Approaching Job Hunting as a Top Performing Recruiter

Approaching Job Hunting as a Top Performing Recruiter

I think a lot of job seekers out there really struggle from not having the same mental models that would be installed in the mind of a top-performing recruiter. 

So, this is the purpose of this article, I just want to capture my thinking, and maybe some of my thinking systems will be helpful to you should you choose to integrate into yours (not that you should).

So here is the question that I am really asking myself here: 

If find myself on the market right now, looking for a job, what would I do? 

Step 1. Exhale.

So, the first thing that I would do is just exhale. 

Our life is always insane. We have developed that inner voice of society that is constantly pressuring us: Go, go, go! Do more! Achieve more! Earn more! 

There’s always more work to do. There is always an invisible carrot 🥕 dangling in front of us.

So if I was suddenly out of job this would be my first thought. 

Just pause. 

Take some time off for yourself. Just a couple of days. One, two, three days — whatever you need to reset completely. 

To recharge, to heal from the grind, and tell yourself that you’re going to be okay. To come back to your center and remember the fundamental truth. 

Our jobs do not define us. 

Work is just something we do. We are not human doings, we are not human becomings. We are human beings. 

If we base our identity in our function we will fall into the trap of believing that we are the function. 

I have coached hundreds of people who got stuck in this thinking:

Who am I without my job?

Well, if you have not found the answer to this question for yourself, you have bigger problems than job hunting. Basing your identity in something transient, something that is constantly subjected to change is a recipe for identity crisis. You will always be dancing on the shifting sands no matter what you choose to call “work” at any given moment.

Just stop doing stuff for a moment.

Do some little things that fill your cup. 

Go to sauna, go to massage, exercise, stretch, meditate, be in the park, spend time in nature, spend time with your loved ones, be with people who fill your heart.

Why is this important and why am I talking about this? 

I’m talking about this because these little things must exist in your daily system to keep you sane. You can’t be prepared for what’s coming. Job search can be a gruelling marathon, or it can be a an extremely fast process infused with good luck. 

You can find a job within two weeks or, since you know how brutal the market can be this time, you can spend months looking for the next gig. 

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

2. You have to have free cash. 

Even when you are preparing yourself for this, I think that many people are missing this puzzle piece. 🧩

The longer runway you have, the more you are enabling yourself not to jump into just any kind of job, but to really wait it out and spend this 3 to 6 or maybe even 9–12 months to really choose what the next ship for you should be. 

So, while you’re employed, save like crazy. Build a fund for you not to jump desperately into the next opportunity. You don’t need to save for a specific purpose. You are saving for the situation that you don’t see. Risk is always something you don’t see.

I understand not everyone has this luxury to coast and wait for 6 months especially if this someone doesn’t have the calibrated money mindset. So, build the mindset first. (Thought leaders I like: Ramit Sethi, Morgan Housel). 

If you are employed, think about your emergency fund and start building it today. 

Secondly, okay, let’s say I need to find something quickly. I don’t have money sitting in the bank.

What would I do regardless of whether it’s going to be a short search or a long one? Again, your efficiency in the process comes down to the system.

So that is what you focus on.

3. Build a robust System.

Your Daily System is really just breaking your day into blocks of time. The time where you have certain activities. 

Understand what are your high-impact activities and what are your low-impact activities. 

You have one job:

Your job is to put yourself in front of the person who change your situation and convince them that it is in their interest to change your situation.

That’s it. That’s the goal. 

How you do it, that’s the secondary question. 

So let’s talk about how.

4. Apply with a tailored resume. 

One way to do it is through a resume application. However, resume applications do not necessarily work they are supposed to for several reasons.

Reason number one, if you just apply with a resume and there are 600 different applications, your profile is a piece of paper in the ocean of pieces of papers. 

Reason #1 why your application got rejected is simply because your resume never got seen.

So the most important thing for you to do is not just apply, but apply AND raise your hand. Build a relationship directly with the company. 

Call for attention:“Hey I’m here! 👋 I’m interested! I’m super engaged, and I want this job!”

Understand this: We (recruiters) are juggling a million of things. We are constantly playing the priority management game. Million things are up in the air competing for our attention. So obviously if out of 600 people there is one who is pulling their attention into their profile, our attention will be pulled in naturally, right? 

Yes. Absolutely.

You can get a shot not because you are the most qualified. You can get a shot because you are the most motivated. 

If you are effective in getting people’s attention to your persona, at least you will have a chance to explore potential fit. 

And that’s my next point. 

5. Make sure that the fit is there. 

You have to be qualified for the job. 

That’s a must.

