This is a follow-up from an article that I wrote not too long ago, in which I detailed my decision to leave my then-current job with nothing lined up. Today, I have accepted an employment offer, thus ending my self-inflicted unemployment. My unemployment was a brief one (only 96 days, which is nearly twice what it took me to write my second book). I will not be giving details as to who my new employer is in this article; you can just stay tuned for when I update my official status on LinkedIn for that. I have always found it to be tacky and distasteful when people update their LinkedIn’s prior to their start date. However, I will say that it isn’t in the industry that I’ve slowly grown to tolerate instead of like over the years.
I discussed in the first article about the intense fear that gripped me when I first gave notice, along with the mild returning episode as I drove off of the lot for the final time. I’m proud to say that those were the only two times I ever had any such feelings. My self-induced joblessness was free of anxiety or fear. Truthfully, I felt that I was in the driver’s seat the entire time. This is because (at least partially) I was; I entered my willing unemployment from a position of strength, and hence I only applied for the jobs that I actually wanted rather than anything at all. I even sent out a few YOLO applications to job postings that were far outside the realms of my resume. Life is short, so take a fucking risk once in a while! There were days that I had nothing scheduled, and it took me a bit longer to get out of bed than usual due to lower motivation and mild sloth. Admittedly, I’ve enjoyed the time off. I’ve enjoyed the nice weather, the workouts, and the ability to write and to pitch publishers on my second book. This self-induced unemployment in a weird way has served as an example as to what retired life could be; wake up, workout, read and write without a care in the world; sign me up! After all, the best hobbies are inexpensive ones.
I learned a few valuable lessons during Q3 as well. Chief among them is that betting on myself is by far the best strategy available to me. My resume was/is strong enough to get frequently noticed. I had days where I was so busy interviewing that getting a job stocking shelves at Wal-Mart wasn’t an option. I was contacted by recruiters from various companies on LinkedIn; many seemed a bit too cheery as they enthusiastically pitched me on various openings within their organization. I would send my resume to them, then numerous times I was either ghosted or got a generic rejection response six weeks later. And this isn’t even getting into the recruiters from “New Jersey”.
There’s more than enough CEO’s, HR executives and recruiters that need to hear this: solid candidates will not tolerate a poor experience. I firmly told a few companies that they needed to move quickly as I was late stage with others interested in my services. While they bobble headed me to death, little was done in the way of expediting a decision. Top candidates will not, repeat will not, wait around for six weeks while your broken process grinds everything to a halt. My previous employer gave me a verbal decision four and a half hours after my interview and the offer letter hit my inbox a day or two after that. Add that in with recruiters who flooded my inbox and then ghosted me after applying and I’ve formed a disdain for a shortlist of companies; for wasting my time I’ll never put up with them again. “But Dan, it’s a small industry!” I’ll inevitably hear. Yeah, and that goes both ways, so they need to get their acts together. Great candidates talk to other great candidates, and only the village idiot denies that.
We also need to have a side conversation about recruiters while we’re on the topic. I’m going to file a cultural notion that we start treating recruiters the same way we treat cops; with maximum disdain. The common line anti-police protestors use the good ones aren’t doing anything about the bad ones is 100% true for recruiters (regardless of how you might feel about the police force). “Well Dan, what do you recommend we do about it from a systemic level?” a mildly infuriated recruiter or curious executive will ask. To that, I’ll borrow another anti-police talking point that aptly fits recruiters; it’s not my job to fix your profession. Now that many of my readers are sharpening their pitchforks, let me answer the question in earnest; spreadsheets and social media. Yes, I encourage job seekers to keep a spreadsheet of each recruiter interaction one has, and the ultimate ghosted/not-ghosted result. With this information, start posting it on LinkedIn-better yet tag the offending party. For the ultimate in permanence, we can even put it on the blockchain as well. The good recruiters will have nothing to worry about (another police-related talking point that I just culturally appropriated!). Enough public shaming will inevitably spur on action; hell, it got bodycams on cops, didn’t it?
Generally speaking, I interviewed relatively well. My journey yielded a few job offers, and I got to the final stages in several more applications. There were only a handful of questions that I either could have handled more concisely or should’ve answered differently altogether. I kept a spreadsheet of my job applications (which I strongly recommend, as it prevents a mental lapse caused by trying to memorize the details of every application), so it was easy for me to keep data. I had a 49% ghost rate (that is, I sent an application and heard nothing back, not even a rejection), a 37% overt rejection rate, and ultimately, I had a 2% job offer rate. I viewed the application and interviewing process as the numbers game that it truly is, and hence I took nothing personally; tying your mental well-being to your employment status is a losing proposition (seriously, stop it).
Admittedly, my statistics could have been better; While I did reach out to a few people in my network (you know who you are, and I appreciate it). I could have reached out far more than I did, though I don’t view this as a bad thing. I dislike relying on someone to get me in, as it creates a slanted power dynamic, and I hate feeling that I owe someone. Thus, I’m willing to sacrifice a few percentage points that nobody would have otherwise known about to maintain a feeling of independence. Another lesson learned; your network cannot always come to save you, nor should you expect them to.
Honestly, I could have kept my search going on, even as the offers hit my inbox. Could I have landed a slightly better gig with mildly better pay/hours/whatever? Likely. However, I’m not willing to put my life on hold, because as we’ve established, life is short. Besides, doing that would have been inherently searching for the perfect job, which my father quashed that ridiculous notion in me decades ago. Time waits for no one, and chasing the perfect job-especially when a pretty good one is already in hand-is a fool’s errand.
Lessons learned are valuable, though it’s time to go to the future.
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