Whether you’ve been in an active job hunt for a while, or looking more passively, I bet I know why you’re not getting the results you want. And while I’m psychic at times, that’s not the reason I know why you’ve not had success.

I’ve probably never met you. I don’t know what you look like. I don’t know if you’re smart. I don’t know your skills, experience and education. I don’t know your industry, past employers or work history. But I really don’t need to know any of those things to know why your job search isn’t working.

Your job search is likely not working due to focus. You’re likely either too focused or not focused enough. I know, I know… not very helpful. What does that really mean? It means that there is a natural cycle to the job search – and that it is much more organic than most believe. Heck, if it were linear, I’d have created a system that I’d be marketing to millions and making money while I sleep.

It means your job search has to expand and contract according to where you are in the process. The exploratory phase (this is where you should be spending lots of time, btw) is a little fuzzier and unfocused. This is where you’re gathering information and incidentially, building some very powerful contacts without hitting them up for a job. This is a really uncomfortable phase for most because we want to see forward movement towards a goal. And the exploratory phase feels vague, unproductive and unfocused.

From here, you can get more focused when you identify ideal or target jobs/roles.