Do you have a dream job that you have been eyeing for some time? Have you been actively applying for it, and hardly getting any interview? You are not alone in this. According to a survey by Toluna, who interviewed 1,000 women aged 25 to 35. Only 30 percent of the women are currently working on their dream job.
In this article, I will share with you top 10 reasons why most people are not getting their dream job!
1. Law Of Large Number
In the healthcare sector, it’s common that healthcare workers put office hours as their number 1 priority in their job hunt. Rightly so, since this will allow them to skip the dreaded night shift and weekend duties. Because of this, it’s common to have 100 or more applicants for each SOC or polyclinic role. Compared that to an inpatient ward role which might only receive 5 – 10 qualified applicants.
If you are one of the 100+ applicants applying for a clinic role, statistically speaking you have less than 1% chance of clinching the role. If you need any third party information to validate this fact, you can always check with your company HR or third party recruiters.
2. Irrelevant Experience
When it comes to qualifying candidates even for generic roles such as ward nurse or general practitioner, HR or talent acquisition team tend to look out for specific experience or skill sets. It’s common that such requirements may not be spelled out in the job description. Hence as a candidate, you might be wondering why you are not shortlisted for the interview in the first place.
One thing you can do is to evaluate the skills and potential requirements for the role itself before applying. If you are able to contact the HR or hiring manager to inquire about the role, that would be ideal.
3. Win by Association
More often than not, a role maybe filled by an internal candidate (employee from the same organization) or referred candidate by an existing employee. It is akin to taking an elevator for the interview rather than climbing up the stairs.
Does it necessarily guarantee the job? The answer is no. But it will definitely boost their chance, since they will have more inside knowledge of the organization and role that they are applying for. Check out this LinkedIn article on why referrals are powerful job search tools.
4. How Do You Advertise Yourself?
For majority of the candidates, the main way to advertise themselves is through their resume. It’s no different from a billboard that summarize and highlight your professional self.
Moreover it’s a known fact that recruiters on average, took 6 - 7 seconds to screen a resume. In this case, how do you create a compelling resume that increase your chance of being shortlisted for the interview?
Some of the common mistakes when it comes to drafting a resume includes lack of contact details (Yes, this is pretty common), tonnes of typo and spelling errors, not highlighting your achievements, uppercase the entire write up and no mentioning of your professional certificates. (This is important for healthcare jobs or healthcare workers)
You should be detailed and mention specific skillsets or niche in your resume when it makes sense. Using specific terminology e.g. renal or oncology or ICU can give the recruiter a better understanding of your professional experience. This should significantly increase your number of interviews as well.
5. Impression counts!
When it comes to the physical or video interview, the interviewers’ first impression of you is everything. It doesn’t matter whether you are an exact copy of Florence Nightingale, Mother Theresa or Hippocrates. If you don’t leave a positive impression in the first 5 mins, there is always another candidate who can do the job. (Even if the hiring manager has to wait for the next 6 months to find someone suitable!)
6. I Want It All Candidate! a.k.a “Karen”
There exist a special group of candidates whom I categorize as “I want It All Candidate” or “Karen”. They exist in every industry and country. This group of candidates typically expect the best of everything without the willingness to make any compromise. It’s perfectly fine to have an exceedingly high expectation if you are patient, great at what you do, and the element is on your side.
7. Quality of Experience
If you are aiming for in demand role such as nursing educator or senior management position, your professional skillset and exposure will be scrutinized closely. This highlights the importance of exposure, unique skills or even specific project experience.
8. Ageism
Ageism is real and this is a societal issue as well. The seriousness of ageism differs from industry to industry, and country to country. Compared to the IT sector, the ageism in healthcare sector is considered mild. Likewise, if we are to compare Singapore to Japan where 40% of the Japanese companies hire people over 70 years old, ageism in Singapore can be deem as serious. Unfortunately, there is no real solution for it till date.
9. Make Your Own Luck
If you are constantly sending application via popular job portal like JobStreet and LinkedIn, but the response from hiring companies is lacking. Perhaps it’s time to do things differently. The best way to make your own luck is to apply for more jobs, be more flexible with the types of roles you are applying for or simply trying out other channels.
Other channels can include other job portal, networking event, direct outreach to hiring manager or CEOs, career conversion program, entrepreneurship and etc. Check out this video by Channel NewsAsia on 2 workers who started their own business after being retrenched.
10. Run Forest Run!
If you have watched the movie “Forest Gump”, you will realized that life is a box of chocolate and you never know what’s going to happen next. The best you can do is to keep trying. Based on whatever resources you have, just plan it as best as you possibly can and make it happen.
Read more: Should You Quit Your Job? 13 Signs It's Time To Move on!
Hope you find this article useful. I wish you all the best in your job hunt!