Job hunting is broken. Here’s why.

When I first moved to London in 2005, I struggled to get a job.

The whole market was controlled by recruiters. Companies like Michael Page, Reed, Robert Half, Hays…. They were the big names who were the gatekeepers to all the best jobs.

Unfortunately, as a Kiwi just arrived from New Zealand, these companies weren’t that interested in talking to me. 

‘You don’t have UK experience’ was all I heard.

Thankfully, in one of the non-London Michael Page offices, a guy by the name of Chris took pity on me. 

He took a meeting with me and saw what the others didn’t -  a burning desire to build a successful career in London. He used all his skills to convince a small internal creative studio to take me on - with no creative agency experience. 

They said yes.

I got my UK experience.

And 12 months later, I left to work for Nike. 

The rest is history! 

(A good chance to publicly thank the legend that is Chris from the Weybridge Michael Page office)

The Gatekeepers

This story illustrates a fundamental issue in the job market.

There are too many Gatekeepers. 

Whether the Gatekeeper is a recruiter or an algorithm, the result is the same. Unless you are ‘perfect on paper’, the Gatekeeper won’t let you through.

Which makes career pivots, industry changes and stretching yourself in your career, just that much harder.

By-pass the Gatekeeper

But that's not to say it’s impossible. If you are looking to make a big move in your career, and the Gatekeepers are keeping you at bay, do not fear. There are ways around the system.

Firstly, you can’t just be applying for jobs online and hoping your application gets seen. Online is a black hole and most applications disappear into it, never to be seen again.

Secondly, you have to speak to your people. If you work in Marketing and the Creative industry, that means you want to be talking to the Marketing and Creative people, not HR.

Nothing wrong with our HR friends, but when it comes to people understanding how your experience might translate over into a role, no one will be able to understand that better than the people that actually work in our industry.

The third thing you want to do is make sure you have your pitch nailed. You have to really sell yourself into the job so that the person you are speaking with knows how you’d be a good fit for the role. 

If you can get those 3 things right, you’ll be in a strong position to by-pass those Gatekeepers and make big leaps in your career.