Job Search Strategies for Survival, Part Four

Part 4:      Manners and Me-First

It may sound like common knowledge to send a follow-up thank you email to your interviewer after your conversation, but you would be shocked at how many candidates don’t do this. The goal of being a stand-out applicant doesn’t only apply to the screening stage; you want to continue putting your best foot forward even after the interview takes place.

In the current market, it’s usually a small subset of applicants who are invited to interview – and not all of them are going to take this small but powerful step to express their gratitude and reiterate their interest. Be one of the applicants who does.

Notice I presented this as a two-part opportunity: expressing your gratitude AND reiterating your interest. Imagine you're an advertiser who just spent top dollar for a Super Bowl commercial. Treat this outreach like that opportunity - a fleeting moment in time where you want to seize every second of their attention and every centimeter on that screen they're reading. This means standing out as an interested applicant, but that only matters if you ALSO set yourself apart as the most qualified person for this role.

Be specific - WHY are you grateful for the conversation you had? Was it because of the passion they demonstrated for the work they do? Was it when the conversation veered towards topic (fill in the blank) and their input really struck a chord in you? Was it the specific way they answered your question about (fill in the blank)? Give them the replay - bring the moment to life and help jog their memory about this one-in-a-million discussion that is worth their while to remember.

Will they respond? Maybe. Probably not. And that’s fine – their reply isn’t what we’re after here. It’s to multiply the impression we left behind and stay top-of-mind as they consider which applicants will advance. We can’t control if they respond, but we can control whether or not we seize every opportunity to put ourselves on their radar.

Not sure what to say? You guessed it – tap into your AI partner for some starting inspiration. Tweak it to sound like you and infuse some of your unique personality, combined with the unique nuances of the discussion. Don’t let writer’s block be the reason you don’t take this quick, easy but critical step – let AI tag in.

And then?

Do what you need to do to take care of yourself. Self-care is so incredibly important to sustain the positivity, commitment and momentum that critically impacts your outcomes here.

This process can be all-consuming, and there are layers of factors here that may subconsciously turn you into your own micro-manager. You probably didn’t wake up one day hoping to be in this situation. Whether being in this job market was totally your decision, partially your call or completely out of your hands, it’s natural to feel compelled to dedicate your entire soul 24/7 to finding a new job. Maybe it’s due to very real financial strain. Perhaps there’s an inner monologue telling you that you “should” have a job right now and you’d better make this right. It could be that you’re grieving your work self, and/or desperately miss the sense of daily purpose that your alarm clock gave you in your past life. Whatever the reason, this die-hard conviction to finding your next role could be the very thing preventing you from giving your best to this journey.

Plan your days and week to include breaks from your laptop and phone. Take a walk. See a movie. Watch a new true crime documentary. Let yourself sleep in on a rainy day. You need to take care of yourself – it’s your best self who will land your best new role.

Much like a watched pot never boils, staring a hole into your inbox isn’t going to magically force a job offer to appear. You’re a dynamic, multi-faceted person. Gift yourself with dynamic, multi-faceted elements to your day-to-day right now. You need it. And more importantly, you deserve it.