The job search that works
LinkedIn, recruiters, network, cold applications. The channel split and weekly ratios that actually land interviews at senior levels.
In progress6 min @ 250 wpm↓ 1,269 words
§ Journey
LinkedIn, recruiters, network, cold applications. The channel split and weekly ratios that actually land interviews at senior levels.
Six weeks into my search, I had sent 73 applications and had two phone screens to show for it. I was working a full day at the laptop, and the number on the spreadsheet was going up, but the conversations were not. That is the trap of the modern job search. It rewards the appearance of effort over the reality of progress.
The fix is not working harder. The fix is rebalancing where the effort goes.
For a senior role in Australia, the channels split roughly like this in terms of where the offer ends up coming from:
Most men spend 80% of their time on the 10% channel, because it feels productive. You see a job, you click apply, the counter goes up. You feel busy.
Flip it. Spend 60% of your hours on network. 30% on recruiters. 10% on cold apps. Within a month, the ratio of conversations to applications will look healthier and the offers will come from the calls, not the clicks.
It is not posting on LinkedIn that you are open to work. (You can do that, fine, but it is not the work.)
The work is a list. Open a spreadsheet. Five columns: Name, Last contact, Their patch, Why they might know something, When I will reach out.
Populate it with:
Aim for 50 names in the first sit-down. Filter to 20 you will actually contact in the first month. Five a week. One coffee or call per workday.
Short. Specific. Asks for one thing.
Subject: "Quick favour / [your name]"
Body, three paragraphs:
That is it. No CV attached on the first email (offer to send if useful). No life story. No apology for reaching out.
The hit rate on this kind of email is around 50-70% reply, 30-40% turn into a conversation, and one in five conversations leads to a meaningful intro. Do the maths. 20 emails a month gives you 4 real intros. Four real intros over three months is your job.
Recruiters work for the employer, not for you. That is not a betrayal, it is the structure of the industry. Knowing it changes how you interact.
The two or three you should build a relationship with:
What good engagement looks like: a 30-minute intro, your CV in their format, your salary expectation in writing (a band, not a number), a list of companies you would and would not work for, and a monthly check-in. Not weekly. Monthly. They will appreciate the discipline.
What bad engagement looks like: applying through five recruiters for the same role, pestering them weekly with no new information, going around them direct to the employer.
Burn a recruiter in this market and you burn a network. Australia is small.
LinkedIn does two different jobs. Treat them as two different jobs.
LinkedIn for searches:
LinkedIn for DMs:
The DM channel is underused because it feels awkward. It is mildly awkward, and it works, because most people enjoy talking about their own work to someone who is paying attention.
When you do apply cold, do it properly. Three rules:
Do not apply to roles that are 60% match in the hope they will see your potential. Apply to roles that are 80% match where you can articulate the missing 20% as something you have done adjacent.
What a working week of search looks like:
That is six hours a day on the search. The other two hours: skill-building (a course, writing a piece of work, contributing to an open project), and break.
Searching for a job is a job. Treat the day like a workday or it will sprawl into nothing and exhaust you anyway.
One sheet. Columns:
Update it weekly. Look at it monthly. The patterns it reveals: which channel is producing, which sector is responsive, which recruiters are real, which targets have gone cold and need re-warming.
Without a tracker, you will lose threads. Lost threads are the difference between getting the role and not.
For a senior commercial role in the current market:
Front-load the conversations. The rest follows. Keep moving.
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