Jobseekers' Bad Habits in the Pull Economy

Jobseekers, are you behind the times?

The Digital Age has launched us into the Pull Economy – where others, like hiring managers, potential customers, even dates – come to us. What a radical difference, a huge paradigm shift, from its Push Economy predecessor, which relied on heavy proactive promotion – whether with advertising, lead generation or finding a new position.

So are you job hunting accordingly?

Here are the top five indicators you may still be (mistakenly, ruinously) operating in ways that won’t have an impact in the Pull Economy:

Trusting the machine. Simply putting your application in with the company, via its online system, and calling it good is a rookie mistake. Come on, you’re so much better than that. You may have to put in a formal application at some point but relying on the system is like pitching a penny into a black hole and hoping to find it again. It’s just never gonna happen.

Falling short on networking. People can be very, very timid with networking. Maybe we’ll let people we know personally in on the fact we’re looking for a new gig. But that’s as far as many people get. Why? Who knows – perhaps it’s fear that a current employer will find out or shame that you’re currently out of work. Whatever the reason is, get over it. Remember: most of us love to feel like it’s within our power to do a good turn for someone else. And it largely IS in our power to help great people get connected, which will ultimately benefit you because an estimated 70 percent of jobs are never posted. That means people are the only conduits to these invisible positions.

Never auditing yourself. Did you know that 83 percent of recruiters cop to using online search engines to find information about you? There are just so many ways for this to go wrong for you. So. Many. Maybe you have the same name as someone else, whose information ranks higher than yours. Perhaps that person is a criminal or a deadbeat. It’s entirely possible a very outdated piece of information is showing up as number one in your search results. Maybe you’re tagged in some less-than-flattering photos that pop up, like a demented clown, in a Google Images search. Whatever it is, ignorance is far from bliss on the Internet.

Being stupidly social. More than 90 percent of recruiters and hiring managers have visited a potential candidate’s social media sites, a recent study revealed. Let’s be clear: it IS smart to be on social media as a jobseeker – unless you’re stupid about it. Facebook posts with off-color jokes, photos of wild partying, tweets that include misspellings, blog posts that are profane or even merely just inane, musings on politics or religion…they all fuse together into one, not necessarily ideal, picture. And while it’s completely, utterly human to think, “It can’t happen to me,” it can (and will).

Putting all your eggs in one basket. The best job candidates know that on the whole, finding the perfect position in the Pull Economy requires executing on multiple fronts. So if you’re only putting your resume up on Monster.com or cold-calling companies, think again. You want to flank this challenge and come at it head-on. This is war, baby, and you should take no prisoners.

Next week, I’ll share the Top Five must-dos are for jobseekers in a Pull Economy. For now, tell me – what’s your experience been searching for a job? Share your “never-dos” in the comments below.