Job Seekers: 10 Key Steps to Get the Job You Deserve

Caution: these rules are not for the faint-at-heart, or for those who want to pretend they’re working hard to find a new job. However, read on if you’re serious about getting a new job, a better job, or jump-starting your career. (For those bold enough for more, here’s the link to Part 1, a webcast I recently did for LinkedIn, and your own personal job-seeking handbook.)

Rule 1: Do not spend more than 20% of your time sending your resume to a recruiter or applying directly to a job posting. Only do this if you’re a perfect fit for what’s listed, or you’ve been referred to the recruiter. Of course, if you are a perfect fit, you probably won’t need to follow this rule since someone will have already contacted you.

Rule 2: Condense your whole career onto five 3X5 cards. On the front of each card describe a different core strength using a Twitter-length action statement for each. Some examples: developed first six sigma process for the A/P process at $500mm company; led community event to raise $100K for wounded warriors; coached HTML5 team for start-up; converted toughest customer into biggest sale. On the back of each card prove the front statement with a specific example, including all of the details to back it up.

Rule 3: Make sure someone looking at your LinkedIn profile or resume can find your five core strengths/accomplishments in 10 seconds. Build your LinkedIn profile and resume around the five core strengths from Rule 2. To see if it’s working, have someone look at your resume for 10 seconds and circle what they see. You only have 10 seconds for someone to decide if they’ll read your resume or LinkedIn profile in any depth, so keep on redoing your resume and profile until these five strengths stand out.

Rule 4: Find five people who can vouch for your performance. Start with one if you don’t have five, but meet this person and review your new resume or your LinkedIn profile and have them do the 10-second test. Then ask this person to recommend you to 2-3 other people who might be connected to companies who are hiring people just like you. Then meet with these people and ask them to recommend you to 2-3 of their connections. Don’t stop doing this until you get another job. You should be spending at least 60% of your time on networking like this.

Rule 5: Never, ever say you don’t have any weaknesses. This means you’ve stopped growing. Take two more 3X5 cards, and on the front of each describe a weakness you’ve been able to correct or control, and on the back provide the details. For example, if you tend to procrastinate, describe your new decision-management process and how it’s been successful.

Rule 6: Constantly improve. The top 25% are always getting better. This gives them the confidence to follow Rule 8 during the interview. If you’re one of the legions of the long-term unemployed, you can overcome the stigma and prove you’re a worthy candidate by following this rule.

Rule 7: Use the back door when you find a job of interest. When you find a job that seems interesting, but you’re not a perfect fit, don’t apply directly. Instead kick your networking into overdrive and find someone you’ve connected to in Rule 4 who can connect you to the hiring manager or someone in the company. If you’ve spent 60% of your time on Rule 4, you’ll only be one or two connections away from this person. This is how you’ll spend the remaining 20% of your time.

Rule 8: Make sure you’re accurately assessed. Don’t assume that the interviewer is competent to accurately assess you. If you feel the process is going in the wrong direction, take the initiative. Part 1 of this job-seeker series describes how. Here’s how to prep for the interview and how to answer any question if the interviewer is competent.

Rule 9: Be different. Don’t knock on the back door empty-handed. Give the referrer something tangible to demonstrate that you’re a worthy candidate. This could be a YouTube of everyone on some college project describing your work ethic, a 3-D print version of some great original design, an analysis or study demonstrating something the company needs done, or some important code you’ve written.

Rule 10: Prove you’re worthy. One idea, find someone who has a problem you can solve and tell them how you’d solve it. Then offer to solve it in exchange for an interview or a temp job. From a big picture standpoint, use the job-seeking and interviewing process to demonstrate your performance and potential, even if you have some flaws in your presentation or hiccups in your work history. Note: this could be the most important rule of them all.

The problem with getting a job today is the impersonal nature of it all, skills-infested and poorly written job descriptions, few competent interviewers, the use of auto-screening and pre-hire assessments, and the fact that most corporate recruiters are handling 20-25 open jobs at any one time. Despite all this, your job is to make it personal. That's how you'll win your own war for talent.

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Lou Adler (@LouA) is the CEO of The Adler Group, a consulting and training firm helping companies implement Performance-based Hiring. He's also a regular columnist for Inc. Magazine and BusinessInsider. His latest book, The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired (Workbench, 2013), provides hands-on advice for job-seekers, hiring managers and recruiters on how to find the best job and hire the best people. His new video program provides job seekers inside secrets on what it takes to get a job in the hidden job market.