Career Coaching Expert Recommendations to Build Confidence, Overcome Rejection. The Job Market Will Respond.
You’re not alone. Everyone taking on an executive job search winds up in this windless sea at one time or another. Don’t criticize yourself or blame other people. The stasis may not really be stasis at all, and success may be brewing beyond your sight. Or it may indeed be stasis, in which case you simply have to ride it out.
You will regain momentum if you are persistent and continue to focus on improving your job search strategy, the quality of your executive resume, and your interview preparation expertise.
It’s like poker. Play with five people and over time you will get one-fifth of all winning hands. But luck is luck, and you’ll go through spells where nothing works out right. The solution is simply to look long-term and not to change your overall sound strategy. The bad luck always ends.
Understand, too, that your job campaign may face intrinsic uphill problems. If you are a senior vice president seeking to become a CEO, for instance, you face the problem of board preference for sitting CEO’s. And that preference is understandable since a current CEO will have a record performing the task. So you may require career planning advice and your job search may take longer—but it may also reward your patience.
Keep in mind that if your job search has been underway for only a month or two, expecting immediate results isn’t fair. There are many likely reasons that are not your fault.
If you send in your resume but don’t get an interview:
- The screener may have missed the right points in scanning your resume. The document may have failed to highlight them or the screener may simply have succumbed to resume brain-blur. Professional resume writing services can help, but cannot always prevent brain-blur.
- Many positions have unspoken requirements and you may have failed to meet one. To succeed, you would have had to be a mind-reader and perhaps a liar.
- An unusual number of outstanding candidates may have appeared. You can’t control the quality of the competition.
- The employer may have withdrawn the position, because of, say, financial constraints.
- The employer may have known the successful candidate from the outset, and run through the application process as a formality.
If you get an interview but not the position:
- The employer may have made the wrong choice. It happens every day in every town and city in the nation.
- The successful applicant may have been a genius, and you may have come in second. You don’t know who beat you. You may, in fact, have greatly impressed the employer.
- You may have failed to meet an unspoken requirement. Often career coaching can help to identify areas where it would benefit you to develop your skills and credentials.
- You may have fallen prey to unknowable politics, such as inter-department feuds.
- You may have been too good. If you are a charismatic COO, for instance, a CEO may feel threatened.
- You may have just been unlucky. Sometimes employers themselves aren’t entirely sure why they picked one person over another.
Sometimes a search stalls from failure to take appropriate actions. Examine possible roadblocks carefully. You should be actively networking, for instance. Analyze yourself as if you were a third person. Ask, “What is the best thing to do?” rather than, “What should I do?” Change tack and you’ll often find you’re making headway again.
Shimmering Careers Resume Writing, Career Counseling, and Job Search Strategy Will Help
Shimmering Careers offers an array of valuable services to aid anyone embarking on an entry-level to executive job search. From LinkedIn profile writing to resume and cover letter writing services as well as job interview preparation and career planning, we're here to help make your job search pay off. Call or explore our packages to see how we can help you advance and earn the position you want and deserve.