I have two clients who celebrated new job offers this past week, and it was truly the highlight of my week.
There's nothing better than getting that text that reads with excitement and optimism that someone has successfully interviewed and now accepted a new job. Especially considering how difficult this job market is.
I write this today to give you encouragement that if you're seeking a new role, don't give up; your role is out there waiting for you sooner than you think.
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It's easy to lose sight of that when you're in the middle of the search. You apply. You wait. You get ghosted. You interview and think it went great, only to get the generic rejection email three days later. After enough of those, you start wondering if maybe the problem is you.
That's the dangerous part of a long job search. The market can start messing with your confidence. You begin rewriting your resume for the fifteenth time, second-guessing your experience, lowering your expectations, and convincing yourself that maybe you're not as valuable as you thought you were. Most of the time, none of that is true. You're just in a brutally competitive process.
Both of these clients had moments where they were frustrated, discouraged, and tired of hearing some version of, "We decided to move forward with another candidate." They kept going anyway. They kept networking. They kept applying. They kept preparing for interviews. They kept following up. Eventually, one conversation turned into the right conversation.
You don't need every company to want you. You don't need ten offers. You need one company, one hiring manager, and one opportunity.
That's really all it takes. You don't need every company to want you. You don't need ten offers. You need one company, one hiring manager, and one opportunity where the timing, role, compensation, and fit all come together at the same time.
The hard part is that you have absolutely no idea which application or conversation is going to be the one. The LinkedIn message you almost don't send could lead to an introduction. The recruiter call you're tempted to skip could turn into three interviews. The job posting that looks like a long shot could end up being the place that sees exactly what you bring to the table.
So if you're searching right now, keep playing offense. Keep talking to people. Keep putting yourself into conversations. Keep improving how you tell your story. You can take a day to be frustrated when something falls apart, but don't let one rejection convince you that the entire search is broken.
I got two texts this week that reminded me how quickly the story can change. One day you're wondering if anyone is ever going to hire you, and a few days later you're negotiating a start date and figuring out how to tell your current company you're leaving.
Keep going. Your text might be the one I'm celebrating next week.