So you’re looking for a job? Well, good for you. It’s always good to strive toward improving your career and income.
If you’re looking for the best job search strategy, you’ve come to the right place. I know it can be difficult when it seems like every website online claims to have the best method.
I’m going to share the job search strategy I used to land a position at one of the biggest companies in the world and double my salary.
Why does this method work? Because it’s based on common sense, deductive reasoning, and, most importantly, spiritual principles.
Forget everything you know about how the job market works and keep an open mind to the content you’re about to read. Let’s go!
Why Most Job Search Strategies Fail
Most job search strategies fail because of one thing and one thing only: the illusion of the collective ego.
In other words, you are looking in the wrong place because you listen to the mainstream advice of those who are also looking in the wrong place.
The average person is run by their ego or animal drive. This drive is the one thing that is sabotaging the results you want in life. It advises you in the complete opposite direction of the spirit.
The spirit wants you to succeed. In fact, the spirit has been trying to tell you with common sense your whole life which direction to go. Success has always been easier than it seems; we just ignore it because the ego is a louder, more persistent voice in your head that tells you the very things you shouldn’t do.
So if we understand this, then we can see why those trapped in their ego can speak volumes in society. If the truth were apparent, we’d all be billionaires at this point.
Common Things The Ego Tells Us To Do When Finding Our Dream Job
Tell me, do these tactics and strategies sound familiar when you have been job searching?
- “It’s all about who you know. If you want the perfect job, find people who work for that company and reach out to them for a referral.”
- “You have to network! Go to career fairs and meet a lot of people.”
- “Job boards and online listings are where you find who’s hiring.”
- “Go in and give them your resume; it shows how much you want it.”
- “Quality over quantity! Job searching is about tailoring your resume to the role; it’s not just about sending a ton of applications.”
- “Reach out to recruiters.”
- “Get more certifications and degrees, then you’ll land a 6-figure, high-position job.”
- “You need a cover letter!”
- “Make sure your online profile and social media explain all your experience.”
- “List what you did in your previous roles on your resume.”
Are you getting overwhelmed yet by all the ego noise? I sure am. It’s no wonder people get lost in the job search game.
Before we dive into the best job search strategy, I want to share how I discovered it by really understanding that this game is played on a spiritual level and not on the physical level.
How I Landed The Job I Needed
A job is a job. It may or may not fulfill you depending on what you feel is most important in life. For me, a job is a means to support my family, give me flexibility and freedom to navigate my life more efficiently, and provide peace of mind knowing I’m supported to continue striving for more important goals in my life.
Before I landed the job I needed, I was at a dead-end job with absolutely zero upward mobility. My wife and I had a newborn baby and were living in an apartment, and we realized that if I didn’t improve in my career, we couldn’t afford a house nor support a bigger family. In other words, it was crunch time for me.
I struggled day after day following conventional advice: applying on job boards, making this long resume with every single one of my tasks on it, working to get several certifications, reaching out to connections and recruiters for referrals, and applying to hundreds of jobs on online job boards. I felt like a dog chasing its tail.
At this point, I was so burnt out. I had to take a break from it all. During this break, I prayed and asked God/Higher Power for the wisdom to figure out what I was missing.
The answer came to me gradually. I began to really discern what the truth was to all of this. The truth was that I must be following the wrong advice if I saw the same thing over and over again on the internet.
I started tracking what worked and what didn’t work so that I could know the truth.
I tracked all the conventional advice and tested all the strategies, and it turned out those were the things producing very little results. The time wasted reaching out to recruiters and connections and it feeling like I was just begging, the time wasted on job boards the masses were already saturating with applications, and the time wasted trying to improve my credibility for my resume by getting more certifications.
(Sidenote: Whatever field you are in, it is important to have a baseline standard credential of whatever it is you are trying to do. If a job requires a bachelor’s degree, get one. If you need X amount of years of prior experience, make sure you have that. What I’m talking about here, that is typically overkill, is the extra credibility you think you need to gain a job when you’ve already met the requirements.)
The things that no one was doing or that conventional mainstream advice advised against were actually the things I found worked, and they worked FAST!
By the time I figured out the best job search strategy, I landed the job at one of the biggest companies in the world in just 3 months. Of those 3 months, it only took 1 month to actually apply.
So if you stick to these principles, realize that it’s not a matter of IF you’ll get the job; it’s a matter of WHEN. Without further ado, here is the best job search strategy that I have discovered.
What Is The Best Job Search Strategy?
1) Know What You Want And Who You Are
This point cannot be overstated. Before you even begin job searching, you need to know what your goals are.
You can start by simply asking the questions:
- What do I want?
- Why do I want that?
- Who am I?
- What type of person am I?
- What type of job am I looking for and why?
