5 Unfortunate Truths About Being "In Career Transition"

Welcome To The Suck

The process of being "in transition" is like no other. Not only do you have no outwardly dictated plans on any given weekday, but you don't really know how long your unstructured time off will last (another week, another month, a few months?) or what your day to day life will look like once the transition is over. There's also the issue of figuring out what to do with yourself when you're not job searching--in addition to feeling guilty because you're not doing more job searching, that is. As an extra added bonus, there are the occasional freak outs about money, nervousness about career prospects and the once in a great while "I will never be employed ever again!" full-on panic.

Suffice it to say that job searching can be full of obstacles that make the process hard to manage. Knowing the possible issues is the first step towards figuring out how to mitigate each challenge and move forward. Here are five unfortunate truths I have discovered about dealing with an unexpected career transition and a few coping strategies for dealing with each. 

The job interview process is riddled with challenges. Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

1. You won't always get an interview for THE PERFECT JOB.

Congratulations! You just found THE PERFECT JOB! You have all of the required and preferred qualifications!  It's at the right level, with your dream company, and you even know someone who works there who will say great things about you! Surely your days of job searching are coming to a close because you are the purple squirrel for THE PERFECT JOB!

Enter reality. I'm sorry to say that you may not even manage to get so much as an initial phone screen for this position. Even when you feel like the job was tailor made for you, someone in a decision making position may not agree. Why might that happen? 

For one, the position may not actually available. Some organizations post job openings to gauge interest in the position even though they have no plans to hire anytime soon. Conversely, the role may have been open for a while and the selection process may be well under way. There could also be an internal person who will take the job without additional people being considered. In some cases, companies may have a policy that they need to post positions externally for a given length of time even though they already have a candidate in mind.  Still other organizations may decide part way through the hiring process to leave a position unfilled, but not remove it from their posted jobs.

Assuming the job is really and for true accepting applicants, there may still be issues. For one, key stakeholders in an organization may have a lack of common agreement on what a job role will do and what constitutes being a well-qualified candidate. Decision makers may also each have their own non-negotiable requirements for the qualifications for the potential hire--which may or may not relate to the person's ability to do the job. Remember that, no matter what the issue is, it seldom has anything to do with you personally. It's just the life of recruiting for and trying to fill positions with the best candidates they can find--sometimes with people who are (unfortunately) not you.

Coping Strategies

• Talk to people who work for the company in that department to find out more about the company and the inside information on the role. Find out if the job is for real open, what the job actually does, who the hiring manager is, and what their ideas are on what it means to be well qualified. More information can help you decide how to proceed--or possibly to skip applying all together.
• When possible, try to have someone already working at the company refer you for a position. This may help you get your resume in front of the hiring manager by someone who can vouch for you as a candidate. 
• ​Apply for multiple positions at different employers and manage your expectations accordingly. Know that you won't get every job that catches your eye--regardless of how qualified you appear to be.
  

2. People who aren't good at their jobs will make your life harder.

Remember a time at your last job when you had to deal with someone who was not good at what they did for a living? Like the salesperson who was rude, never did their paperwork right and missed deadlines? Or the recruiter who didn't keep good notes and forgot who they had phone screened? During your job search, you'll realize those people exist in other organizations, too, and they sometimes stand between you and the job you want. 

It could come in the form of an administrative assistant who is supposed to coordinate your travel for an in-person interview--who didn't make reservations then went on vacation leaving you scrambling to find someone else to help. It may be the recruiter who doesn't realize that a learning management system and a learning content management system are roughly the same thing and wrongly screens you out early on in the process. It may be the hiring manager that is overly concerned with your lack of knowledge of their industry and doesn't believe that anyone could just LEARN what they now know. It might be an insecure possible future coworker who doesn't want to hire someone who might outshine them. Just like in the rest of life, things are not always "fair" and you may not get a job, even if you are a strong candidate. Such is life.

Not everyone is great at their job. Try not to let it get you down. Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

Coping Strategies

• When possible, try to have someone refer you for a role. This may minimize dealing with as many people early on in the process, like during the point where you could be easily screened out, which will (hopefully) make things easier.
• Tailor your resume using the exact words in a job description. This may help someone doing an initial phone screen see that you are qualified for a job on paper even if they don't really understand the details.
• ​Apply for multiple positions at different employers and manage your expectations accordingly. Know that you'll hit hiccups with some, but not all, organizations. You'll hear lots of no in order to hear the one yes you need to get a great job.
• Interview the company as they interview you, and realize that you might not want to work for them either.

3. Along the way, someone will dislike you.

I don't know about you, but I am friggin' delightful. I'm also able to connect and get along well with most people. However, during the interview process, no matter who I am or am not, it's not going to match what someone else thinks the candidate for the position should be. Whether they thought I should have smiled more, made a different outfit choice or given more detailed examples, someone's negative reaction to who I am may take me out of the running for a job. 

People often have their own pet theories about what they'd like in a coworker, manager or direct report. They may be convinced that having the title "account manager" is pivotal for success, that all candidates must have a master's degree, or that people who ride horses are pretentious. You might also have the misfortune of reminding them of the mean girl in high school and BOOM--instant dislike. Again, life isn't necessarily "fair." 

