How to Use the 80-20 Rule to Find Your Next Job

When it comes to your success in finding your next job, the 80-20 rule can have a lot to do with your success. This philosophy that has been statistically proven to work, and can be directly applied to helping you put the odds in your favor in finding the job of your dreams. According to Wikipedia, “The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor scarcity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.” This information can apply to being successful in your job search.

It goes on to say, “Business-management consultant Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.” Again, knowing this information can help you find a job.

This rule can also be applied to business, where 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. It can also be applied in a volunteer organization where 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. In Major League Baseball it can be applied to the fact that 80% of the home runs are hit by 20% of the hitters.

Regarding finding your next job, it has been said that 20% of your efforts will get you 80% of your results. In other words, by analyzing what kind of activities you are using to find your next job, you can determine what the very best use of your time is. For many people searching for a new job, they will spend hours and hours, aimlessly sending out resumes with little or no results. In other words they are getting the 20% of their results from 80% of their efforts. This type of activity can be frustrating, disappointing and downright depressing.

To put the Pareto Principle to work for you, you need to reverse your strategy and get 80% of your results from 20% of the time you spend searching. To take advantage of this principle, identify activities that can give you the most bang for your efforts.

Activities like networking with friends who are already employed would be on this list. Attending business functions where business owners who could actually hire you, are present, could also be included. Identifying companies who are in a growth mode, and have not actually advertised for new positions just yet, could be an excellent place to make contact and secure an informational interview. Once you have initiated contact with a company like that, it could lead to being asked to submit a resume for future openings.

So remember, putting the 80-20 rule to work for you in your quest for a new job, can be one of the best uses of your time that will get you the results you really want.

Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, coach and author. Please see more of his blogs at administrativejobs blog.