I am often asked how long a job search typically takes. While many “experts” share statistics on this, the reality is that the speed of the search varies based on three factors:

1. The quantity of jobs you can realistically compete for

2. Alignment of your skills with those jobs

3. Your success rate getting in front of hiring managers

The best way to stay on top of these three keys is by performing an annual three-step “career health check” while you are still actively employed.

Most job seekers I meet think they know how to prepare for interviews. They usually don’t.

Many know enough to research the company. Some even take the next correct step of researching the interviewers. Nearly all these folks study the responsibilities and qualifications in the job posting and do a thorough job preparing to talk about those. Most will look up commonly asked interview questions and prepare responses to them. None of these things are bad ideas, which is why everyone does them.

But preparing the same way as everyone else is not going to help to rise above the crowd. It also doesn’t address the two primary factors behind why managers select the candidates that they select:

I have surveyed hiring managers many times over the last several years to find that very, very few even get cover letters, never mind read them. Indeed, most can’t even tell me if their company has a mechanism to submit them. But a handful do read them. And there is no reliable way of knowing WHICH hiring managers those are!

Our survey revealed some very interesting patterns relative to screening candidates. We found that most employers were very enthusiastic about hiring older workers because they tend to offer the soft skills needed in today’s workplace. But in an interesting paradox, it was clear that most of the tools and techniques used to screen candidates focused on more objective criteria such as number of years’ experience, use of technology, and professional degrees and certifications.

The hardest interview question is often the one that should be the most natural, "tell me about yourself".