Coping Strategies

• When possible, try to have someone refer you for a position. This gives you at least one person to put in a good word on your behalf with someone at the organization. Hearing that someone already working there thinks you'd be great might help make you appear more likable.
• ​Apply for multiple positions at different employers and manage your expectations accordingly. You'll find someone who realizes how awesome you are. 
• Realize that the converse is true, too. Somewhere, someone will think you are the greatest person ever for what may seem like no good reason. Be happy about that, too. 
• Be nice to everyone. Always. This may help you do well in the job search process overall either directly or indirectly. Either way, being nice to everyone is just a great idea and will help you to be happier in life and build up good karma that will someday pay off. 
• Remember--even if you get an interview with an organization, that might not be the right place for you. Interview the company as they interview you--and realize not every company is going to seem like the right one the more you get to know them.  You may also meet people that you just plain don't like and don't want to work alongside--and you get to do that, too.

4. The interview process may be extensive and/or disorganized.

The job interview process can be anything from one interview to many, many, many interviews depending on the organization and the role. Typically, I expect to have a phone screen with an entry level HR person to confirm that I can speak in sentences, an in-person interview with the manager and potential coworkers and a final interview to either demonstrate skills and/or meet with my potential boss's boss. In addition, a given employer may want to have you do more to demonstrate that you have the skills necessary to do the job. You might be asked to pass written assessments, submit work samples, present to a group or complete a project. They may even have you come into the office for the day and "work" as if you are already in the position for which you are applying.

Interviews could take place over the phone, via web conference, through email, in-person or (more likely) a combination of all of the above. Some companies will have a pre-defined, structured process for the pacing and format of interviews. Other organizations will appear to be making it up as they go along. You may inadvertently skip steps and realize near the end of the process that you missed talking about a basic topic like salary range or work location. You may have interviews one-on-one with many people who you might work with going forward including coworkers, people with whom you'd collaborate with and executives. Sometimes, it may seem that the interview process is never-ending because you have not yet talked with every single person in the organization. 

​Coping Strategies

• During the initial phone screen, ask your interviewer what the company's interview process is. Then you can at least manage your own expectations and plan accordingly.
• ​Apply for multiple positions at different employers and manage your expectations accordingly. 
• Realize that this whole process takes time, and that some organizations have a more well-defined process than others. 
• Make friends with the fact that you may have phone interview after in-person interview after web conference interview and, in the end, still not get the job. At this point, you pick yourself up, assess your overall strategy, make adjustments to what you're doing, and keep on moving forward. 
• Decide when you're no longer interested in a company based on your experience as a candidate and cut your losses. Just like they don't have to hire you, you don't have to work for them either. You have more power than you realize.

5. Time passes more slowly when you're waiting.

I remember being a child, and how LONG the year seemed. It always took forever to get from my birthday at the end of August to Christmas. Enter adulthood. I find myself consistently marveling that it's already whatever day/month/season it is because it seems that it was just that other day/month/season. In this scenario, your employer is the adult, and you are the child.
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​Some companies will be motivated to fill a position and move things pretty quickly, while others might have days, weeks or even months between your contacts with them--all because something that wasn't filling that position became a priority. 
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​What about that two days that the employer estimated it would take them to contact you? It may easily turn into a week, or two. Since they're busy addressing customer issues, traveling to client sites and doing their expense reports, they didn't even realize it took that long. Meanwhile, you're stocking your pantry  awaiting the unemployment apocalypse because you will never get a job ever, ever again. (Except not really because, well, reality.)

I have also had cases where I've had one or more interviews that went well, and then not heard from the company for a week or two. I'll send a follow up message, which sometimes gets the process going again, but at least makes me feel like I've taken the action I can take to let them know I'm still a potential candidate. Keep in mind that holidays, summer, natural disasters, other company events and a host of other valid reasons may keep people from following up with you.

Or, as any job seeker really doesn't want to hear, you may not be getting the job. Responding to a candidate quickly usually shows that the potential employer is interested. In many cases, taking longer to respond may indicate lagging interest. Such is how the whole process works. 

Like sands through the hourglass, so is how slow the passing of time feels when you're waiting for a possible employer to call.

Coping Strategies 

• When possible, try to have someone refer you for a position. As you go through the hiring process, sometimes that person (who you are obligated to shower with gifts if you get the job) might be able to give you some insight on the position and the company's level of interest in you as a candidate.
• Apply for multiple positions at multiple employers. Then you at least have more to wait for than just one possible job. 
• Know that you not hearing back may have more to do with an organization's process (or the time of year, or the company picnic) than with your qualifications.
• Make friends with the fact that you will not get every job. Sometimes an employer will drop off the radar because they aren't interested or they don't have clearly defined processes for letting job seekers know they are no longer being considered. 
• Find other things to do. Apply for other jobs. Go for a walk. Talk to non-job search related humans. Do something that is not sitting and waiting for life to happen to you.

What do you think?

What unfortunate truths about the job search process have you found? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

Learn More

• What is a "Purple Squirrel" and Why Can't You Recruit One?
• The 10 Worst Things about Job Hunting 
• Frustrating Job Search? It's Not You--The System is Broken