Why Your Job Search Approach Feels Harder Than It Should

Fix your job search approach by starting with clarity and strategy, not resume tweaks. Build a process that actually fits you.

How to Fix the Foundation

As a career coach, I see this all the time: most job seekers don’t actually have a broken job search approach. They are just starting in the wrong place. When the process doesn’t go as planned, they assume they are the problem, not the system.

It is a painful pattern:

Feel anxious about money? Rewrite the resume.
Get ghosted after a few applications? Rewrite it again.
Have a rough week and want to feel “productive”? Scroll job boards for an hour, call it progress, but change nothing deeper underneath.

On paper, it looks like effort. In practice, it is a reaction cycle. A whack‑a‑mole approach to symptoms rather than causes.

The Three Common Detours

Most professionals I coach fall into one (or all) of these traps early in their job search:

Polishing the resume before clarifying direction. It feels like forward movement, but without clarity, the document can’t do its job.
Spending most of their time on job boards. Even though 70–80% of real offers come through networking, it is easier to hide behind the safety of “Apply Now.”
Trying to fix inconsistency with willpower. Instead of examining capacity or emotional energy, they double down on guilt and discipline.

It is all completely human. Resume tweaks feel tidy. Job boards feel familiar. And networking feels uncomfortable, so it stays on the “someday” list.

Flipping the Framework

Here’s the truth: a sustainable job search approach starts at the top, not the bottom. Resumes, applications, and LinkedIn updates are not the foundation. They are the finishing touches.

I teach clients to think in three layers:

Strategy: What kinds of roles, industries, and work environments fit your goals and your life right now?
Visibility and relationships: Who knows you are looking, understands what you offer, and can advocate for you?
Tactics: How your resume, online presence, and application materials support the first two layers with clarity and consistency.

Once you align your direction and visibility, the resume becomes a supporting actor. Not the main character.

What Alignment Looks Like

When you build your job search approach this way, everything gets lighter.

Applications become fewer but sharper.
Conversations become more intentional and less draining.
The process adapts to your energy instead of demanding superhuman productivity.

Progress stops feeling forced because each step has a clear purpose.

Where to Start

If your job search approach feels chaotic, ask yourself:

“Am I trying to fix tactics, or am I really avoiding something deeper, like lack of clarity or fear of visibility?”

Once you know what problem you are truly solving, your next step becomes obvious. Start with alignment, not anxiety. The rest of your strategy will finally have somewhere solid to land.

Categories: : Job Search Best Practices, Resume