Are You Being Lazy in Your Job Search?

Eight signs that your slothful behavior is hurting your hunt.

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Alison Green


1. You only apply to jobs you find online. While plenty of people get hired by responding to online job postings, if that's all you use, you'll be up against an enormous amount of competition. Your odds of getting interviews will go up dramatically if you use your network to mine for personal connections to jobs you want.



4. You don't prep your references before giving them out. It's courteous to let your references know when they should be expecting a call about you. Plus, by touching base with them before they're contacted, you can tell them what you'd most like them to emphasize about you for any given job.


6. You're not helping others. One of the best ways to build and reinforce your network is to help the people who are in it—by connecting them with potential opportunities, sending them articles they might find interesting, or introducing them to contacts with similar interests. Not only is this a kind thing to do, but it means that your network is much more likely to be there for you when you'd like to ask for something yourself.


8. You're only interested in a job, not in finding the right job. Caring only about getting a job offer and not thinking critically about how happy you'll be once you're in the job is a good way to ensure that you end up with a job that makes you miserable. Take the time to look for jobs—and managers and office cultures— that are truly right for you and screen out the ones that aren't.