- How much money do I want to make?
- How do I want this job to fit in with my lifestyle?
- What industries do I want to go into?
Etc. Etc…. There’s a whole host of questions you can ask yourself before you even begin searching. The reason for this is so you don’t waste your time and efforts on things you don’t truly care about.
I’ve been at plenty of jobs that didn’t feel right at all because I didn’t know what I wanted. I ended up quitting each one within a matter of weeks because I was so unhappy.
Discover who you are and what you want first, then you can begin the job search. I suggest writing it all down so you can look back and really ingrain your intention.
2) Don’t Waste Your Time On Low ROI Efforts
When job searching, or any endeavor really, the key is to simplify processes rather than overcomplicate them. When you add more work, tasks, or processes that don’t increase return on investment, what you are doing is making things less efficient and your end goal gets farther and farther out of reach.
Believe me, even some of the biggest companies fail at this. They keep thinking they need to do more and more, improve, improve, when in reality, improving is based more on stripping away and leaving only high ROI processes.
Find the process or task that is going to give you the highest possible return; in this case, that would be getting applications out. Why? Because without getting applications out, you don’t exist in the job market.
By stripping away all the tasks that produce little to no results, you clear up a big chunk of time during your day, which 1) makes your day more enjoyable and 2) gives you more time to focus on the things that produce results.
When I job searched, all my applications were already sent out by noon. I was left with the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted with the peace of mind knowing I progressed in finding a job.
3) Brag about your achievements on your resume
JT, did you just say brag? Yes! I am giving you full permission to show off who you are and what you’re capable of to your future employers.
This is one of the easiest things you can do to your resume that will take it from just being lost in the mix of hundreds of other resumes to being placed at the top of the stack and getting more hiring managers’ eyeballs on it.
The average resume just lists tasks they did at their previous jobs. How boring is that? Why should a company hire someone who isn’t going to produce more money for the company?
Listing achievements is the one thing that tells an employer: “I’m good at what I do and I can help the company win.” That’s what hiring managers want to see—those who are above average.
Once you’ve met baseline requirements like getting a bachelor’s degree, a couple of certifications or licenses, creative pursuits, and hard/soft skills, etc., you can make the bullet points of your previous experience highlight big things that you accomplished.
The beauty of it is that it is all up to you what you decide is an accomplishment, as long as you can explain it, quantify it, and show how it helped the company.
Sidenote: Forget about cover letters unless an employer asks for them. These are the biggest waste of time, and most companies do not even look at them. Most do not even ask for them. If you attach one to every job without being asked, you may be hurting your chances by volunteering information that was not requested. Have one ready to go, but don’t stress about sending it to every employer. This will save you time and headaches.
4) Have a Bare Minimum Online Presence
Just like I mentioned about cover letters, your online presence can hurt you more than help you.
By having yourself on public display for the world to see, you are giving employers a reason to reject you rather than accept you. If they can’t find anything about you online, they won’t care and will only place judgment on what they do know about you, which is solely your application and resume.
But JT! Everyone has social media these days! I know, I know, and that’s why I would advise you to either clean it up, put your profile on private, or delete it entirely.
If you must have one, like on job networking sites, keep it generic and bare bones. List your previous roles, but don’t go into too much detail—that’s what your resume is for. Keep it simple and professional so that the hiring managers judge you based on your application and resume and not by your online presence.
5) Go Directly To The Source
Can’t tell you how many people get this wrong. Most people are going to online job boards as if that is going to give you what you want. It’s like going to the local watering hole that dried up because everyone is drinking from it.
You have to find the watering hole that everyone is missing or avoiding. That would be the company’s website.
Why is this untapped? Because people are lazy. They don’t want to have to do multiple clicks or searches to find a company, then go to the career page, then apply to a job that might be there. They all want job listings all in one place that they can aimlessly keep scrolling through.
By going directly to a company’s website, you may be getting the hiring manager’s eyes on your resume and application more than if you were to go through a job board. (I have no way to prove this, but my experience has been that I received more interview requests from applying directly on the site than applying on job boards, and it wasn’t even close).
It could also be the case that they see those applying directly on the site as serious candidates because they go out of their way to apply on the site.
This method has produced more interview requests for me than job boards, reaching out to connections and recruiters, trying to get referrals, going to job fairs, etc.
The best thing you can do is put together a big list of companies you want to work for, go to their site, see what roles you are qualified for, and apply.
6) Follow the Money
Ask yourself, who has a higher chance of hiring you: a company worth 20 billion or a company worth 500k? The answer is the rich one that can afford to pay you.
Not only can they afford to pay you, but they constantly have job openings because they are constantly growing, and they will give you amazing benefits.