Especially now when you understand that the market is extremely competitive, you need to understand what exactly you are offering and what makes you different from competition.

Some coaching questions for you:

If you were a product, what would be your unique value proposition? Who would be your ICP (ideal client profile)? What are your key differentiators? 

Have a consultant mindset. Because essentially, the company is a client and you are the consultant aka service-provider to that one client. 

Packaging your skill set and abilities and talents and presenting it to the employer — that is your responsibility. 

Those who fail to audit their skillset, package it, market, and sell it are those who fail at job hunting.

What is the problem set you are uniquely qualified to solve? Why should they hire you?

The better you understand it yourself the better you will be at communicating it to your potential client (employer).

Don’t just skip through these questions. Actually think and journal through them. You will have more clarity, that’s a promise.

6. Stop networking. Build relationships.

Networking is a buzz word these days. Yes it is important. And yes, networking is definitely a numbers game. 

The principle is simple — you have to shake a lot of hands to get seen. And that is the reason why, again, your job is to put yourself in front of as many people as possible — those who have the power to change your situation (potential buyers). 

Who are these people? 

Well bucket number one are recruiters, people like me. We (recruiters) love connecting with new people that’s why we are in our role. But do not get confused. 

You are playing a job hunting game, a recruiter is playing an elimination game. 

You are sending hundreds of applications to land one job.

I have hundreds of applicants in the pipeline and I have one job to fill. I will eliminate 99. 

Your job is to survive the elimination game.  To be the last person standing. 

If the company is a castle, then the talent acquisition person is a gatekeeper.

You have to charm the gatekeeper in order to get into the castle. 

But within the castle, there is going to be several levels — several floors you need to progress through in order to get to the last level of the castle and get the princess (your desired offer). 

Even once you got into the castle, getting an offer is not the last level of the game, because after you join a new game starts. You need to pass your 30/60/90. Then you need to make an impact 6 months and 12 months in. And then you need to solidify your reputation. After that, you will be looking for promotion, etc, etc, etc. You are winning for as long as you are playing it. 

But within the context of our conversation, your levels are: 

• Level 0 is the Gatekeeper (TA).
• Level 1, to charm the hiring manager, the decision maker.
• Level 2, to convince the team, right. 
• Level 3, maybe you need to pass the technical interview, or the case study, or whatever it may be.

Note: You can skip level if you are playing it smart.

How many levels you’re going to have to secure the offer will really depend on what level you are, the company, and what’s their internal process. 

How to understand your level (Radford Levels)

Here is a quick mental framework to think about levels:

• Normally, for an IC (individual contributor aka professional), level 1–2 (entry level, developing level) one or two rounds of interviews is enough.
• For a career level (IC3), maybe two or three rounds is enough. One with hiring manager, one with the team, and maybe one technical study.
• For the VP/SLT/executive level you need 4+ rounds, and maybe +1 informal round, like drinks or a dinner. 

Why am I sharing this? 

If you are going through 7 rounds of interviews, they have no idea what they are doing. Run!

At every level, with every person you meet, you are playing perception engineering game. 

The goal is to engineer the perception that you are The One. 

You can’t do it effectively if you do not understand what the team is looking for.

Meaning? 

• Do your research. 
• Learn how to read people (get coached if you don’t know how)
• Ask intelligent questions that will help you to discern the so-called “perfect candidate profile”.

Let’s sum up. Your Highest-Impact Activities:

Approach your job search as a top sales person. 

How do you know you are dealing with a top sales guy? 

• They know their process. 
• They know their numbers. 
• They own their funnel.

Your highest-impact activities are the funnel activities. Block them as you find appropriate:

• Inbound Lead generation aka Marketing. Resume applications + LinkedIn profile + Content that creates Awareness + any other assets that create differentiation (website, portfolio, digital assets, etc).
• Outbound Lead Generation aka Networking. Building relationships directly with the company.
• Sales calls aka Interviews (+ conversion).

Then you have a block of time which you dedicate to preparation: 

• upskilling yourself
• learning some new tools
• absorbing new knowledge
• expanding your toolkit
• packaging what you can offer to the buyer (employer), etc.

Extra block of time: 

• reconnecting with your current network

Because, again: 

Networking is not about who you know, and it’s more about who knows you. 

You will achieve much more in your relationship-building activities not through frantically running around and shaking hundreds of hands but through building a reputation for yourself. 

By being known as a maker, you become a magnet for opportunities. 

Let’s talk about building a reputation.

A few words on Personal Branding…

People always ask me how do you stand out from the crowd. 

The only way to stand out from the crowd is not to be the crowd. 

