Feeling Overwhelmed in Your Job Search? Use the Pareto Principle to Focus Your Efforts

Feeling Overwhelmed in Your Job Search? Use the Pareto Principle to Focus Your Efforts

Most business students have probably heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule. Named after 19^th century Italian Economist, Vilfredo Pareto, this principle states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Vilfredo noticed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the citizens (“Pareto Principle”, n.d.). As the Pareto Principle relates to business, you may have heard the rule of thumb that 80% of sales, come from 20% of clients. As I reflected further on this principle, I realized that it is applicable to your career search as well!

There are many ways to look for employment, and technology has both aided and hindered our efforts. Allow me to explain. Today, there are hundreds, if not thousands of websites to search for available career opportunities. Wow, isn’t that convenient! Is it that simple, that all we have to do is sit at home in front of the computer to find the opportunity of our dreams? The answer is NO!!! The truth is that there are many applicants applying for employment on these sites, so while I would make sure to apply on these websites, this is NOT where you should be spending the bulk of your time! Since it requires little effort, applying on job search websites is the path of least resistance, but be aware that as a result, you may not be rewarded for your time spent. The exception to limiting your time applying online would pertain to campus recruiting portals such as FoxNet in which recruiters are specifically looking to hire talent from your university. In this case, there is a higher percentage of getting an interview than applying on a random career website.

Let’s get back to the Pareto Principle as it relates to your career search. So if I am advocating that you should avoid spending the bulk of your time with “easier” search methods, such as sitting home and applying on job search websites, where should you be spending your time? What are the 20% of job search methods you could use that will yield 80% of the results? Now before I unveil the answer, I want to warn you not to treat the 80%-20% quite so literally. I also want to let you know that acting on the 20% will take some effort and force you out of your comfort zone. I hope I haven’t been giving you the impression that this was going to be easy. My objective is to focus you on taking those actions most likely to get you the results you crave…a job!

You may have heard the expression, “It’s not what you know, but who you know” which brings me to the importance of networking--precisely where you should be spending most of your time. Did you know that networking accounts for approximately 70% of the way that people find employment? The reason is that organizations like hiring people they know or someone referred by someone they trust. A January, 2013 New York Times article entitled, “In Hiring, a Friend in Need Is a Prospect, Indeed” underscores the importance of networking, explaining how more big companies are hiring employee referrals.

If networking is where you should spend the bulk of your time, where do you begin? We can also apply the 80-20 rule to the concept of networking, as there are a multitude of ways and places to network. In other words, when networking, try to focus as much as possible. A good starting place is to get some clarity on your career goals. Which industry and companies are you targeting? What are the titles of the entry-level positions that interest you? Next, reach out to friends, family and existing contacts to inform them of your career aspirations. In addition, to employment opportunities, be clear that you are very interested in connecting with professionals for informational interviews with the purpose of expanding your network base to learn more about your chosen industry and potential future role. Informational interviews are great ways to make contacts to learn about your chosen field and also a great way to expand your network with industry professionals. Arranging for an informational interview with someone in a position you hope to be in or at a managerial or director level could be advantageous. Click the following link to learn more about informational interviews. With networking, quality is better that quantity so developing a few strategic relationships is better than knowing many people on a surface level. Other effective ways to network are by becoming active within a professional or student professional organization or by interning or volunteering at an organization of interest. There are many other places to network, all of which could be effective, but you are maximizing your time by keeping focused and implementing these suggestions.

If most people know the merits of networking, why do few people still fail to do it effectively? Why do people spend countless hours searching job sites and applying for jobs when their time would be better spent trying to develop strategic contacts? I suspect the reason is that most people prefer to take the path of least resistance rather that expanding outside of their comfort zone. The choice is yours as to which type of job seeker you will become. When you think about what you should be doing to land the opportunity of your dreams with your limited time, think about the Pareto Principle to help to guide you.

References

Pareto principle. (2014, March 1). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:23, March 1, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pareto_principle&oldid=599482684