In 2025, Job Search Success Requires a Strong ‘Want It’ Factor

Image Credit: Geralt

When you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it. In the context of job searching success, only one factor matters: how badly do you want a job?

I see it all the time: job seekers claiming to want a job, yet their actions suggest otherwise.

• No LinkedIn banner
  • No LinkedIn profile picture
  • Resume and LinkedIn profile filled with opinions instead of number-hitting achievements
  • No attempts at connecting with those who can help them with their job search
  • Clinging to limiting beliefs and false narratives
  • Playing the “I’m a victim of [whatever]!’ card

Often, when I review a job seeker’s resume, LinkedIn profile, and digital footprint, I wonder, “Do they really want a job?” Many job seekers aren’t willing—it’s easier to complain—to put in more effort than was required in past job markets is where the disconnect is happening. In 2025, amid fierce competition for the rapidly dwindling number of white-collar jobs, getting hired isn’t happening for those who “kinda want it.” “You’re hired!” is reserved for those willing to sacrifice comfort and ignore distractions, like the pity party on LinkedIn.

A strong desire to find a job is merely the starting point. You must turn your burning desire into tangible actions.

Your Digital Billboard

Your LinkedIn banner serves as your “digital billboard” and “digital business card,” giving potential employers a sense of who you are and what you do. If it’s blank or at best “Meh!”, you’re not a serious job seeker. Essentially, you’re signalling that you’re okay with missing opportunities because you’re too lazy to take advantage of this highly visible space.

Show Your Face

Not including a profile picture makes your profile seem as if you’re a bot or scammer, sending the message: “I’m hiding something.” Serious job seekers have professional-looking photos. A lack of a profile picture suggests you’re okay with being ignored.

Craft a Compelling Summary

Most LinkedIn summaries are blah, blah, blah… They don’t offer a compelling career story, which makes them uninspiring. Put in the effort; if needed, seek professional help to write your summary that will make the reader say, “I’ve got to meet this person!”

Quantify Your Achievements

Your resume and LinkedIn profile need to be filled with measurable evidence of your previous impact. It’s lazy thinking to expect employers to figure out if you can deliver measurable value. Most profiles read like a list of opinions. Employers hire based on results, not rhetoric. If you’re not highlighting your achievements with concrete numbers, don’t expect recruiters and employers to reach out to you.

Networking with Purpose

Job seekers with a strong desire for a job understand that opportunities are all around them; the catch is that they’re attached to people. Therefore, they talk to everyone and don’t use the “I’m an introvert” excuse. They know that applying online is expecting a stranger to hire them, which is equivalent to playing the lottery. They comprehend that networking with purpose is how you transform yourself from “stranger” to “I know the perfect person for [opportunity].”

The more people know you and your work, the more opportunities come your way. Nowadays, when it’s easier than ever to make yourself known, it boggles my mind when I meet job seekers who’ve been doing what they do for 15-20 years, lacking a broad professional network and a solid reputation. Most people don’t want to spend the time and energy building and maintaining a professional network. Ironically, when they find themselves in a situation such as job searching, where a professional network would be a considerable advantage, they regret not having put in the effort.

Networking Tip: When you meet someone for the first time, ask yourself, “How can I help this person?”

Stop Blaming Others

Many job seekers blame ATS, AI, and the way employers and recruiters assess candidates for not getting hired. They point fingers at everything and everyone except themselves. They never pause to consider: what about those who are getting hired? They underwent the same hiring process. The way employers hire isn’t the problem; it’s the lazy thinking that your resume will do the work to get you noticed. This narrative only works if you’re the only applicant, which you aren’t.

Getting hired doesn’t “just happen.” It requires you to:

• Make a clear case for why the employer should hire you.
• Demonstrate how you’ll deliver results, not just discuss your potential.
• Engage in genuine conversations, not just unsubstantiated hope.
• Using numbers, clarify what you’ve delivered in the past and outline what you plan to bring to a new employer. (What you’re ready to do next.)
• Present a 120-day action plan that walks the employer through how you plan to hit the ground running.
• Offer to do an assignment (gasp!) to prove you can walk your talk and that you’re not one of the many bad actors in today’s job market.

Others getting hired proves it’s possible for you, too. Look in the mirror; are you putting in the work they did? Are you acknowledging that to succeed in today’s job market, you need to want it (a job) badly enough and translate this to your job search efforts?

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Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned corporate veteran, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. Send Nick your job search questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.