ZIF TIP: Have a Few Things on the Go

ZIF TIPS are nuggets of advice that are universally helpful.  Use as needed.  

Have a few things on the go.  This is a great piece of advice for smoothing out the emotional roller coaster and giving off the right vibe when you are looking for a job.

Think about it.

You spot the posting.  And it speaks to you.  It feels like the perfect fit.  Finally, this might be the one!  You think hard about what to write as you want to get noticed and expect tons of responses.  You speak from the heart and email your cover note along with all of your details. Fingers crossed it’s enough.  

And then you wait.  Obsessively checking your messages.  Really hoping with each ping it might be them getting in touch.  It’s hard to concentrate on anything else.  And then it happens – contact!  You schedule a time to meet.  You do your research.  Google to see what other info you can dig up.  You really want to make a good impression.  Carefully pick out your outfit.  Run through points about yourself in your head.

You go to the meeting.  It was great! You nailed it with your answers to all their questions.  You had a good rapport.  It felt really comfortable.  They talked about meeting again.  When you left they said several times they would be in touch in a few days to figure out next steps.  And then you waited.  And waited. And waited.  Tried to follow up a couple of times, but they never responded.  It’s done.  You have no idea what went wrong.  You replayed the whole meeting a million times in your head looking for answers.  Nothing.

More defeated than ever you finally decide to get out there and try again because next time it will be different.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  If your ego can take it.

Now we did say this was universal advice didn’t we?  Try re-reading those last 4 paragraphs again and look at it through a different lens.  Remind you of online dating?  Wanting a relationship?   A lot of parallels aren’t there?  The perfect match.  Hoping for contact.  A bit of online ‘research’.  (Stalking?). The meeting that just clicks (at least for you!).  Imagining the possibilities.   Waiting.  Trying to prompt a response.  The ghosting.  The aftermath of trying to figure out what happened.  The highs and the lows.

But think how much better that last scenario would have gone if you weren’t just resting your hopes on the one person getting back to you.  That all your time, energy, and thoughts weren’t solely focused on just this one outcome.  (Be it a new job, new relationship, or whatever applies.)  

Do everything in your power to generate as much activity as possible and keep chipping away at a bunch of different ideas to keep things moving.  That way every meeting isn’t THE MEETING.  You can be excited about it, but knowing there is other stuff brewing out there for you is huge.  And psychologically a much better vibe to give off.  It isn’t “please, please, please let this be the one because this is so great and the most perfect thing in the world for me”, but “hey this seems good, but if it doesn’t work out I got other possibilities out there.” The highs and lows get smoothed out because you are always moving forward.  Others respond to that.  It’s neediness/desperation vs confident/relaxed.

See?  Have a few things on the go.