Your job hunt needs more 21-year-old energy

The problem with how most people job hunt

Most people treat job hunting like a form you have to fill in.

You find a job online. You apply. You wait.

Maybe you tweak your CV. Maybe you write a cover letter. Maybe you hit “Easy Apply” and hope for the best.

And when nothing happens, people assume the market is impossible. But the reality is that 1000’s of people are following the exact same process at the exact same time.

Everyone is applying through the same doorway. And when that doorway is crowded, it becomes incredibly hard to stand out.

The phone call I made when I was 21

When I was 21 years old, I read a magazine article about a woman who had just taken over as Marketing Director for L’Oréal in New Zealand.

She had grown up in New Zealand but spent the previous ten years working for L’Oréal in Paris before moving home to run the company locally.

I remember being completely inspired by her story.

At the time, I was desperate to get out of New Zealand and see the world. The idea of working for a company like L’Oréal felt incredibly exciting.

So I did something that, looking back, was fairly bold. I picked up the phone.

It was 2004. I found the L’Oréal New Zealand number in the phone book, called reception, asked for her by name… and somehow got put straight through to her office.

I introduced myself, told her how much her story had inspired me, and then asked how I could get a job at L’Oréal.

She very politely gave me her email address and told me to send her a message.

I never heard from her again.

To be fair, calling a marketing director out of the blue and asking for a job probably wasn’t the smoothest approach. If I could go back, I’d approach that conversation very differently.

But there was something valuable in that moment.

At 21, I wasn’t afraid to try something unconventional.

Why most people stay stuck in the system

Fast forward twelve years and I found myself job hunting again, this time in London.

By then I’d spent eight years working at Nike and had built a solid career. But when I started looking for my next role, I realised something quickly. The best jobs weren’t going to come from simply applying online.

Even when roles are advertised, companies often already have people in mind. Shortlists are forming before the job even reaches LinkedIn.

If I wanted access to the kinds of opportunities I was aiming for, I needed to find another way in.

And that meant bringing back the same kind of energy my 21-year-old self had when she picked up the phone to L’Oréal.

Most people never get to that point because they stay inside the system.

They apply. They wait. They apply again.

The recruitment process has trained people to believe that submitting applications is the only path to a job. But the best opportunities often come from conversations, introductions, and relationships that happen long before an application is submitted.

How to approach the job hunt differently

During that London job search, I started experimenting with different ways of getting in front of hiring managers.

Sometimes that meant networking. Sometimes it meant cold outreach. Sometimes it meant finding creative ways to get my CV into the right hands.

Once you step outside the normal application process, you start to realise how many different routes exist into companies.

But there’s an important nuance here. You can’t approach people the way my 21-year-old self did and simply ask for a job.

The real skill is learning how to start conversations, build relationships, and position yourself as someone worth speaking to. That’s when opportunities start to appear.

The energy that makes the difference

That London job search took eight months. I was rejected by plenty of companies along the way and it humbled me massively. But it also reinforced something I now see with my clients every day.

If you want a great job, you have to dig deeper than the application process.

The people who are landing the best roles right now are the ones who bring creativity, persistence, and initiative to their search.

They’re willing to think beyond the standard recruitment process and find different ways to get in front of the right people.

It’s also why I sometimes worry about the candidates going up against my clients.

Because I know the level of strategy and effort my clients bring to their job search. And that kind of energy is incredibly hard to compete with.

So if your job hunt isn’t working right now, don’t just apply harder. Start thinking beyond the system. That’s where the real opportunities are.

Want help with your job hunt?

If you want support bringing this kind of strategy, creativity and momentum into your job search, my Creative Career Level Up programme is designed to help marketers and creatives land roles they genuinely love.

Check out more details, including testimonials, on our website here

Or use the link below to find out whether the Creative Career Level Up is the right fit for you.