How “Job Shopping” is Changing the Way People Land Job Offers

Do you remember playing the board game Life where you got three choices of jobs and it usually wasn't the ones you wanted, but you just picked one because them's the rules. That is what actual job searching feels like for a lot of people. You pick your next career move based on what's offered to you, not what you can select. Life was truly preparing us for life, but your career doesn't have to be that way. When you're looking at your next job, there is a way that you can actually spread out the entire deck and pick what you want. Even in competitive job markets, the strategy of getting companies to start competing for you and giving you multiple top choice options is called job shopping. And I'll walk through what job shopping is and how you can do it in this video and during the time of recording, the job market is a dumpster fire. It is really challenging for the job seeker. In the past when I have shared job shopping approaches with my clients, it has been a way for them to stand out far and above their competition and get opportunities coming to them even when they aren't looking. But now being a job shopper is a necessity to be highly competitive. I've been teaching the strategy for over six years to my clients, helping thousands of people become job shoppers and obtain an average of upwards of a $30,000 thousand dollars salary increase. It's finally time you know about job shopping because it is the best way to be a top choice candidate in a highly competitive market. If we look out at the job market, it is an absolute wasteland of broken opportunities. People who are overqualified and highly educated are not getting called back for jobs they know that they would ace. Job seekers are dramatically increasing the pace of how many applications they submit due to using a further flooding job boards and burying your resume. Endless ghost jobs are posted on job boards by companies that aren't actually hiring, and frequent layoffs are continually flooding the market with high caliber talent. What this screams is old methods don't work. A well tuned resume submitted online to job postings and then a nice honest conversation with the hiring manager that then leads to the offer doesn't happen much anymore. Submitting an application online is one of the slowest ways to land a job. Like walking the wrong way on an escalator. And then interviewers don't choose the person who is the most objectively qualified. They instead choose the person who sells themselves the best. Which if you haven't noticed, being good at your job and being good at job interviewing are two different skill sets. Quick Intro in case you. You're new here. So great to have you on the channel. I'm Madeline Mann, a human resources leader and job search strategist who turns job seekers into job shoppers. As the originator of the job shopping method, you may have seen me on abc, New York Times, Bloomberg, and more. Be sure to subscribe because that's actually free to do. I don't know if you knew that. When I think about the traditional job search, I think about my client, Nestor, whose entire job search was built on the foundation of outdated advice. The job search is a numbers game. You've got to send out more applications, get more degrees and certifications to bolster your resume. Focus on getting your best accomplishments on your resume instead of tasks. And then the most toxic. Keep going. You've just got to be resilient and patient. For context, Nestor was an intellectual powerhouse. He had a master's degree. He was a published author. He had more than 10 years of professional experience. Sure, he, he was switching a career from research to corporate, but thousands of less qualified people have done it before him, and by golly, he was determined to be next. Nestor sent out a staggering 500 job applications and landed zero interviews. You don't have to be a math wizard to say that success rate or unsuccessful rate shows that the job search is not a numbers game. Write that down. That is the first rule of fight club. I mean, job shopping club. The job search is not not a numbers game. Nestor became my client and decided to embrace the strategies of job shopping.

I knew that I was a capable person, that I could learn something else in a different role. It was just a matter of how do I show that to employers. That was really a challenge where I was at. I wasn't really sure how to do that, and I wasn't really sure on how to market myself.

Instead of mass applying everywhere and going after any job he could, he shifted from casting a wide net to carefully curating his job pursuits results. Nestor quickly landed interviews at one out of every three places he was interested in. Ultimately, he secured his dream role in a different career as an organizational development specialist.

I have now a fantastic job, you know, $35,000 more than what I was getting before. So it's just, you know, it was a great pay increase. And so everything that I was looking for from the program, I got from it.

