In my years as an Executive Resume Writer, Executive Coach, and eMBA Coach, I’ve seen high earners who put their job searches on hold because they expect to get a job offer in a few weeks or months. I’ll tell you exactly what I tell my clients: The cardinal sin of job searches is to stop and wait. Don’t press pause on your job search, fill your pipeline with upcoming offers!
That’s the true crux of the problem. I see so many job seekers who submit resumes, have a great interview, and then just sit down and wait for a call. Instead of continuing to send out resumes and networking constantly, they wait to hear from one potential employer. Shop around for competing offers!
By continuing your search and actively seeking as many offers as you can get within a short period, you increase your chances of landing a great opportunity AND you strengthen your negotiating position. Instead of having to evaluate a single offer without the surety of another coming along, you can have multiple offers at once, which allows you to ask for the compensation you deserve or bargain effectively for whatever is important to you; perks, start dates, moving costs, etc.
Approach a job search as though it were a full-time job if you’re not working, and an additional part-time job if you’re fully employed. Actively manage your career growth instead of passively waiting for opportunities to come to you. You are the manager of your own career, no one else will represent you or sell you as well as you can. So by all means, don’t press pause!
