Three key reasons why you haven't secured your dream job

Job hunting can be tough, and at times, finding and securing your dream job may seem like an impossible mission.

As a recruiter, I meet many job seekers on a daily basis and have come across three common reasons why job seekers might struggle to secure their dream job.

Lack of Focus

Aimlessly applying to any and every role in the market will not strengthen your chances of securing a fantastic job opportunity.

Failing to tailor your CV to the specific role being advertised and/or applying for several unrelated roles within the same company show a lack of focus and are unlikely to secure you an interview with that firm. Furthermore, for many firms, once your CV has been rejected for one role, you will be unable to apply to any roles at the firm within a specified time frame (usually 6-12 months). Thus, you could have missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Take the application process seriously, tailor your CV to each role you apply for to help you stand out or write a cover letter expressing your interest in the company and the specific job opportunity.

If you can’t clearly explain why you want the role then, from an employer’s point of view, you obviously don’t want it enough!

Little or no communication

The job market is moving quickly in professional services and there is fierce competition for roles,so you need to be proactive and keep on top of your job search and applications. This can be difficult if you are in a full-time role, therefore you need to be 100% committed to your job search.

Maintaining strong communication may seem obvious but you will be surprised at how often candidates forget to reply to a recruiter or hiring manager’s email or ignore a voicemail. The hours can turn to days and all the while a client could be waiting on information, which will delay the process and can lead to you miss out on a potential opportunity.

Lack of communication also reflects poorly on your work ethic and can be interpreted as a lack of interest in the role. It’s also plain bad manners to ignore someone’s emails/calls so this is unlikely to be looked upon favourably by a potential employer.

Failure to Prepare

If you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail!

Before an interview, you must take the time to research the firm, their values and culture. Research is also important for you to understand the culture of the firm and establish whether you could see yourself working there.

This is one of the most frustrating and career-limiting reasons why many candidates fail their interview! Interview questions have involved and advanced so you cannot ‘wing’ them anymore. Remember that there will be other candidates in the process who will have a very similar experience to yourself who will have prepared thoroughly, so by failing to do your research, this gives them an easy advantage over you.

Scenario: Imagine you are the interviewer at an international law firm, and you are interviewing candidates for an administrative vacancy. You have just interviewed two candidates who have a similar background and relevant education.

One of the candidates has done extensive research about the firm, knows their values off by heart and has studied the job description. They ask detailed questions about processes or responsibilities in the role.

The other candidate doesn’t know much about the firm besides the fact they have global offices and were established in the late 1800s.

As the Hiring Manager, who would you offer the position to – the candidate who doesn’t care or the candidate who invested time and effort in preparing for your meeting?

You are most likely to be successful in securing your dream role if you stay focused in your job search and establish exactly what opportunity you are looking for, if you communicate clearly and promptly with your recruiter or hiring manager and if you put in the time and effort to prepare for your interviews.

Follow these three steps every time you submit a job application and you will put yourself in the best possible position to soon secure that dream job!