In the ocean of lookalikes and copycats, what are your differentiation points?

How do you differentiate yourself from everyone else out there who is offering the same service?

You become the crowd when you are copying what everyone else is doing.

There is only one way to escape competition.

You escape competition through authenticity. 

No one can be the second Steve Jobs, no one can be the second Elon Musk, and no one can be the second Jeff Bezos. Those are household names because they were built through innovation.

No one is better at being you than you. 

It is a scary idea. To be the innovator. To go where no one is willing to go. To do what no one is willing to do. And to take shit from nobody. To own your God-given gifts and eventually… 

To become the niche of one.

And to be the niche of one you have to embrace your uniqueness. 

How?

To embrace your uniqueness you have to follow your natural curiosity.

There are certain things that you love researching more than anyone. Go into that. Go to where your natural curiosity leads you because where you go naturally no one will be able to chase you.

No one can compete with you if it is a play for you but it looks like work for others.

Not a fan of using myself as an example but here we go. 

Coaching, writing, talent acquisition — this is not work for me. People think that I work so hard? I don’t. I don’t work, I play. And I can play for hours and hours long. Without lunches, dinners or breaks. This is what you experience when you are in the state of Flow. 

Coaching questions for you:

What activities lead to you experiencing Flow?  How can you create the time for Flow intentionally?

Maximize the time spent doing what brings you the State of Flow.

Your natural gifts, your natural curiosity, will lead you to more intentional learning and growth and that in turn will lead to a happier life. More engaged, more present, more fulfilling life. Life filled with meaning.

At some point, you will start to notice, that people gravitate to you. They will want to have what you have. To have that confidence in what they are doing. To be centered in that deeper inner knowledge — having unshakeable clarity of purpose.

Maximize flow. Do only things that fulfill you. And that will open the doors to other people because they will see what is possible.

“OK, this is all great and very philosophical. But I need cash now!” 💵

If I find myself in a position where I need to generate immediate income I would be tapping everyone on the shoulder, people who I know in the space.

It is time to cash out the social capital I have been accumulating through years. 

All people have problems. 

People who run their businesses have even bigger problems. 

What problems can you solve for them? 

Even if it’s short-term temporary gigs I would start assembling a set of those small contracts.

This is, I think, the mindset in which too many people get stuck:

The employee mentality. 

The employee mentality goes: “I can only get paid as an employee who works for a company.” And this is where people usually stop thinking further.

But what is the direct implication of you being employed?

The implication is that, if one company is paying you for your skillset, it means that the free market will pay you too. 

But don’t get mistaken. The free market is brutally honest. 

If you’re not good enough, you will learn it very quickly. 

However, the possibilities are out there. 

If someone is paying you to do what you’re doing today, it means someone out there will pay you too. You just have to find your clients. 

So that’s what I would be doing. 

In my case, as a recruiter, I would be approaching people who need help with recruitment. 

I would be pitching my services and highlighting my differentiator that what I can do is to generate revenue/save money for the business. And not only save money but serve as a trusted business partner who will grow the business and build the business through talent. 

That’s the solution that I’m proposing to people. 

I solve the business problems with humans. 

Next…

I cannot rely on one skill set and that’s where my second skill set comes in. Coaching. This is something I have been developing in parallel throughout the years. 

The ability to solve mind-puzzles for others. Specifically, the ability to help people systematize, organize, understand their mind, and eventually control and master it. Use their mind as their best tool. 

Essentially, I teach people how to become more proficient, more effective, more clear thinkers. 

And thinking is a hard job. That’s why so many people refuse to do it. 

It is much easier to be a copycat. To see what others are doing, and then mimic and replicate. And keep failing at it. Because copies don’t work the way originals do.

No one wants to be a critical thinker. 

Well, most people are confused between thinking and feeling. They don’t know what comes first, emotion or thought. 

Spoiler alert:

Thoughts come first.  Thoughts generate emotions. 

What does it mean? 

It means you can create your internal states through your thinking.

The way you feel is the way you think. 

Your mind doesn’t care if you make yourself feeling like crap or feeling resourceful. The amount of energy spent is the same. 

Your Inner State is a Choice.

But I don’t want to digress. 

The point here is that you can design your thinking about everything. Specifically, about how the job market operates. 

You can stop thinking and approaching it as a job seeker. And start thinking about it like a pro-recruiter.

While you’re employed you can diversify your income because for the times when for some reasons outside of your control your main hustle is taken away from you, you’re not collapsing. You have something ready to fall back on. 

This is the same idea that we discussed with networking. 

