E. 1 - 5 Steps to a Better Job Search
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[00:00:08] Melissa Vining: If you're a high performer looking to grow and make an impact, but feeling stuck, underappreciated, and burned out at work, you're in the right place. I'm Melissa Vining and this is the Job Search for High Performing Misfits podcast. I help high performers leave draining jobs behind, reclaim their careers and land roles and organizations where they can thrive. Tune in for tips, insights, and inspiration for your journey to fulfilling work that fits you.
[00:00:34] Hello and welcome to the job search for High Performing Misfits podcast. My name is Melissa Vining. I am a certified career coach and certified resume writer. And today on the podcast I'm going to introduce you to my unique approach to the job search process. So this is going to be the basis for everything that you are going to hear on this podcast moving forward.
[00:00:58] I have been a career coach for a little over three years now. And I talk to job seekers every day. The story is always kind of the same. They're spending all of their time endlessly scrolling through job boards. They're sending out hundreds of applications, and they're not getting responses. So this is what I call a reactive job search. You are just responding or reacting to whatever it is that you come across.
[00:01:26] Now, there are a lot of different reasons why this is not effective. And a lot of different reasons why people don't see results when they use this reactionary method. So some of this is external, it's the job market, the competition, the rise of AI, a lot of these things that you cannot control as a job seeker and some of it is also dependent on your specific situation. So this is where I'm thinking about where you are in your career, your background and qualifications, what kind of change or pivot in your career you're trying to make.
[00:02:04] So all of that said, there are some commonalities that I see again and again, and I just want to highlight two of those in today's episode.
[00:02:14] So the first is when you are not clear about who you are and what you want. And when I say this, your immediate reaction might be, that doesn't apply to me. I am clear about who I am and what I want. But just let me explain this for a minute. I am going to break this down into two categories of people that I usually see.
[00:02:35] The first is the group that really doesn't have a clue. They come in with a sense of urgency. Either they've been let go from their job or they're in a toxic situation and they need to get out immediately. And they say, I just need a job. It could be any job. So on face value, you might think that makes sense. The more flexible and open I am, the more opportunities there are, the more likely it is that I can find something.
[00:03:03] However, this goes against the number one rule in the job search. When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. Those of you who are familiar in any way with marketing, it's the same rule in marketing. When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. So if you are not clear and specific about who you are and what you want, employers will not be able to see and understand your value, and they will reject your applications again and again. So that's the first group.
[00:03:35] The second group that I usually see are people who do have a surface level idea. So maybe they have a list of job titles or industries that they're targeting. When I ask them about their skills and strengths, they can give me a general overview of what that is for them. Okay, so this is a good start, but for almost every person in this group, they can dig even deeper into this. So it's not just about the job titles or the industries, but it's actually having a short list of target employers. It's having a description of the kinds of jobs you want to be doing every day at work. A description of the kind of environment that you thrive in. It's having specifics about things like how far you're willing to commute, how much money you're willing to make, and it's not just about your skills and what you do either or what you've done in previous jobs.
[00:04:32] It's also, and more importantly, about how and why you do what you do. So I'm talking about your unique traits that help you achieve success. So for example. For me, it's not just that I design great content for job seekers, it's about how I approach that process. I personally love learning, so I'm naturally going to go out and learn everything I can about a specific topic. I also love analyzing information and distilling big picture goals into actionable systems. So what I do is kind of naturally pull out the most important pieces of information and turn it into a super straightforward roadmap. So that's what I talk about when I'm talking about the how. How do I achieve success in my career? How is it that I approach my work? How do I do what I do? The next part is your why. So why does this work matter to you? What draws you to it if you do not have a compelling why, you're not ready to apply for jobs.
[00:05:43] The second overarching reason why this reactionary job search approach does not work is that it's simply outdated. Today in 2025, the job market is more competitive than ever. So you cannot play the apply and wait game. You have to do something different to stand out. Most of the time, that means you are going to rely on your network.
[00:06:09] People get really freaked out about this idea because networking has such a bad reputation. But this is not about going around and asking people for a job. It's really about proactively building relationships with people at your target employers. So when it comes time to apply. You already have your foot in the door. They already know you. They already like you, and it feels low risk to them. So of course, in order to do this effectively, you have to have done the first step that I talked about, which is to really clarify who you are and what you want, and clarify those specific details and then apply it to, these are the types of employers I want to work for. Not only that, but this is a list of my target employers, so I can then go and be really intentional about networking within those spaces.
[00:07:08] Also, second part of this, you have to be ready to effectively tell the story that I talked about earlier. Your narrative cannot just be about what you do, or what you've done in the past, because that is so generic, and it causes you to blend in with everyone else. And especially today when more and more people are having AI write their job search materials, all it says is, I have done X, Y, Z. And if you say that and the next person says that, why would they want to contact you over anyone else? Your statements can stand out by focusing on why and how. So it's why you do what you do. How you use your strengths to achieve success. So this is what we call personal branding or career storytelling, and it will make you stand out.
[00:08:02] So the job search approach that I teach consists of five steps. You start by getting really clear about who you are and what you want. And even if you think you've already done this, I want to encourage you to step back and drill it down even farther.
[00:08:20] Then once you know who you are and what you want, you can go out and find target roles and organizations that fit your criteria. So this is where I want you to build an actual list. Write it down. Do not keep this stuff in your head.
[00:08:36] After all of that, you can finally start crafting your career story and use it to create your job search materials. So this is the step where I'm talking about your resume, your LinkedIn profile, your cover letter. But you have to do the pre-work beforehand because that is going to inform exactly how you can best communicate here. Based on your target employers, you can then say, what is it that they need and how can I help them? And that is what you're communicating in these materials.
[00:09:10] One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is when they decide to go find a new job, whether it's a decision that was kind of made for them or a decision that they made, they skip over everything else, and they go right to, I'm going to update my resume and I'm going to go scroll the job boards and apply to hundreds of jobs. And again, this is where the process breaks down if you have not done those first two steps first.
[00:09:37] So after you do all of that, the fourth step is to set yourself apart from all the other job seekers. There are so many people right now looking for jobs and so few jobs open, which means that it is a very competitive job market. You need real examples of what you can do. So create a portfolio, put together tangible things that you can show people that say, this is how I do my work and this is what I can contribute to you. You also want to think about focusing on your network and anything else that you can do to help yourself stand out in your specific area.
[00:10:22] Finally, step five, you can actually start preparing for interviews and negotiations, because hopefully you will start to get callbacks after taking the first four steps.
[00:10:32] So I like to say that this is a secret, not so secret job search system. It's not so secret because many career professionals guide clients through a method that looks really similar to this, but it is secret because most job seekers do not do this, and that's why most people get frustrated and burned out when they're trying to find a new job.
[00:10:57] In future episodes of this podcast, I am going to be interviewing other experts in the career and job search space, so we can dive deep into all of these topics and give you some really tangible, actionable strategies to help move your job search forward and land a fulfilling and enjoyable job that fits you.
[00:11:20] If you love this podcast, be sure to hit subscribe. Leave me a review and share it with a friend so we can help more high performing misfits find work they love. See you next time.