Let's walk through some the shifts Nestor made and you, my super shopper, will make, too. There's 10 major elements to becoming a job shopper, and today we will review the Top four First, a job seeker has unclear goals, while a job shopper knows exactly what he or she wants. If you ask a job seeker what role are you targeting for your next job search, it's very common for them to reply, I'm open to roles where I can be strategic and collaborative at a company that's doing something good for the world and we have no idea what job that is. It is so broad. And then if you ask them to get more specific, the number of job titles they list are long and varied and they name six different industries they're open to. In the end, they think by staying open to lots of different opportunities that they will get more interviews and offers when really this is ruining their ability for a company to choose them. Whereas a job shopper gets clear on exactly their next career move. They've done the hard work to soul search before they job search, which is one of the reasons why they are able to move so quickly in the job search and attract so many opportunities. Many professionals spend decades in their career never quite knowing exactly what they want. They're sitting in an inner tube going down a lazy river of their career where because they are smart and capable, they continue to get promotions and job opportunities, but none of it is in the the direction that they actually chose and desire. I put my clients through a process called the one Page Career Vision. It is an eight step process that condenses months or even years of soul searching into days or weeks. Following a systemized process like this allows the job seeker to be incredibly confident when positioning themselves online, in their resume, in their job interview and in networking conversations. Believe it or not, companies care about what you want and desperately want to match what you are looking for in your next career step to their opportunity. And they will not move forward unless they feel it's mutual. What can I say? They're hopeless romantics thinking you like strategic thinking and long walks on the office carpet. We've got just the job for you. It's the corporate version of finding your soulmate, except instead of flowers and love letters, you get a hefty signing bonus. Second, a job seeker thinks applying more will land a job first faster, whereas a job shopper skips online applications for faster ways to attract opportunities. I have surveyed thousands of job seekers at this point and most commonly people have a 1 to 5% success rate for landing interviews from applying online. That means for every 100 applications they send out, they land just a handful of interviews. Some people have some better luck and many people have worse luck. And the troubling part is your success rate should not be this low if you're qualified for these roles goals. And yet so many highly talented people aren't landing Interviews Online applications have been over saturated for years, but in recent years with the rise of AI, job seekers have been flooding job boards more than ever by using AI to write and send applications at staggering rates. What's sad is these applications will go out to jobs that these job seekers don't even want. So meanwhile, you who this is your dream company and you deeply study the job description and you use the product, you are still going to get buried under hundreds of applications that are unqualified from people who don't even want the job at hand. This is all to say that online applications have become a colossal mess. Meanwhile, job shoppers spend considerably less time job searching. One of the secrets to spending less time job searching is to avoid online applications for all together. That means sure, they'll review job boards and company websites to see what jobs are open, but they will not apply there. Since that is a one way ticket to no response town, they find alternate routes to be considered for the role. I call the strategy Job Search Parkour because if you're familiar with parkour, it is a street sport where a person finds a creative way to traverse an urban area. Such as instead of walking up a path upstairs and through a door, a parkour athlete will climb up the railing, hop onto a ledge, leap onto the roof, and pull themselves up onto the side of a balcony. This is how job shoppers think about the job search. While everyone is waiting in this impossibly long line, AKA putting in a job application online, a job shopper has already hopped onto the balcony and are shaking hands with the hiring manager on the second floor. Of course I'm not telling you to actually enter buildings through the windows. All of these actions are happening digitally. Job shoppers have also unlocked what is even better than climbing through a window which is being invited to interview in the first place. Job shoppers are frequently asked to interviews for jobs they didn't even apply for at companies they don't actually have any contacts at, and that's because their online presence attracts these opportunities. This is incredibly common and one of the top ways that my clients land their interviews. Let me know in the comments. Has a recruiter ever reached out to you and asked you to interview for a job that you didn't apply for? Share it in the comments by saying yes, a recruiter has reached out or or no, a recruiter hasn't reached out. Third A job seeker views the interview as a time to convince the company of their skills and impressed with their past, while a job shopper views the interview as a time to collaborate and speak to the needs of the