Build the habit of reaching out to people and building relationships when you don’t need anything. 

Because the time when you need something will come. And your people will be there to support you if they have become Your people. You create Your people by serving them when you have resources. Growing your social capital takes time. 

Please note, I’m not saying that anyone should be a hyper-connected LinkedIn influencer. Hell, NO. 

What I’m saying is that if you want to grow in your career, building your reputation in the space doesn’t seem as such a terrible idea.  

What opportunities would you unlock for yourself if you were known for your integrity and for being the best in the game? 

If you have these two, if you’re known as the best at solving a particular problem set and you’re known for your integrity, people will come to you. 

And the more you develop your integrity and unique problem-solving ability, the luckier you’re going to get. 

That’s the luck of uniqueness. 

To be known for something, means to attract people who want the solutions you offer. 

To build this reality for yourself you will need to invest time. 

So again, everything comes down to your Time Management systems.

Time is the Ultimate Currency.

What is my Daily System? 

For me, my daily agenda in a job hunting mode wouldn’t be really different from what I’m doing right now. 

I am breaking my day in 4 quarters. 

The 1st Quarter. 5–9 am.

Wake up early, spend early morning hours on focus-time. Strategizing, understanding life, organizing the chaos into structure, making it available for people so that it serves as a solution for their problems whether through coaching or building knowledge systems (content, education systems) that eventually become your personal brand (your reputation).

Then, we block the 2nd and 3rd Quarters — our 9 to 5.

We use this time for the day job. In job hunting mode your 9–5 is a block of time when you create your new Identity. 

Identity Design as a Full-Time Job. 

Blocks of time can be shuffled based on when you feel the most productive.

Spend time:

• meeting new people who have the power to change your situation 
• meeting new people who can challenge your habitual ways of thinking and get you out of your head
• applying online
• making sure that your application is sniper sharp, crafting each resume with precision
• crafting each outreach message as a as a precise key to open the door that will lead you to the gatekeeper or the decision maker himself 
• working on your skillset
• polishing your communication skills, your thinking skills really — in order to make sure that you’re going to be able to convince the buyer and convert the conversation into an offer. 

It’s one thing to be able to do the job, it’s another thing to be to be able to sell the job (engineer perception).

Quarter 4. 5–9 pm. 

I can have a block of time for everything else. Something that is not as cognitively-heavy e.g. absorbing information, learning, reading. 

Have a block of time for movement. You can’t do a lot if you are simply lacking life energy to do it all. You can do more if you don’t just work within the existing capacity of your energy battery, but also invest effort into expanding it.

Then, there is a block of time when you recover. Meditation, stretching, sauna, reading, sleep.

Lastly, there is a block of time when you summarize the day, you journal, make notes, you make a plan for the next day, but for the current day you shut down. Because there’s only so much you can do during the day. 

Tomorrow we rise to fight again.

Test. Calibrate. Repeat.

Your Current Life is the Result of your System.

Most people, when suddenly the job disappears, they fall into the trap of falling out of the structure because the structure was previously externally imposed. 

Well, that’s again the same mindtrap — the employee mentality. 

The employee mentality makes you think that you need a certain structure to be imposed on you in order to have your life structured. 

The entrepreneur mentality is when you structure your day. You are the one to put frameworks and rules into your life. You are the one in control.

When you think like a business of one you are your own employer. You are the Boss. This mental model will help you to allocate your time to things that matter to you the most.

When you choose your employer, make sure that you’re working in a so-called results-oriented work environment. R-O-W-E. 

ROWE is a place where you’re not measured by the time you spend working. You’re measured by the results that you deliver. 

And the bigger is the proportion of this kind of work within your job (irrelevant time investment — focus on the impact), the more control you’re going to have over your time. And time really is the most important asset you have. Time is the Matter of Life.

Everyone has 24 hours. 

8 hours you sleep, 8 hours you work and 8 hours you’re free to do something with your life. 

People wait for the weekend to unplug and rest. How many weekends do you have throughout the year? 

104 days. 

104 days out of 365 days. 

Think about it.

28% of the year you can take and invest into building something for yourself. Something that will belong only to you. To you, and not to any employer. That something will be your safety net for the times of recession, crisis, and high unemployment rates.

Protect yourself. You have the intelligence to break yourself free from the corporate thinking.

This is already a long article, sorry. 

Don’t want to overwhelm you but hopefully this was helpful and you were able to entertain some mental models you found here into your toolbox.

Always open to feedback.

Good luck out there!

Follow my journey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chengeer/

For 1:1 coaching:  https://topmate.io/chengeer/284501/pay