The 3 Biggest Mistakes Job Seekers Make and How to Fix Them

After 56 years on this planet and almost 1,000 career coaching clients, I have learned a few things about job search. I have made all the mistakes I discuss in this newsletter; come learn from my journey.

#1: Not Looking for A Job

I spent 15 years in structured finance banking with my last 7 at Credit Suisse from ‘00-‘07. During most of my time, I didn’t even look for a new position. I made good money, worked with decent people, and had a family to raise. moving seemed just too much work.

I was fat and happy until... reality

It set in and slapped me in the face. At the end of 2007, I lost my job along with thousands of others in my industry. I had a miserable time selling myself since I wasn’t even sure what my real skills were. It took me almost 2 years to get a new job, a job that was not a match for my skill set.

The mistake I made was not challenging myself to change roles during my Credit Suisse tenure. I stayed in a narrow area of structured finance which is narrow to begin with. I did no continuing education and stayed close to home. My network consisted mostly of structured finance professionals, who were also suffering from reality.

I was as stale as month-old moldy French bread. I was obsolete in my 40’s

#2 Going Only for The Money

I moved from Merrill Lynch NYC to Merrill Lynch Toronto in 1998. Instead of a small fish in a big pond, I became a big fish in a small pond. I did not physically move to Toronto though since my wife at the time did not want to move given our marriage issues-smart woman. Therefore, I flew up on Monday and flew back Thursday. I went into the NYC office on Friday.

After 2 years of enjoying the position, my good friend Dave called me up from Credit Suisse and said they had an opening. I enjoyed Canada and had no intention of leaving. I humored him (and myself) and started the interview process. The people seemed nice, the office was 2 subway stops away from my place in the Village, and I could reunite with my old clients. Nevertheless, I really wanted to stay in Canada.

By the time the offer came in, it was much higher than my then-current comp

The decision at that point was pretty clear. I moved for the money. How can you go wrong with more money? However, did more money make me happy though? No. Why?

1. My dysfunctional marriage was still dysfunctional
2. My work ethic of working 24/7 meant I never really met my kids
3. I was not exercising nor going to routine medical visits
4. I was distant from even myself

Sometimes extra money can plug a hole in your budget; most of the time it is just a shiny penny.

Extra money won’t make you happy; mindset makes you happy.

#3 Too Focused in my Job Search

When I was out of a job after the Great Recession, I knew that networking was the key to my re-employment. However, I networked with the same 30 people over and over again hoping for a different result. Most of my network was like me, financial services, white, male, 40’s, and based in NYC.

I had so many coffee chats that networking seemed like an endless vacuum

I focused on these 30 professionals because I was comfortable with them. I was depressed, anxious, and did not want to extend myself. I didn’t even know how to extend myself. Staying insular was safe. However, I never realized that extending your network did not have to be such a chore. Nobody showed me a simple recipe that could have saved me time and money.

LinkedIn did not exist then as it does now. What could I have done in today’s world?

• Analyzed my 1st connections to see what jobs professionals had and in what industries they worked to get me thinking more broadly
• Recognized that the number of professionals with which I shared a commonality was well over 100,000
• Commonality means we shared the same university (graduating before/after me), worked for the same former employer (during any period), or were 2nd connections

By reaching out to some of the professionals mentioned above by email or LinkedIn, I could have generated exploratory conversations that would have opened my eyes to brand new opportunities. I could have done so with much less anxiety. The mechanics behind reaching out are more nuanced than this space allows.

I could not get even out of my own head

Wish I knew now what I knew then.

Summary

I don’t do summaries. My whole point in #1 was don’t be lazy. Go back and read my full article.?Please!