Job search is the most important life decision next to buying a home, marrying, becoming a parent or launching a new business. In all of these other life events, we typically surround ourselves with a team of experts – doctors, realtors, brokers, attorneys or coaches. When it comes to job search, from what I’ve seen, most people just wing it.
Even worse, job seekers tend to treat interviewing like dating, going in not enough due diligence, prep and planning, along with the attitude, “Let’s see what happens.” Job search is not like dating at all. It’s more like applying to a lender for a home loan. If someone is going to lend you 400k, they want proof that you aren’t a psycho, flake or unstable. When you apply for a mortgage, you have to provide months of bank statements, W2s, tax returns along with verification of employment.
Potential employers are exactly the same. I can assure you that companies aren’t winging it with potential new hires. Need a hint? It’s called “Preboarding.” When you are forced to wait two weeks to go through an entire reference check, background verification, drug test, plus in healthcare a physical and also in some organizations, even deeper screens to ensure that you aren’t likely to be a liability.
So if employers are doing their due diligence on you, many times with Hiring Manager resorting to very unethical and highly discriminatory off the record back channel references, you should be upping your game when it comes to your job search. That means:
- Researching the company and its financial health, including the viability of their business model.
- Determining if you can actually work for the potential Hiring Manager – yes, it’s a huge issue.
- Completing an accurate market pricing of the role in question. Don’t just go to some sites like Glassdoor and pick the highest number.
- Conducting an honest self assessment of your development areas in terms of experience, technology, software, certifications and education. Far too many mid career professionals are not consistently upgrading their toolkits.
- Proactively confirming contact info and obtaining consent from your references to include them.
- DIscussing your potential opportunities with your partner long before the offer stage.
- Having a plan to deal with a potential counteroffer from your current employer.
Let’s discuss this a bit more. Every Executive Recruiter’s nightmare is after extending a verbal offer, hearing a candidate say, “I have to discuss with my wife/husband/partner/significant other/my person. I haven’t told them yet.” That means a no. If you are in a job search and already interviewed, and are receiving an offer, it’s just really bad manners and interview etiquette to leave the most important discussion to the end.
So there are all different ways to wing it when it comes to job search. It’s easy to look like an amateur. It’s not just showing up unprepared. It’s also accepting an offer, emailing late on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, to inform the Hiring Manager that you really won’t be at work on Monday because you just accepted a counteroffer from your current employer. Don’t count on being considered at that organization ever again. If you are going to accept a counter, have finesse about how you do it. First pick up the phone and call your Executive Recruiter. Then have the courage to call the Hiring Manager.
If you are unsure about any of the key components of the job search process, hire a career coach. I’m a job search strategist. I just worked with a client who was interviewing and received an offer 30k more than her current undermarket salary. I coached her on how to go back to her current employer, get them to counter, put it in writing and then go back to the first Recruiter and inform them with class. She got a huge well deserved increase, made no enemies and behaved like a job search pro.
I worked with another client who was undermarket by 20k and was interviewing for a stretch role. This happens a lot when someone moves from a low cost of living market to a high cost of living market like LA or NYC. He needed to be able to negotiate and be considered as a viable candidate for the higher level comp and bigger role. We planned for each key event in the interview cycle – resume submission, phone interview, onsite interviews and final presentation. He received the offer he wanted and is thrilled.
Your job search strategist and career coach is part parent and part preacher. You need someone like that in your corner. The worst thing you can do is just “see how it goes.” Did you ever do that before when you applied for college? A home loan? Stop thinking of interviewing like it’s dating.