employer. This job shopper strategy is so far beyond what most people do in the job interview that it may be good to bookmark this part of the video and listen to it several times as you're going through the interview process. What we have all been taught is that you are supposed to go into the interview and the company is in charge. And even if they ask you crappy questions that don't show why you're actually the right candidate, you just have to go with it and hope it all works out. Such as look at these atrocious questions folks in my audience have been asked in a job interview. What animal would you be? And how would you apply those animal instincts to sales jobs? What kind of undead creature would you prefer to be? Okay, what? What are they expecting you to say? Zombie accountant? I feel like we're taking crazy pills. We also go into the interview talking a lot about ourselves, trying to prove that our skills are worthy and explaining the most interesting things about our backgrounds and our biggest accomplishments. If we're being honest with ourselves, we desperately want to impress the person, and it's nerve wracking to think that we might not be. However, a job shopper is sees the interview like they're meeting their new coworker. They have done lots of research coming into the interview, so they are ready to discuss aspects about the business and the role. They're not hyper concerned about impressing the interviewer as much as searching for a mutual fit. Even if the interviewer doesn't ask very good questions, a job shopper steers the interview to focus on the most important topics at hand, not in a way that strong arms the interview, but in a way that is natural and the interviewer does doesn't even perceive it's happening. By the end of the interview, the interviewer is already picturing the job shopper in the role, often to the point where they have trouble picturing anyone else in it. This shift is so radically different than what most job seekers do, and it takes a lot of practice. But what is really cool is that when I teach my clients things like the 15 competence triggers consultative approach and the job interview arsenal and other methods and tools, even if they have something in their background that makes them an unusual candidate, such as gaps in their resume, they're a career changer. They're coming from another country so many different things. They are still able to become irresistible in this process. And that is because it comes down to the way you communicate and the way that you show how you think. And if you're good at those two things, with a bit of coaching and practice, anyone can overcome some unusual things in their background and be a job shopper. Fourth, and finally, the job seeker eventually lands a job offer. Well, the job shopper lands several offers and it has companies competing for them. Here's the thing, you don't need to be a job shopper to land job offers. The majority of people who are landing offers are not job shoppers, but it comes down to several factors. First, the caliber of those opportunities. Is this actually a career defining role for you or are you settling in catam? Second, the level of compensation you're offered. I repeatedly see my job shopper clients either getting the top of the salary range the company is offering, or oftentimes above that range as well. It's not just about being great at the negotiation, but the status you set for yourself every step of the way that determines that salary. Third is optionality. Job shoppers tend to line up multiple offers at a time and then companies are competing for them to take the job, which puts the job shopper in a position to truly choose what is the best move for their situation. I think about my client John, who after four years of getting laid off four times in a row was able to land six job offers. Or my client James who got to four final round interviews, landed zero offers, but then after he became a job shopper he landed four offers. Or Alana, who went through the interview process while pregnant, was terrified no one would want her, but instead got nine job offers. These folks didn't get all of these offers because their background was perfect and pristine. Instead, they landed these offers because they gave off that job shopper energy at every touch point, from seeing their profile line to the resume to the interview and negotiation. For more details and more in depth discussion on job shopping methods, I will link a job shopping masterclass below for you to enjoy. I will acknowledge though that there's a common misconception that some of these job shopping strategies are reserved for a select few professionals in certain industries or specific job markets. However, this could not be farther from the truth. Job shopping is a universal approach that can be adapted and applied by anyone, regardless of their job field or the current market conditions. One might argue I can't do that in this job market. It's too competitive. It's precisely in this competitive market that job shopping becomes even more critical to your success. In an environment where everyone is vying for attention, standing out is key. And job shopping allows you to stand out like a disco ball and a room full of lampshades. Remember, it's not about competing on the same level as everyone else. It's about changing the game completely. Setting your own rules. Throw out the rules to the game of life. We don't need them. And that's how job shoppers win. Thanks so much for tuning in. I look forward to going job shopping with you. Be sure to hit a like on this video and subscribe. Subscribe to this channel. You've got this WI Fi high five.