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How To Get A Job Using The Pareto 80/20 Principle by Segun Akiode

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook” – William James

Many job seekers aim for every job vacancy that comes their way

with the full desperation to get ‘just any job’. I very much understand

how it feels like going months (and sometimes years) without a job.

But have you ever asked yourself, if you are going about it the right

way or not. Albert Einstein said “it is insanity doing the same thing

over and over again and expecting different results.” Maybe,

something is not right!

While, I was pondering on how to solve the above situation, the

Pareto 80/20 Principle came to mind. Most people would have heard about it before. The 80/20 principle was

based on the observation of an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto (1848 – 1923), he found out that in many

situations it’s the first 20 percent of the effort that contributes 80 percent of the benefits/results. This simple but

powerful principle can be made applicable to virtually every area of life and even to the job search process.

In effect, the challenge is for you to find the 20 percent of effort to apply to the job search process to yield 80

percent of result for you. You have to agree with me that ‘the quality of your job search is more important than its

quantity’. Please don’t confuse activity with achievement!

From my experience, permit me to give you the following action points that I believe should be where 20 percent

of your effort and energy must be focused:

Get the right job mindset: we get out of life what we perceive life to be. You cannot get a job when you

have not accepted in your mind that you deserve one. There is big difference between wishing to have a

job and actually knowing that you would definitely get one irrespective of how competitive it is. Focus

your effort on mind preparation and not get bored down worrying on where the jobs are.

Make a decision not to apply for every job you see around: some jobs are more competitive and difficult

to get than some other, so focus your efforts on looking for jobs and companies where your chances of

success are high. Look for and apply to less competitive jobs as some jobs are ‘never’ going to be yours no

matter how hard you try, that’s may sound harsh but it’s a reality, so why waste your time applying for it.

Craft out a Job suited CV when applying for any job: your CV is your marketing tool and it’s your first

impression with the employers, so make it count! I have said it before in my earlier post that you should

not use the same CV to apply for every job. A job-suited CV is one that is tailored towards the job in

question; it is specific and not general. Prepare your CV for 4people: Applicant Tracking System, the HR

admin that sorts and selects, the recruiter that reviews and presents to the board and the board .Make

your CV stand out of the park by ensuring that it is well formatted and the CV format is unique in itself.

Please don’t be tempted to submit the same CV format as your friend for the same job. Visit

www.jobberman.com/career-services to know how to make your CV unique. Please innovate and

differentiate yourself!

Get interview ready: I am sure you dare not board a BRT without getting your bus fare ready, so why do

so in the case of interviews? It has been discovered that many job seekers go for interviews unprepared.

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Sometime back, I got a candidate an interview opportunity only for the candidate to blew the opportunity

due to a shoddy preparation. Please get your confidence up, research the job/company and be ready to

ask questions at interviews too. Get interview ready and don’t miss your chance of getting that job.

Go over the steps again until you secure a job: don’t get discouraged, perfect the steps above and see

your job search getting high rates of successes. All the best!

I believe today’s post has been yet another paradigm-shift experience for you all. Share your views/questions with

me in the comment section and be sure to get it answered. Do have a great day.

About Segun Akiode: Segun is a Talent Acquisition Specialist | HR Professional | Career Coach | Blogger | He is a work

in progress… Connect with him | twitter: @segunakiode | FB Profile: Akiode Segun Oluwatosin | Website:

http://segunakiode.com | Blog: http://nuggets4nobles.com

Article was published March 30, 2012 on Jobberman.com Blog (http://blog.jobberman.com/jobs-

in-nigeria/2012/03/how-to-get-a-job-using-the-pareto-8020-principle/)