Job Search Strategy: The One Trap to Avoid

There is one trap that I have often seen people fall into when they are actively interviewing and keen to find a job, particularly if they are unemployed or fearful of being made redundant. It is easily avoided, but only if you recognise and know how to dodge it. This is key since how you use your time and the strength of your psychology are two key factors that will determine your job search success. This trap will impact both.

In any job search, it is important to do what you can to feel and communicate a sense of confidence, success and abundance. People will sense the vibe that you exude, especially in interviews. The more confident, successful and sense of being at choice you are able to project, the more confident you will be as a candidate. This hugely increases your chances of success .

Adopting A Mindset For Success - Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket

• One way to build your confidence is to put yourself in a position of choice. Start speaking to more than one potential employer at any one time - three conversations would be ideal. That way, you will build a sense of abundance and of having choices. You can then, when the time comes, compare the relative merits of each opportunity with another. How to fill your interview funnel is the subject of another blog.
• If you only have one option in your funnel, then it is very difficult to feel hopeful because there is the pressure of ‘what if this does not work out?’ looming over you. A feeling of neediness and quiet desperation will gnaw away, and potentially influence your approach in interviews. Furthermore, if - for whatever reason - that job conversation stops, you are going to pay two potentially heavy prices:
• First, you have not done any concurrent activity, so you will have to start again from scratch.
• In turn, this in itself can be very demoralising, particularly if you have been made redundant. You will have to build your morale up again to get back into the ring and you may find this difficult if you are feeling deflated.
• It is important to do everything you can to keep at least three conversations going. If one of these options falls out of your funnel, you still have two others going and you can now go and add another without losing momentum and confidence.

The Trap To Avoid

You have three good conversations going. You really like one of them. It fits very closely with your pre-written criteria. They are telling you that you are the ideal and preferred candidate. It is all going smoothly. One of the other options falls out of the funnel, but that is ok because you still have the one option that you really like. Then the second option falls out. You are left with only one option. Unwittingly, you have been so focussed on your preferred option that you have found yourself with only one conversation in your funnel. Then, they don’t call you. Your psychology goes from euphoria and having found your dream position, to one of desperation because not only have you not heard back from them, but you have also been felt with no other choices. You are no longer in a place of abundance.

The solution is straightforward and may seem very obvious to say.

• Remember that you have only got the job once you have signed a contract. Do not assume that it is a done deal, no matter what they say, until you have a contract in your hands - one that lives up to their commitments and it is good enough for you to sign.
• Until that point, work hard to keep filling your interview funnel with conversations with other parties, especially if you have found the one. Not only will this keep you with a feeling of being at choice and having abundance, but you will also feel stronger in negotiations if you can walk away. Alongside this, you will also be saving time by continuing with concurrent activity, should things not work out.

So, the key message of this blog is to keep your funnel filled. Keep interviewing and giving yourself options all the way through to the point where you are ready to sign on the dotted line.

If you are in the midst of a job search or about to start one, and would benefit from a conversation, get in touch. You can book a free coaching conversation here.