By Maria McGinnis, CALS Career Services
The media blames the economy, some employers blame ill-prepared interview candidates, some job seekers even blame a disorganized hiring process. Regardless of your rationale, finding a job can be really hard. It’s an investment (and often a drain) from a time and emotional standpoint. Even if a candidate has a skill set that is in high demand – getting someone to just say “yes” is a process. I’ll outline a few areas that hopefully help put things in perspective.
1. How much is too much?
If you have ever come in for an appointment, you know that I advocate applying for multiple jobs at one time. Depending on your field – I might even suggest as many as 20 or 30. The reason is simple – the more jobs you apply for, the better your chances of getting multiple interviews. HOWEVER – employers can “sniff” out people who don’t really care about their company – but just want a job. So yes – you might apply for 20 jobs, but you need to tailor your cover letter and resume for each one of them. Like dating, no one wants to feel like the second choice. Tailoring your materials takes lots of time and energy – so you need to decide for yourself – “how much can I handle at one time”? Your answer might be five to start and over time it might increase to 10. Whatever the number, make sure it’s something that you are comfortable with.
2. Are you prepared?
You have spent the 2-3 hours preparing an application (yes folks, 2-3 hours), you created an online profile with your dream company and submitted your materials. You waited the customary week and followed up to make sure everything was received. Low and behold you have been invited to interview. You are busy, plus it’s summer. Studying for an interview is not really something at the top of your list. The bottom line is this: you have to treat interviews like exams. You would never take a calculus final without studying – would you? The same goes for interviews. You need to put in your time on the company website, reviewing behavioral questions, and using tools like LinkedIn to research the people who will be interviewing you. After time, you will get really good at the behavioral questions, and your interview prep will focus more on the company.
3. Rejection hurts.
When you are in the midst of an aggressive job hunt – rejection is unavoidable. If you are one of the lucky ones out there who has never been rejected in a job search -your time will come – trust me 
. When the rejection comes – it often knocks you down emotionally – even physically. The good news is: it gets easier with time and having a thick skin is a good quality in a job seeker and an employee. While you might be making some fundamental mistakes in your interview – often it’s not even about you. It just wasn’t your time – and this wasn’t the right job. I won’t go getting spiritual on you, but yes – I do believe that there is a plan for each of us…and getting rejected from one job gets you that much closer to the job you are supposed to have. If you are noticing a pattern of rejection – I think it’s totally acceptable to ask the employer for feedback. You might be surprised by what they say – but be prepared for them to be brutally honest.
4. Back to basics.
You followed my advice in step 3 and got some feedback from an employer who interviewed you and ended up hiring another candidate. He or she indicated that you seemed nervous and struggled to clearly convey how you might contribute to the organization. BINGO! Time to brush up on your interview skills. Conversely, you might get feedback that indicates that they enjoyed interviewing you, your communication skills were excellent, you answered the questions appropriately and you expanded your answers where necessary. They hired someone who had more experience in areas XYZ. In this scenario – there isn’t much that you could have done better. It’s often tough to understand, but in this economy, many employers are not taking big risks when it comes to employees – even if it would make them more successful in the end. They often hire people who are “safe” in terms of having done the exact job before – even if you could have learned the material you lacked and eventually outperformed the person they hired. It’s just reality. Accept it, and move on. Make sure to thank the hiring manager for giving you feedback and ask them to keep your materials on file if something else should come up.
5. Thrill of the chase?
For many job seekers, getting employers to “say yes” becomes an obsession. The competitive aspect of finding a job takes over and it becomes more about the thrill of the chase and less about actually taking the job if offered. If this is that case for you – it’s time to reevaluate your approach. If you come off as overly aggressive or “canned” – employers are going to keep saying no. This isn’t the opening of deer season – no employer wants to feel like they are your prey! If you find yourself forgoing things that are important to you, constantly worrying and obsessing over the next up and coming job opening – you might consider taking some time off from the job search. However, if you find a good job posting you should still apply – just don’t let it consume you. A healthy mind and body is the key to performance – especially in the job search.
Keep up the great work!
“Just because something isn’t happening for you right now, doesn’t meant that it will never happen”
