Finance Jobs: 5 Reasons Your Online Search Is Unsuccessful

How to Be More Strategic for Career Move Success

Searching for finance jobs is hard work. You’ve spent hours online, submitted countless applications, but haven’t had a single interview.

The lack of success is not a surprise. According to research by TalentWorks, it takes an average of 100 applications to get a job offer. In its November 2020 Jobs Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics has calculated that it takes an average of 24 weeks to find a job.

Many jobseekers use the internet to try to find their next job in finance. While it can deliver positive outcomes, for the most part an online-only job search is a huge hit or miss. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t include it in your job search strategy, but, if you are searching for your next job only via the internet, we suggest you be prepared for more disappointment and wasted effort.

7 Reason Your Internet Job Search Is Fruitless

Here are seven reasons your online search for finance jobs isn’t working:

1.     It’s Tedious and Time-Consuming

Many job applications can take an hour or longer to complete. Filling out the same information over and again, and answering your time and energy more effectively.

2.     You Quickly Lose Motivation

Unfortunately, with all the tedious, time-consuming searching that tends to drag on, your enthusiasm is likely to wane. With the lack of human contact, it can be discouraging when you are constantly receiving rejections or left in limbo for weeks on end.

3.     You’re Up Against a Big Pool of Applicants

In theory, it’s easy to apply to finance jobs that are advertised online (by now, you know that’s baloney). Because it is relatively easy to do – there’s no need to pick up a phone, speak to someone, post an application, and so on – it’s a popular way to search for a new role. Consequently, most ‘lazy’ jobseekers use the internet to try to find their next job.

You may have the right qualifications and experience, and be exactly what the company is looking for, but it’s a long shot with those hundreds of applications. You become the needle in the haystack that most hiring managers just don’t have time to search for.

4.     Hiring Is Slow on the Internet

With so many applicants to screen, it can take weeks to hear back from an application. That’s assuming that your application hasn’t got stuck in the black hole of the recruiting process.

5.     If Your Application Isn’t Keyworded, You’ll (Probably) Be Rejected

Many companies use application tracking software to screen their applicants. This looks for specific keywords, and if your application doesn’t include them, you are more likely to be put to the back of the line, or rejected completely.

6.     Online Application Systems Break Down

Many online applications are generic and stop you from showing your skills and personality. You’ll invest hours completing applications just for the job system to shut down or lose your application.

7.     Impersonal Systems Depersonalize Your Application

Even if you can attach your resume to the online application, the questions on the form often make it very difficult for you to show your personality and character or talk about your experience.

Improve Your Success with These Job Searching Tactics

Instead of working hard for so little success searching for jobs online, we have identified four tactics to work smarter, not harder, to find your next finance job.

1.     Utilize the Power of Your Network

You know a lot of people. Many of these will be contacts who may know of employers who are searching for your talent. Perhaps their employer is looking, or they know one of their colleagues is to leave soon and a potential role will open for you to apply for.

Use your network. Speak to your contacts. Sound them out, and let them do the hard work for you.

2.     Get Social on LinkedIn

Update your LinkedIn profile and check out your network. Who could be a valuable resource for you to learn about a new job opportunity? Connect with forums and groups that allow you to broaden your knowledge and widen your connections.

3.     Stay Updated with Your Preferred Employers

Make a list of those companies you would like to work for. Keep an eye on their jobs boards on their websites. You may even consider making a direct approach to the manager of a department or division you would like to join – if they are in your network, of course. However, we recommend a more subtle approach.

4.     Register with a Specialist Staffing Agency

Do you want to access a huge network of potential employers? Do you want to be matched with a role that will help you develop your career, in a company that will be a great fit for your personality, talents, and professional aspirations? Do you want to learn of the best opportunities that will never hit the big jobs boards?

Register with a staffing agency that specializes in finance jobs, and all these goals (and many more) could be delivered, by recruiters who become your job search partners.

Work Smart to Find Your Next Finance Job

The world is changing, but employers have the same basic desire when hiring for finance roles. They want to hire talented individuals who have the experience, skills, ambition, and personality to succeed with them.

As a specialist staffing agency, many of the best employers of finance jobs partner with us to access our bank of high-quality candidates. Isn’t it time you worked smarter to find your next job in finance? Register with 6 Degrees today.

Take the next step in your job search today