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With any career change or job search, there’s risk involved. There’s the emotional risk of rejection, and the financial risk of going too long between jobs without a paycheck. And, if you’re still in your current job, there’s the risk of your boss finding out you’re seeking something new.
Another risk is not knowing what you don’t know. Many job seekers think they know all the nuances of conducting a job search. But, they also have a lot of blind spots they can’t see. These blind spots include but are not limited to the following:
- Not understanding why their resume doesn’t get them job interviews or doesn’t get any response at all.
- Confusion as to why they’re not getting to the next round of interviews or not receiving a job offer.
- No knowledge of unadvertised job opportunities.
- An overall misunderstanding of how to use their time wisely so they can reduce the amount of time it takes to conduct a job search. (Which on average is around three to nine months, even in a good job market.)
- How to make a decision between multiple offers.
A Tale of Two Clients
Client one
I have a client who I signed about two weeks ago, the same day I first met her. She knew the time would soon come when either she’d get laid off from her current job, or she’d quit due to burnout. She was ready to commit to getting help.
In the first week working together, she’d already accomplished much of the homework I’d given her, even while working full-time.
In her second week of career coaching, she already had four potential job opportunities come her way, without even having to search annoying online job boards. Instead of seeking, she’s being sought. Recruiters are flocking to her.
She’s accomplished this by correcting the blind spots I pointed out to her, and by following the advice and strategies I gave her. She told me even though she was a bit intimidated at first to try some of those strategies, she decided to ignore her fears and push through. As a result, her job search is on a fast track!
Client two
On the other hand, I have a potential client who’s taken over a month so far to decide if he wants to receive help, despite the fact he’s been looking for a job on his own for nearly seven months with no success.
He admitted he has difficulty making decisions and is very risk-averse. But not making a decision is in fact, making a decision. And choosing to do nothing instead of something can be just as risky as making “the wrong” decision.
He says he’s not seeing any opportunities in his field right now, and would rather wait until he starts to see them to begin career coaching.
Which is the bigger risk?
Client one took some real risks.
First, she put herself out there even though it was scary. Also, a week after we started working together, she took a calculated risk and quit her current job.
When she saw what the severance package would be with a pending layoff two weeks later, she realized it was more beneficial for her to forego the severance package, leave her job now, and make her job search her new full-time job, throwing herself fully into the strategies already working for her.
She knew the following two weeks would be best spent focusing on finding her next opportunity, rather than finishing out her current job for little severance and more burnout.
Client two is also taking some risks. He’s choosing to wait until opportunities are available to begin working on his blind spots. By then however, he may not be able to correct quickly enough.
Not only may he need time to learn some new strategies or improve his interview skills to land a job offer, he may also need time to unlearn some bad habits and correct any blind spots he may have.
In addition, he’s taking the risk of missing out on some unadvertised opportunities.
While he may think he’s “playing it safe” by doing nothing right now, he’s actually taking some even bigger risks than the first client.
How to see the unseen
The same week client one had four potential job opportunities, another client of mine (we’ll call her Client 3) also had a few opportunities fall into her lap, and she wasn’t even looking because she’s already in the job I helped her land a year and a half ago.
But, because she’s so good at what she does and continues to follow the career advice she gained from our career coaching relationship, she has an opportunity for two different promotions in other departments at her current company, and one for her ultimate dream job with a different organization.
Career coaching can help job seekers discover and see the hidden opportunities that go unadvertised. In addition, it can open candidates’ eyes to their own blind spots where they might need some improvement in their resume, interviewing skills, networking strategies, or more.
Taking the time to figure out as soon as possible what areas you might need help can prepare you for when an opportunity presents itself. You don’t want to wait until an opportunity is at hand to start figuring out what you’ve been doing wrong. If you do, the opportunity could quickly pass you by, thus delaying your job search even longer.
Risk-free ways to find your next job opportunity
If you’re facing a job search or career change, there are some risk-free ways to improve your strategy:
1. You can learn some proven strategies in my free video course, 5 Ways to Pursue Your Passions in Life & Work.
2. For a limited time, you can pay what you want for any of my other online video courses to get advice on résumé writing, interviewing, networking, and more. (Regularly priced at $87 each; excludes bonus courses and the course bundle.) This offer is good until April 30th, 2025. Email me directly for more details on how to name your own price.