The wealthiest companies are the easiest companies to get a job at. (Caveat: Only if you’ve met baseline requirements and brag about your achievements).
How do I know this? I applied to a bunch of no-name companies and the biggest companies in the world, and do you know which ones reached out to interview me the most? The biggest companies in the world.
I did nothing special. I have an average college degree and some certifications to show I’m trying, and some hard/soft skills on my resume. Yet, I had big companies reaching out left and right.
It proved to me that those who have a hard time getting roles at these companies have that trouble because they don’t even try. They think it’s hard or that they need to go to some prestigious college for them to hire you. Wrong! They just want to see you’re taking your job search and career seriously.
People often reject themselves in the job search rather than let the company decide if you’re worth it or not. If I were to ever go back into the job market, I would only aim for the biggest companies. Not because they pay the most, but because they’re the easiest to get.
7) It is a numbers game
After you’ve decided to apply to big companies and go directly to their career pages on their websites, you must now understand this truth: IT IS A NUMBERS GAME!
Isn’t that simple? It doesn’t take remarkable talent to get an interview; it takes an extreme number of applications. Once you have a winning resume, you just have to get it out there.
If you are applying to big companies too, a lot of the time they will have 4-6 roles that you can apply to.
Every time I got a job, I gave myself a rule to get out at least 20 applications a day. Following my job search strategy, I was done in a couple of hours because each company had 3-4 roles I could apply to. Hell, even if I was just slightly interested, I still applied to a role.
Once I got out 20 applications, I just kept going because it was so easy. In two weeks’ time I had interview after interview scheduled with big companies.
It’s important to note that even if you are getting interviews, do not skip days of applying. Send out 20+ applications a day every single day, and you will have a constant flow of potential employers reaching out. And when you have those options, your confidence will be sky high during your interviews.
Related Reading: Taking Imperfect Action Is Better Than Inaction
8) Be Open To Opportunities
Going back to my first point of knowing yourself and what you want, there is a thing about being too picky.
If you are unemployed and in desperate need of a job or money, you can’t afford to be picky. At that point, almost anything will provide a better life than being unemployed.
There is a fine line between having standards but also remaining open to new things or opportunities.
Now, I’m a firm believer that a job will never give you the creative freedom that having your own business will, and it’s for that reason that when I was employed, I knew a job was just a means to provide income and take care of my family. I chose the role that could provide for my needs at the time.
Here’s the thing, though: when you are open to opportunity, it will lead you to more opportunities later, like promotions or higher-paying careers. It’s once you’ve built that experience that you can be more picky about what you want so you can fit your job into the lifestyle you are trying to live.
Have your non-negotiables of jobs you absolutely will not do, but try to find the balance between something that you may not like but where the pay and benefits far outweigh what you could imagine. You may have to move, work longer hours, or do things that aren’t necessarily fulfilling. But treat it like a means to an end. Not everyone is built to be an executive at a company.
I would also advise that if you are like me and don’t see yourself as dedicating your life to your employer, then starting a business may be the thing you need to make you feel sane when working a crappy job. At least you know you have that, and the job is just for stability, and at some point, you are going to walk away from it.
Keep striving upwards with integrity, and you won’t be disappointed.
9) Do Not Give Up, Just Persist
After you’ve implemented all these strategies, the last and final thing that you should know is to never give up.
I know this sounds cliché, but there is a reason why you see this advice in movies and self-help communities.
I wanted to test this spiritual principle to see for myself. Before I got hired at this big company, I actually got denied from the first role I interviewed for.
I made it to the final round interview, and a few days later, I was told by the hiring manager I didn’t get it. In that moment, it dawned on me, “Well, I said I wanted to work for this company, and so I’m going to test to see if persisting and not giving up actually works.”
I found another role the following month on the company’s career page, and boom! I ended up landing that role. The hiring manager told me that it was my sheer persistence and willingness to want to work for the company that really stood out.
This advice not only applies to interviews but also to anywhere in the job search process. It even applies to any aspect of life.
Once you have all the other job search preparation in check, just keep persisting, and it’s only a matter of time before you land your next role.
The Job Search Is an Inner Game First, an Outer Game Second
At the end of the day, this entire job search strategy boils down to one truth: the job search is won internally before it ever shows results externally.
You’ve likely experienced this yourself. After enough rejected applications or failed interviews, it’s easy to start questioning your competency or experience.
The issue isn’t that you are insufficient; it’s that you begin to believe you are. And once that belief sets in, your actions follow it.
Most people fail not because they aren’t qualified, smart, or capable, but because they allow fear and collective ego noise to steer them in the wrong direction.
This isn’t about luck. It’s not about gaming the system. It’s about aligning with common sense, truth, and effort applied in the right direction.
Do that long enough, and the job will come. Not if. When.