Want to improve your job search? Step away from the screens!
- The Hidden Job Market: Why Most Jobs Aren’t Found Online
- The Benefits of Limiting Screen Time in Your Job Search
- Improved Communication Skills for Interviews
- Improved Job Search Results Through In-Person Connection
- How to Balance Online and In-Person Job Search Strategies
- Biblical Foundation for In-Person Community
- What Successful Job Seekers Do Differently
Your PC, your mobile phone, your tablet, and the internet are clearly valuable and critical tools in an effective job search in today’s market. The vast majority of job seekers, however, spend far too much time in front of their screens and not nearly enough time in front of people that can have a much greater impact on their job search than anything they find online.
The Hidden Job Market: Why Most Jobs Aren’t Found Online
Here’s a startling reality: according to LinkedIn talent research, the majority of jobs are filled through networking and personal connections rather than public job postings. Even more revealing, according to Jobvite recruiting surveys, while only a small percentage of job applications include referrals, these referral applications account for a disproportionately large number of hires.
The math is clear: time spent building face-to-face relationships is statistically far more effective than hours spent on job boards.
The Benefits of Limiting Screen Time in Your Job Search
The benefits of LIMITING time in front of screens during your career transition can be tremendous!
Improved Attitude and Mental Health
One inevitable outcome of spending too much time in front of a computer screen is a more negative attitude. Reading job postings, surfing job boards, researching companies, and endlessly scrolling through LinkedIn are important tasks. However, when hour after hour goes by and that’s all you do, it’s virtually impossible to feel energized, passionate, enthusiastic, and positive about your search.
Then when you do go to an interview or meet someone for networking, your attitude comes across flat at best, and highly negative at worst. Hiring managers can sense when someone has been isolated and discouraged for too long.
Breaking up your online time into smaller chunks, and deliberately spending more time with people will almost always result in projecting a better attitude. Real human interaction energizes us in ways that screens simply cannot.
Improved Communication Skills for Interviews
Verbal communication skills are a muscle that atrophies without exercise. When people spend too many hours and too many days not verbally communicating, and then get an interview, a networking meeting, or some other opportunity to communicate in person, they are never at their best.
Consistent use and practice of your verbal skills makes you so much better when you need to make the best impression. Online chats and emails are no substitute for actually speaking with someone. Practice makes you sharper and more articulate—essential qualities when you’re sitting across from a hiring manager.
Improved Job Search Results Through In-Person Connections
As I’ve written before, results in your networking are vastly improved when you meet and speak to someone face-to-face. According to business networking research, the vast majority of executives agree that the benefits of face-to-face networking outweigh the cost savings of virtual alternatives.
Why? Because emails are more easily ignored, body language and passion are lost in text, and the professional presence you project cannot be duplicated in words. Meeting and speaking to people in person will almost always yield better results than only trying to communicate online.
How to Balance Online and In-Person Job Search Strategies
The key isn’t to abandon online tools entirely—it’s to use them strategically and efficiently so you have more time for what actually works: face-to-face networking.
Use your screen time for:
- Targeted research on companies and people you’re planning to meet
- Following up on connections you’ve already made in person
- Scheduling coffee meetings and networking events
- Strategic applications to positions where you have a referral
Invest the majority of your job search time in:
- Coffee meetings with former colleagues and industry contacts
- Professional association events and conferences
- Informational interviews with people at your target companies
- Career support groups and networking events for job seekers
On average you need about 5 meetings or conversations per week to create real momentum within your job search.
Biblical Foundation for In-Person Community
Certainly, scripture emphasizes the idea that we should be in community, interacting, supporting, and caring for each other—not isolated behind screens.
Hebrews 10:25 says: “Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another!”
Galatians 6:2 instructs us: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Job searching is a burden—and it’s one that’s meant to be shared. When you isolate yourself behind a screen, you miss the opportunity for others to help carry that load through introductions, encouragement, and connections.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 reminds us: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”
What Successful Job Seekers Do Differently
According to career coaching outcomes research, the majority of candidates achieve their next role through their network rather than online applications. The job seekers who find positions fastest aren’t the ones with the most impressive resumes or the best online profiles. They’re the ones who get out from behind their screens and have real conversations with real people.
Every person you meet in person knows dozens of other professionals. When you make a strong, positive impression face-to-face, they naturally think of you when opportunities arise. They mention your name to colleagues. They forward your information to hiring managers. They advocate for you in ways that would never happen if your only interaction was a LinkedIn message.
Practical Action Steps: Get Away From Your Screen Today
Don’t get holed up in front of your computer. Use it effectively. However, become efficient and limit your time in front of your screen.
Start Today:
- Set a screen time limit of 2 hours per day for job search activities
- Schedule 3 coffee meetings this week with people in your network
- Join one professional organization and attend their next in-person event
- Reach out to 5 people to schedule phone calls or in-person meetings
- Create a weekly networking goal of at least 5 face-to-face conversations
The more you can talk to live people, the greater and more rapid success you’ll have in your job search!
Your Next Steps: From Screen to Scene
Your job search transformation starts when you close your laptop and step into the real world where opportunities are made through handshakes, conversations over coffee, and authentic connection.
This Week’s Challenge:
- Limit job board browsing to 30 minutes per day
- Schedule at least 2 in-person meetings
- Attend 1 networking event
- Make 5 phone calls (not emails) to people in your network
Remember: the job you want probably won’t be found in your inbox. It will be found in a conversation with someone who knows someone who needs someone just like you.
Don’t let another week go by trapped behind a screen. Get out there. Have coffee. Shake hands. Share your story. The more you can talk to live people, the greater, and more rapid success you’ll have in your job search!
Need help building a networking strategy that actually works? Reach out to one of our Crossroads Guides for a FREE 45-minute consultation. We’ll help you create a balanced approach that uses technology strategically while prioritizing the face-to-face connections that truly accelerate your career transition. Schedule your consultation today and take the first step toward a more effective, more human job search!
Harry Urschel has over 30 years experience as a Recruiter and currently is an independent Retained Executive Search consultant and Executive Outplacement Coach. He also leads the Minnesota Crossroads ministry out of Grace Church in Eden Prairie.
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