Life on the Narrow Path - Focusing on the Goal and Avoiding Obstacles

In mountain biking, one has to focus on the path ahead and avoid the rocks, branches, and other impediments in the pathway.  In addition there are various strategies of maintaining speed and control both during the climbs and descents (e.g. emotional ups and downs of job search).  Similar parallels can be found in job search.  The last part of the blog is to answer the question "Why Me?" 

It is obvious to anyone in job search that we have good and bad days.  The good days or weeks are full of great networking interviews, connecting to hiring managers via LinkedIn or via introductions, and having successful job interviews.  The bad days occur when we do not hear back for weeks or months to applications or submitted resumes, when we do not hear back after a telephone interview and/or when we receive news that someone else was selected.  Sometimes hearing bad news early on is better than not hearing anything for weeks/months and still having hope that something will occur.  If you have had a telephone interview or an in person interview, one of your closing questions should be whether it is ok to email or communicate within a week to find out any progress.  Make sure you have sent the thank-you note immediately after the interview.  A handwritten note is best but an email will suffice if you don't have an address.  Remember one thing that you need to communicate to them that came up in the interview.  This might be done the next day if you need to do some more business  intelligence.

Your focus in job search as soon as possible is to get to a hiring manager and provide them answers to their problems.  Be a solution to their pain points.  Continue to communicate with these key hiring managers as frequently as is feasible with new suggestions, with news items, white papers, or other business intelligence.  If they're looking for someone with different skills, see if you can find that candidate referral from your networking contacts.  Remember during the good days/weeks to continue to build your job search pipeline because you'll need this during the slower or down weeks.  In mountain biking there is an art to both climbing and descending but also a requirement to show consideration for other bikers by calling out on blind curves.  If you know a preference of a hiring manager for someone you're introducing, let that person know before the interview.  The more considerate you are of those in your network, the more likely they are to help you.

Some of the obstacles you might face in your job search is being too broad in your search or even too narrow.  Let you networking contacts help in defining your search strategies.  Don't appear too desperate but also not too cavalier.  You need to show passion with those jobs that are not your dream job because they might lead into that dream opportunity once hired.

Now answering the question, "Why me?  If growth comes via challenges and overcoming obstacles, shouldn't we be asking "Why not me?"  Since we know that we are not given challenges or trials too tough for us to handle, then we just need to look at them as opportunities.  In my final blog post in this series, I'm going to address the beauties of the trip and how to journal these experiences.