The 3 Types of Job Seekers & 3 Types of Leverage

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The one constant of job search advice: it depends.

So many people ask me “what should I do”, but the thing is advice varies depending on what your personal situation is.

Someone who’s been out of work and needs a job yesterday will warrant different advice than someone who’s currently employed and doesn’t need a new job at all.

Further, someone with “leverage” can afford to wait and be picky as much as they want, regardless of whatever type of job seeker they are. Maybe they have a ton of cash in the bank, dual household income, a massive network, etc.

At least in my eyes, it all boils down to two things:

• What type of job seeker are you?

• How much leverage do you have?

Let’s dive in and break this all down 👇:

3 Types of Job Seekers:

First, let’s break it down to the three types of job seekers. Each type has it’s own level of how “picky” you should be in this type of market.

1: Actively seeking, out of work.

If you’re out of a job right now, i.e. laid off, in my personal opinion you should be less picky.

While the market is steadily improving, it’s still pretty bad compared to the bull market’s we’re used to. At the beginning of the year, the fed penciled in a few rate cuts which would trigger an employee’s market. But inflation is still persistent while unemployment is still low, so tbh I’m not so sure when that will happen, meaning the rise back to an employee’s market will take longer.

As I mentioned earlier, that gap on your resume only gets longer and longer.

So If you’re landing interviews consistently, that’s a sign you have the right balance of what you’re looking for. If you’re not getting interviews, you really need to dial back your expectations, accept first offer, and us that as a bridge job.

What this means is, consider that role that’s horizontal. Where you’re not getting an increase in pay. You’re not getting that title bump. You have to be onsite. The work isn’t that interesting.

At the worst case, it’s temporary and you use this as a bridge job to something better, because anything on your resume beats that job gap. And honestly you never know where it will lead you.

2: Actively seeking, currently working.

This is a solid spot to be in because you can use your current job as a paid job search, and a trial & error to see what your market value is.

Since you’re currently employed, you can be as picky as you want but still need to be objective and balanced in your search.

If you’re landing a ton of interviews, try experimenting with more “asks” until it dries up a bit.

If you’re not landing interviews, then maybe we need to dial it back.

You can start out by being picky, i.e. looking for that 20-25% bump, that specific title bump, remote work, whatever.

But you also have to be realistic with your timeline. Let’s say you ideally want to land something within 90-120 days. If 60 days go by and you haven’t gotten any bites, then guess what, we need to start dialing back your expectations.

3: Passively seeking, currently working.

This is the best spot to be in. You’re happy, fine, content, whatever at your current job but want to see what’s out there. Since your back isn’t against the wall and you don’t need to make a move, you can ask for whatever you want.

So if you’re one of these folks, you can be as picky as you want, because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you get a new job or not.

That being said, if you go from passively seeking to actively seeking, you obviously will need to adjust your expectations and timeline over time.

Types of Leverage

1: Money

Cash is king. Simple as that. If you have 12 months runway, it really matter if you’ve been out of work for 3 months. Or even if you have more runway than that, you can afford to be as picky as you want as you’re not being pushed into a corner with your bills stacking up.

That being said, regardless of how much cash reserves you have, you still need to be cognizant of the gap you may or may not have if you’re out of work.

If you’re closer to retirement then I guess it doesn’t matter. But if not, people will hold that gap against you especially in this market. And with inflation the way it is, it can be easy to blow through whatever reserves you have.

So as your search drags on, be cognizant of your gap, because the wider it gets, the harder it may be to land a new gig.

2: Dual Income

A few people I spoke to also have said they can afford to be pickier because they have a high earning spouse.

More power to you, most people can’t say the same.

That being said, a lot of the stuff still applies from my earlier point. If your plan is to eventually get back to work, you need to be cognizant of that gap. It doesn’t matter if your spouse is a brain surgeon making $1M/year, if you end up with a 1 year gap, it’s going to be hard to land your next gig.

3: Your Network

Knowing people can refer you into interviews (and offers) is such a super power. This means you have the ability to bide your time a little longer, because you know you can tap into your network that can really supercharge your job search.

This is why building your network - before you “have to” - is so important. You spend months and years on end providing value to them. So when it’s time to ask them for a favor, they drop everything and help you out.

TL;DR

Be objective and know where you stand. The longer your job search drags on, that’s the market telling you we need to dial back your search.

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If you’re looking for some help on figuring out where you stand, you can book a call here:

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