Information Resource
Job Hunting with Least Effort
by Atul Mathur
What would you do in the following Situations?
ONE: You have to go up to the 10th floor in an office tower. You have two options:
1. Go by stairs
2. Take an elevator
TWO: You want to increase the volume of your TV. You have two options:
1. Get up and go to the TV to do it
2. Use a remote.
THREE: You want to withdraw money. You have two options:
1. Go inside the bank and withdraw money
2. Use an ATM outside the bank
There is nothing tricky about these questions and the answers are so obvious. Do you, however, see the not-so-obvious phenomenon underlying the everyday choices?
People like to spend least effort to accomplish their objectives. This is the Law of Least Effort. You can see its evidence in every facet of daily life in the form of Internet banking, washing machines, ready-made foods and so on.
The Natural Tendency to spend least effort is so strong that most of the technologies, products and services are aimed at helping people do just that: minimise the effort!
The Law of Least Effort also applies to the job market. The only catch is that it works against job seekers when they follow the path of least effort. And it works in their favor if they somehow enable employers to follow the path of least effort. Here is how it works.
Resume: Job seekers often prepare one standard resume and send it to multiple employers, hoping it might click somewhere. This is a classic example of job seekers spending least effort.
When these one-size-fits-all resumes reach employers, they also spend least effort. They usually ignore all resumes except those which are especially tailored to their unique needs.
Who loses? The job seekers who did not put in more effort by studying potential employers needs and Tailoring the resume accordingly. So, avoid mass mailings of standard resumes.
Even if you decide to tailor your resume to a potential employers needs, but do not take care to make it short and sharp, it works against you. When long, vague resumes, stuffed with superfluous information, reach employers, they have to spend more effort in figuring out the suitability of a candidate. Again, if a resume demands more effort on the employers part, it is likely to go to the rejection pile.
Keep out unnecessary details from your resume, make it simple, credible and short two to three pages maximum. When you spend more effort to craft your resume, you save employers effort, and they would like it.
Interview: When job seekers appear at interviews without preparation, it again makes employers spend more effort. They have to explain the job requirements and dig out all the relevant information from the candidates to assess their suitability.
What employers would prefer is someone who has done the homework by studying job requirements and can show them how he or she fits into them. Least effort for them!
Job hunt: Job seekers mostly focus on vacancies advertised in the newspapers. For employers, however, the route of advertising vacancies, then receiving a large number of applications and Interviewing scores of candidates is a route of more effort. They would prefer if someone could cut this process short.
As a job seeker, if you can get in touch with potential employers either directly or through contacts, you save them the extra effort (and money, too). That is the reason many smart people get jobs by simply networking and seeking help from their friends or showing the guts to approach employers directly even when they have not advertised a vacancy.
Basically, to enjoy success in the job market, ask yourself, "How can I help potential employers take the path of least effort?" Invariably, this would mean putting in more effort on your side. But that extra effort is worth it. Job market rewards those who help employers spend least effort at every stage of recruitment.
Copyright 2006 by Atul Mathur
Atul Mathur is a career coach and the author of two ebooks The Best Career Move: Know Yourself and The Secret of Finding the Right Career Direction.
Web site: www.atulmathur.com
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