Getting a Job and Continue Looking
Thanks Liz and Molly! I always get a mojo boost when I talk with you. Before we get off the phone I have one more question.
What's that?
I don't want you to think I'm a slimebag.
Why would we remotely think that, Peter? You're the last thing from a slimebag - either that or you're a master of deception. We've known you for months.
Okay, well, I warned you. I'm wondering whether I can accept a job offer and keep my job search going.
Of course you can. You can do whatever you want to do. There are consequences, of course.
It sounds like you don't want me to do it.
No, we don't want you to do it. We want you to get an awesome job and be thrilled to start the job and stop job-hunting for a while. You'll have an eye open on the talent market, of course. That doesn't stop. Why are you considering taking a job and keeping your job search going?
Because it would be great to have a steady income right now. I do like the consulting, and thanks again for getting me off my rear end and into my consulting persona. That's one of the nudges I'm most grateful for.
That's good. But if you're consulting and pursuing a full-time job search, why do you doubt that you can find a job that is more than a holding pattern? It seems like you're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy here. You haven't really begun to interview yet. Why would you imagine that you're going to be faced with taking a job you wouldn't like?
Just the market.
The market is good, Peter! The market for financially well-versed Business Development people is excellent. What is squashing your mojo right now?
I guess -- I guess I'm hedging my bets. It might be quicker and easier to find a holding pattern job, as you call it, than the ideal dream job.
That is definitely likely, but we would encourage you to keep looking rather than to accept a job you know isn't right for you. Think about it this way. Let's say you take a pretty unexciting job just for the income.
Let's say you start the new job, and you keep looking. What will you say to other employers about the job you just started? They're going to wonder 'If we hire Peter just a few weeks after he started a new job, is he going to do the same thing to us -- take the job offer and keep the job search going?'
At the same time, you can't very well keep quiet about the fact that you've just started a new job. That's going to be a huge hurdle in your job search. What about taking a survival job if you're concerned about finances?
It isn't really that. Between the consulting I'm doing and my wife's job I'm certainly not destitute. I mean, I talk to you guys and that isn't cheap. It's more that I'm sick of looking.
BEAT.
Maybe that sounded illogical. I haven't really started looking.
BEAT.
You know what I think? I think that I was thinking that a crappy job I could get quickly would solve one problem. I would have a base station, if you will. I would have a place to go and a business card.
I was thinking I'd keep the job search going, but now as I think about it I don't think that's a good idea.
That makes all the sense in the world, Peter. We all tend to think "This or that will be easy," like your example, "Getting a holding-pattern job will be easy, and keeping my job search going while working at my holding-pattern job will be easy," but those halfway moves are always so much more complicated than we expect.
Think about the elements that would make your holding-pattern job less than ideal. They're probably aspects of the job description, the company's strategy or lack thereof, the quality of the leadership -- all of those things will suck your mojo away.
In our experience when someone takes a job at a lower level than they're used to, just to be working again, keeping the job search going for a higher-level job is a very big task.
If the holding-pattern job goes on your resume, it pulls your whole resume down. If it doesn't go on the resume, then you're living a double life! You're job-hunting without telling future employers that you're already working. Very tall order.
We're going to hypothesize that you're feeling a bit confused and unfocused right now, with two very part-time consulting clients and no clear plan just yet. Is that in the ballpark?
That's dead on.
Let's construct a plan. Let's go to a very high level of altitude and figure out what you really want in your next job. Let's shoot high rather than making plans to shoot low and then trying to climb out of the basement.
I see what you're saying. I kind of went to the bunker right away.
A lot of people do. We are so used to going to that office and sitting at that desk and having a business card. Those feel like really important things when we're suddenly displaced, the way you were.
I got the rug pulled right out from under me after eighteen years!
We understand completely. The emotional side of a downsizing doesn't get nearly enough attention. You have to recover. It takes time.
I actually feel pretty good about the fact that I created my consulting business out of nothing and have two clients already. I'm going to make thirty-five hundred dollars consulting this month. It's not anywhere near my old salary, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye, as they say.
That's fantastic, Peter! You rule! We're going to send you some exercises. You're going to stop thinking about stopgap jobs and keeping your job search going while you're working at a job you don't like. We're going in the exact opposite direction.
You're going to envision your ideal situation down to the color of your business cards. You're going to design it. That will make it much easier for you to recognize promising keyholes for conversation when you come across them. You're going to plan, and expect, to be delighted with your next job. You're going to shoot for the best possible situation, not the worst.
That makes all the sense in the world. Now I feel embarrassed.
Don't be silly! You don't need to be embarrassed. This is why we talk about all this stuff. You have a gazillion thoughts and ideas and concerns. You have to get them out of your head and turn them over. Then they clear up.
That's true. You guys rock.
You rock too, Peter. Have a great weekend!
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-i-take-job-keep-looking-liz-ryan
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