Published on 11/09/2022 14:25 by Harper Wells

Navigating the job search

For all you job seekers out there, don’t lose hope

• Safeguard your mental health, this is your absolute first priority, companies as an entity/group have an advantage in that any kind of rejection is just another depersonalised “candidate” but for that person it’s intensely personal, rejection hurts, hard
• It’s a zero sum game, for a winning candidate, candidate(s) plural needed to lose so the realisation that for every time i/you got a job other(s) didn’t helped reframe it for me, you have been on the winning side, you can do it again
• The majority of companies i’ve interviewed for have less then ideal hiring processes such as misaligned criteria on what even a “successful” candidate looks like, it’s often in small/mid sized companies a round table “gut feel” check between a bunch of key stakeholders in the org with sway decide on the successful candidate, it’s far less of a meritocracy then you may think, don’t be afraid to question it
• Total cost per hire, a metric used in some orgs goes both ways, how much time did you/them invest in the whole employer/employee match making process, i’ve been on both sides but be weary and reflective in that investment, you are valuable
• Expectation setting, I love rising to the occasion but companies need to be clear on what that is, so many job’s i’ve been turned down for they have said you didn’t meet X expectation but that was never expressed or was the conversation ever steered into the direction of X as a chance for the candidate to course correct

Written by Harper Wells