Day 10: Lost in Your Job Hunt? Here’s How to Analyze Your Job Search Funnel, Identify the Bottleneck, and Fix It

If your job search is not working, do you know exactly what’s not working? For most people, they continue doing what they’re doing, even if it’s not working. Or they conclude they need to overhaul their whole career.

If this is you, I want to introduce you to the job search funnel.

The Job Search Funnel

It’s helpful to think of your job search as a funnel. It has multiple stages, is wide at the top, and gets narrower at the bottom. To identify what’s not working, you have to understand the different stages and how you’re doing in each.

• Contacted - How many people you reached out to
• Called - Of those contacted, how many you got on a call
• Application Sent (Warm) - Of those contacted, how many warm applications you sent
• HR Interview - Of those warm applications, how many led to HR interviews
• HM Interview - Of those HR interviews, how many led to HM (hiring manager) interviews
• Technical Task - Of those HM interviews, how many led to technical tasks
• Offer - Of those technical tasks, how many led to an offer

The 3 Most Common Problems

Problem 1: All the metrics are 0.

You think you are job searching, but you might not even be in the market! You are spending all your time scrolling LinkedIn Jobs, fiddling with your CV, and improving your technical skills. If you’re not talking to people, no one who’s qualified to offer you a job even knows you’re available. (yes, even if you smash that Easy Apply button all day long)

Problem 2: Too many applications sent, no HR interview.

Either 1) you are sending only cold applications, or 2) your CV and Cover Letter are ineffective for the job you are applying for

Problem 3: Too many contacted, not enough calls.

You understand the value of networking, so you send a message, but but you are afraid to get on the phone. If you don’t get on a call, you can’t send a warm application. This is one of the biggest initial problems for my clients.

To give you an idea, here are the stats from my most recent job search.

Chiara’s 2022 Job Search Stats

• Calls - 41
• Application Sent (Warm) - 19 (46% of calls)
• HR Interview - 13 (68% of applications)
• HM Interview - 6 (46% of HR interviews)
• Technical Task - 4 (67% of HM interviews)
• Offers - 2 (50% of Technical Tasks)

Does this idea resonate? How do you manage your job search?