Looking for a job can become a full-time job in itself.

You search job boards. Save vacancies. Update your CV. Fill in application forms. Write cover letters. Check your emails approximately 47 times a day.

And after weeks of all this activity, you can find yourself wondering:

Why am I not getting anywhere?

The problem may not be that you aren’t doing enough.

It may be that some of the things taking up most of your time aren’t helping your job search as much as you think.

Here are three common mistakes we regularly see people making – and what you can do instead.

Mistake 1: Treating job searching as a numbers game

There’s something reassuring about numbers.

If you’ve applied for 40 jobs this month, it feels as though you’ve been productive.

Surely one of them has to come through eventually?

Unfortunately, the number of applications you send tells you very little about how effective your job search actually is.

A much better question is:

What happened after I applied?

If you sent 40 applications and received no interviews, sending another 40 in exactly the same way probably isn’t the answer.

Job searching used to be more of a numbers game.

When I graduated, I sent my CV to huge numbers of employers. Eventually somebody interviewed me, and that’s how I found my first graduate job.

But recruitment has changed enormously.

Employers may receive large numbers of applications, and many use applicant tracking systems or other screening processes to help them manage them.

Whether the first review is carried out by software or a human being, one thing matters:

Your application needs to make it easy to see that you meet the requirements of that particular job.

Quality beats quantity

This means tailoring your application.

Look carefully at the job description and person specification.

What qualifications are essential?
What experience are they asking for?
Which skills appear repeatedly?
What language does the organisation use?

Then make sure your CV, application or supporting statement clearly demonstrates those things – using similar terminology where it genuinely describes your experience.

That does take longer.

You might be able to send ten generic applications in the time it takes to produce three properly targeted ones.

But the real measure of productivity isn’t:

How many applications did I send?

It’s:

How many gave me a realistic chance of being shortlisted?

Ten minutes spent clicking “apply” on another vaguely suitable vacancy isn’t necessarily more productive than an hour spent strengthening an application for a job you genuinely want.

Mistake 2: Doing your entire job search from behind a screen

Modern job searching makes it wonderfully easy to avoid human beings.

You can browse vacancies on your phone.

Submit applications online.

Message people on LinkedIn.

Set up alerts.

And theoretically complete an entire job search without actually speaking to anyone.

For many people, that feels much more comfortable.

Networking can feel awkward.

Calling someone you don’t know can feel intimidating.

Walking into an industry event where everybody appears to know everybody else can make staying home with Indeed seem extremely appealing.

But people still matter.

Your network isn’t just the people you already know well

Talking to people can give you information you simply won’t get from job boards.

You may discover:

which organisations are expanding;
what employers are really looking for;
which skills are in demand;
what a particular role is actually like;
that somebody is about to recruit;
or that somebody knows somebody who would be useful for you to meet.

And importantly, once somebody has spoken to you, you stop being an anonymous CV.

They know something about you.

They understand what you’re looking for.

And they may remember you when an opportunity appears.

Networking does not need to mean walking into a room full of strangers and trying to “sell yourself”.

Start much smaller.

Ask somebody for a 15-minute coffee.
Speak to a former colleague.
Message somebody whose career interests you and ask a specific question.
Attend one relevant event.
Talk to recruiters.
Tell people you trust what kind of opportunity you’re looking for.

Your goal isn’t to ask everybody for a job.

It’s to stop conducting your entire job search in isolation.

Mistake 3: Never finding out why your applications aren’t working

You apply.

Nothing happens.

So you move on to the next vacancy.

Then the next one.

Eventually, you may have collected 20 rejections – but learned absolutely nothing from them.

Feedback can change that.

Of course, employers won’t always provide it.

Some organisations receive so many applications that they simply don’t have the capacity to give individual feedback to everybody who isn’t shortlisted.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask.

If you were genuinely interested in the organisation, consider contacting them politely.

Explain that you understand you weren’t shortlisted, but that you’re keen to improve and would appreciate any brief feedback they can offer.

You might ask:

Was there a particular area where my application didn’t meet the requirements?

Or:

Is there anything you would recommend I strengthen before applying for a similar role in future?

They may say no.

That’s fine.

But they may give you one piece of information that changes how you approach your next application.

Perhaps you weren’t showing enough evidence.
Perhaps a qualification was genuinely essential.
Perhaps your supporting statement wasn’t answering the criteria.
Perhaps your CV didn’t make your relevant experience obvious enough.

Without feedback, you can only guess.

Look for patterns in your job search

Feedback doesn’t only have to come from employers.

Your results themselves can tell you something.

For example:

Lots of applications, almost no interviews?

Your application strategy may need attention.

Look at your targeting, CV, supporting statements and how clearly you’re demonstrating the criteria.

Interviews, but no offers?

Your applications are probably doing their job.

The next area to investigate is your interview performance.

Struggling to find vacancies you genuinely want?

The problem may be earlier in the process.

You may need to become more focused about what you’re actually looking for or broaden the way you find opportunities.

Think of job searching as a process you can improve rather than an endless sequence of individual successes and failures.

Try a job-search audit

Look back at your activity over the last four weeks and write down:

Applications sent: ___

Interviews received: ___

Job offers received: ___

People spoken to about my job search: ___

Applications where I asked for feedback: ___

Now ask yourself:

Where am I spending most of my effort?

And:

Where might I need to do something differently?

Perhaps the answer is fewer applications.
Perhaps it’s better applications.
Perhaps it’s talking to more people.
Perhaps it’s getting somebody to review your CV.
Perhaps it’s asking questions you’ve previously been too uncomfortable to ask.

Effective job searching can feel less comfortable

This is perhaps the frustrating part.

Sending another online application feels productive.

Picking up the phone may not.

Editing the same CV is easy.

Rewriting it around a particular vacancy takes more effort.

Quietly accepting rejection is comfortable.

Asking somebody why they rejected you isn’t.

But often, the activities that make the biggest difference are precisely the ones we’d rather avoid.

So if your job search isn’t producing the results you want, don’t automatically respond by doing more.

Stop.

Look at what you’re doing.

Find out what’s working.

And put more of your time into that.

Looking for a new job?

If you want some practical support with your job search or career change, download the free Career Change Toolkit.

It contains ten practical guides to help you think through your next move and approach your job search with more focus.

3 Common Job Search Mistakes That Could Be Stopping You Getting Interviews