This job has got my name on it...

If you are currently looking for your next job it doesn’t take me to tell you that it is a roller coaster of up’s, down’s and hairpin bends…a bit like being on one of the huge rides at Alton Towers really.

When you are on that roller coaster, your stomach otherwise known as your gut, goes up and down, round and round, it also gives you messages that you can just feel, almost touch, and smell that next job. You may be surfing on the net, or an agency contacts you with the details of a job and before you can say, “get me off this rollercoaster, I’m going to be sick”, something deep down inside of you knows that this job has your name on it.

Currently recruitment processes are long and often time consuming, with an average of two possibly three interviews before you hear the outcome. Because every cell in your body is telling you this is it, you focus not just 100% effort and attention on this job, you focus 200%, and as a result, you just have no time, or energy, or inclination, to focus on anything else in your search.

It’s a symptom I have seen quite a lot, and I have suffered from it myself. Years ago I saw an advert for a job, as I read further and further my heart quickened pace until it was running at full pelt towards the final of the London Marathon. So I have named this condition “Blind Alley”, as more times than not this is where it takes you…being blind. You are blind to anything else that comes up, pops up, or crosses your path, because in your heart of hearts you believe that this is it, this is the one, and this is the chosen path of where you are going and where you belong in your next role.

Last month I worked with a client who had this same feeling about a role, thankfully his gut proved to be accurate, and he escaped Blind Alley, but for every client who lands success, there are at least 10 more who don’t get that job offer.

A client I met last week, when we looked back on his last four months of job search, was quick to point out and very self aware to recognise that he had lost over 8 weeks in his search plans, to a role that fizzled out to nothing, but at the time, he truly believed, (and I think the recruiters did too as they kept giving him more than positive feedback at each stage of the process) that it was his, it was in the bag.

So even more the crushing blow or downfall when the news comes through that on this occasion you have not been successful. You are an incredibly close number two…you are just piped at the post by someone who has 0.01% more of a match to what they are looking for than you do. Or there has been a reorganisation of the department, a budget cut and this role is no longer there.

So, what can you do? We all need positives, especially when we are job searching. Whilst most of my work is spent supporting clients to switch from negative to positive, to move from past to present, and forward into the future. I urge you if you think this job is in the bag, has your name on it, DO NOT stop all of your other activity. If it does come to fruition, great, in fact alleluia, but just in case, resist the huge temptation to pin all your hopes on one job. Instead keep working your job search in some way each and every week day.

Wishing you every success in your search for your next job.