. This was looking at hybrid, meaning a max of three days a week in the office, and a commute otherwise under 45 minutes.

[00:06:38] Stephanie Drumright: When I actually then started to get those interviews with those types of companies, yes, I still got plenty of rejections because of the visa stuff, but when I then started to get those interviews, a lot of those size companies were actually very willing to sponsor. And then it was, like, the massive companies, but there's a real difference there in terms of style of organization and working. That, to me, was a real validating point.

[00:07:05] Scott Anthony Barlow: That validation was because the job search was finally confirming something that she believed about herself. What was it? Well, it was that she could find work that actually fits and met all of her requirements, and this is exactly what happened.

[00:07:20] Now, if you're finding yourself in the middle of a career change, a career pivot, a job search, anything right now, and you are feeling like you should do a lot, you're starting to play the volume game in one way or another because it feels like the responsible thing to do, then I wanna say that there's probably one thing to try this week.

[00:07:40] I want you to think about your last 10 or 20 applications. I want you to, you know, think about the role types, what are the specific companies, company types, company sizes, and industries. Look at what you actually said yes to. Out of all those different opportunities, how many of those did you actually want?

[00:07:59] Like, legitimately, not just talked yourself into being excited about it, not just 'cause you're a positive person and you could probably make anything work, but how many did you actually want according to your criteria that you had developed in advance? And how many did you apply to just because you thought you should, or you could make it work, or it could be a good situation?

[00:08:18] If there's very many in that second category, then this is probably where you're losing your search. This is probably where you're losing effectiveness. This is probably where, even if you get an offer, it's unlikely to be a fit for a very long period of time. It's also where I'd encourage you to think about it differently.

[00:08:35] And if you wanna go deeper on how to get specific and how to get very, very targeted, and using that as a strategy, then I would encourage you to, you know, check out other episodes. We'll link up a couple of them in the chat. Or if you just wanna skip all of that and then get expert help on this and cut to the chase, stop trying to figure out how to do this on your own, then we can work with you to get the type of clarity that Stephanie found and develop strategies that fit that.

[00:09:02] Probably different than what Stephanie did, but what'll be applicable for your situation. We have a full process for that, and I would encourage you to just send me an email, Scott@happentoyourcareer.com. Put 'Conversation' in the subject line. I'll get you to the right member of my team, and then from there, we'll work to understand your situation and determine the very best way that we can help support you.

[00:09:23] And by the way, if you haven't heard that original episode, 612, Stephanie's full story, go back, check it out, take a listen. Now that you understand the psychology underneath it, what she actually did will land very differently. I'm Scott Anthony Barlow. This is Happen To Your Career. Adios. I'm out.