Is Perfection Stagnating Your Job Search?

As an advocate for managing a job search as a project, many of my columns emphasize the need to organize and thoroughly prepare for the various components of your job search, and presenting yourself as professionally as you can. Clearly, this involves not only a resume, but also related tasks including a tailored cover letter, your appearance, corporate research, an elevator pitch and practicing for the job interview.

Not surprisingly, given the highly competitive nature of today's job market, some job-seekers are obsessed with delaying their search until they are absolutely convinced that every component of their search has attained a level of sheer perfection. Regrettably, their obsessive pursuit of perfection evolves into a never-ending iterative process which becomes counterproductive. This condition is called analysis paralysis.

Suffering from analysis paralysis?

This cadre of job-seekers is obsessed by the belief that all tasks must be 100 percent perfect before commencing search-related tasks such as placing a call to a company, submitting a resume or simply scheduling a meeting. There is no such thing as a perfect interview, phone call, meeting or resume. During a job search, there is always room for improvement, and the best way to improve your core tool set is to use and refine them. You will never achieve the same benefit practicing your elevator speech at home as you will under fire in a live situation with a hiring manager. The more calls you make, and the more people you contact, the more you mitigate your fears and bolster your self-confidence.

A client recently forwarded a piece by columnist Peter Vogt regarding a component of analysis paralysis specific to resumes. It's referred to as "resume-itis," Having seen the results of this condition firsthand over many years, the job-seeker assumes that the primary reason for the stagnation of his job search is his resume. He believes that merely changing a few key words in the resume will solve the problem and the interview requests will start pouring in.

Obsessed with resume feedback

The search for a perfect resume results in continuous, unfulfilling conversations to secure critiques. The job-seeker solicits an endless stream of feedback from well-intentioned friends, relatives and colleagues who offer opinions but are rarely qualified to provide expertise. Because he's obsessed with incorporating any feedback, the job-seeker's two-page resume evolves into four pages.

The solution for resume-itis is simple. Limit the number of people critiquing your resume and be discerning about the individuals you select. Seek out competent people with expertise in your targeted market sector. The assistance of an individual with extensive corporate experience might be far more useful than that of a family member.

It's about results - not perfection!

It's a difficult time to be looking for a job. However, at some point, you have to commit to diving in head-first with your search. If not, your efforts will prove fruitless and you will never gain traction. Don't be apprehensive about failing - you won't.