When the “Truth” Seems Elusive During a Job Search

Do you know the ‘truth’ during your search?

No? Then you have some company! In the past three weeks, I’ve launched a new search (Yes! I’m back in the Candidates Chair). My first refresher lesson: Reset my expectations around the ‘truth’.

To date, I received in response to jobs applied to, inquiries to open positions and requests to network

The ‘Dear John’ letter: ‘You were one of our top candidates to choose from, however, …”.

Cliché-Fiesta: Responses which filled an e-mail but said very little.

In Vague: Responses using terms like “new events internally”, “other factors”

No Response: Silence is the new ‘no’.

For each there was little true feedback to act upon to improve my pitch or understand why there was not a fit or interest. To keep my frustration in check, I’ve adopted the following practices when this happens.

Philosophy: “There are opportunities out there for me; this is just not one of them”. Move on and not waste time on speculating over what happened (or not) did little to give me actionable information.

Document misunderstandings: If I ever had to address a misunderstanding of my background, etc. it was generally due to not delivering it correctly (not concise, vague description, etc.)

Review of my document: I find people that would give me direct (and sometimes ruthless) feedback. I would also review other candidates’ documents for presentation, excellent explanations of duties, etc.

Interviewing skills: Immediately following every interview, I would write down what went well and what fell flat (did the same for networking meetings that yielded great results.) This running list of items helped me when practicing answers.

In short, no one is going to fill your ‘Truth’ bucket. So best do it yourself.

As always, make this work for you and hope this helps.

Good luck today!

Mark Richards

www.candidateschair.com – Tools and Advice from a Candidate’s viewpoint to help get past job search roadblocks and keep your spirit strong. Please take a visit.



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