A Job Search and the Law of Diminishing Returns

THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

I did not do well in Economics. That is what is generally referred to as an "understatement." I was awful. I just did not get it. With one exception: I understood the Law of Diminishing Returns. If I understood it, anyone can. It works like this:

While at the very beginning your investment will result in great yields, after a while, those yields will grow smaller. Put differently, you will no longer receive the same bang for your buck.

Here's an example that just about everybody can appreciate, especially given that Thanksgiving is on the horizon. That first piece of pie makes you feel great. The second piece, not so much. The third? You swear, as you do every year, it just ain't worth it, and you are convinced that your mother is trying to kill you. (Substitute some other dish if pie does not work for you. The principle is the same!)

Ironically, given that a job search is a numbers game, the law of diminishing returns does not work exactly the same for a job search.

Everyone knows that most jobs are not advertised. To find them you have to network. As you get more people looking out for you, as you build a productive network, the value of an additional member does not diminish but rather increases. The more you have, the better.

As for ads, the first is no better than the hundredth (or thousandth, which does happen). If I were to make a graph, which I won't do, the scale would be from minus 10 to positive ten. The value of networking would rise from the lower left to the upper right. The value of a response to an ad would flat-line at one.

Don't misunderstand me, ads are important. The issue here is that the second ad is no more important than the first. That said, as you become more discriminating in the ads to which you respond, focusing on the jobs (employers) that want you and not the jobs you want, the value of the fiftieth ad will be greater than the first, but the fifty-first will be no more valuable than its immediate predecessor.

In summary, eat moderately at the Thanksgiving table, and think strategically in your job search.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

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A Job Search and the Law of Diminishing Returns | Employment Edification