During the premiere of The Rite of Spring in 1913, audiences were so unaccustomed to the dissonant sounds and unusual tempos of composer Igor Stravinsky's work that they grew agitated and caused a riot in the theater. Some have suggested that the music and the context under which it was performed was so unusual that it triggered a reaction deep within the brain of the audience members. It was so new, and so discordant, that they simply couldn't take it in all at once. Notably, The Rite of Spring went on to become one of the most celebrated and influential works of the 20th century.
Notwithstanding such extraordinary events, how many times can you say with confidence that you were fully engaged in a performance 100% of the time? Have you ever noticed that during a typical play about 20% of the dialogue is engaging while 80% seems like either expository information or just not that interesting? When the play is over, does it seem like 80% of your impression of the event comes from 20% of what you remember? This is the Pareto Principle in action.
Also known as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principal is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that approximately 80% of Italy's land was owned by 20% of the population. Over time, this observation has been applied to various fields, suggesting that a minority of inputs often lead to the majority of outputs or results. It's a versatile concept used in business, economics, time management, and many other areas to prioritize efforts and resources effectively.
Many people think that job hunting is a numbers game. The idea is that you should apply for as many jobs as you can in the hope that you'll eventually get an interview. The first part is true, while the second is widely misunderstood-- applying for as many jobs as possible is mostly a waste of time.
The chart above is an illustration of the Pareto Principle as it relates to the various sources that employers use to hire new employees. I have taken a few liberties by simplifying the data, but the numbers are generally supported by solid research. The left Y axis shows the percentage of hires that are generated from the various sources (X axis). The right Y axis shows the cumulative total of all of the sources, which always adds up to 100%. The orange line shows the distribution of the Pareto Principle.
The data shows that roughly 70% of successful hires come from referrals and internal hires (shown in green) as well as from the job board Indeed.com. The other 30% come from all other sources, including company websites. While it's not strictly an 80/20 distribution, it is fairly illuminating that most of the successful hires come not from job boards but from referrals and/or internal hires. Of the job board sources, Indeed.com is by far the largest source and next in the priority. However, the research suggests that while the number of referrals from Indeed.com is very high, it doesn't necessarily translate to a successful hire. In other words, the employer could be sitting on a pile of resumes, but a high percentage of them are not qualified for the job.
As the job hunter, your goal should be to use the inverse of the Pareto Principle to prioritize your job search strategy. You should spend most of your time building a network of people that can be future referrals. You should be researching companies that you want to work for, and tracking the internal promotions to see what opportunities arise from the position they were promoted from. The remaining 20% of your time you can spend on job boards, company postings, or other sources, if only to keep abreast of what openings are where and who is moving from job A to B. If you happen to apply for a job through a job board or website and you get the interview, you're certainly beating the odds.