Hey all, a few housekeeping things…
First, a quick health check:
Mental and emotional health: This week marks the start of my 4th month on the job hunt. I briefly wrote about it here and am super lucky to feel supported.
I'm also realistic that things will likely slow down once Memorial Day hits, so we'll see what happens. If you're balancing recruiting and freelancing like I am, factor in seasonality.
My biggest lesson recently was that I should've rescheduled an interview that took place two days after the Atlanta shooting. I showed up like a zombie and it's been irking me more than usual because not showing up as my best self is one thing…not showing up as myself at all is another. Anyway, I'm living and learning.
Physical health: I treat interviewing like a sport; I eat well, am extra diligent about sleep, and do my best to recover.
Regardless of what I do, though, there's a nervous energy that naturally comes with interviewing. I feel like my body's on high alert every time I'm quickly sifting through a list of examples in my mind before appearing to effortlessly share the most relevant one to answer some 'tell me about a time' question.
On top of that, I got my first vaccine shot and experienced side effects that led me to reschedule one of my interviews last week (living and learning!). Long story short, I slept 16 hours and ate like a baby dinosaur, so if you're getting one anytime soon, my tip is to block your calendar and have food ready, just in case.
Second, an apology for the late send:
Rick Rubin's IG post yesterday said "Quality over deadlines" and this definitely rings true for me this week. A few folks reached out on Monday seeking career advice and I just didn't have the energy to write after 5 hours of phone chats. The way I see it, my friends' peace of mind on some time-sensitive items as well as sending you a quasi-coherent piece of writing is more important than whether you read this on a Tues or Wed. Still, I'm pretty big on accountability and just want to acknowledge it.
I say 'quasi-coherent' because my thoughts here are more scattered than usual, but since I don't anticipate the flow to improve with time, we're just going to settle for that wonderful 80/20 effort. Today is part 1 of hopefully only 2 posts re: why I named this Squirrel on a Road Trip.
Food for thought
I get take-out from a Chinese restaurant that has the best fortune cookies, which my dad will periodically emphasize is an American invention. The messages in these particular cookies are absolute fire - see below; regardless of my love-hate relationship with this expressed wisdom, I can't deny its truth.
When it comes to job hunting, I pretty much do everything I can to avoid applying online at the start. Between passing the ATS test (which I rarely do) and recognizing that many jobs have a short list of candidates by the time they’re posted, I just don't expect the odds to work in my favor if I'm some person in a system. This isn't to say that I shouldn't be in the system eventually, but it's a matter of things such as referral policies and word of mouth, which is ultimately a function of my network.
A decade in the making
I used to despise the word networking because I associated an unappealing set of behaviors with it - you know the ones. Fortunately, this changed once I decided that I wasn't going to engage in any way I didn’t want to, and quickly learned the relief that comes with not playing 'the game.' Don't get me wrong - I know how to, but prefer letting people assume I'm naïve because life has shown me many times that you get what you give - passion begets passion, kindness begets kindness, and negativity begets negativity.
About a year and a half ago, I was finally able to do something that has been a decade in the making - tell everyone from students to C-suites that I network “on a vibe” without sacrificing professional credibility. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not kidding; if you don't know me, well…you're beginning to. I say it because it’s the quickest way to figure out who my people are; those who get it, get it, and it makes all the difference to my dear soul.
What's there to get?
(This is when I don't know if I'll make sense if we’ve never met, but I’ll give it a shot.) The vibe I seek is one that prioritizes sincerity over transaction. We use so many buzzwords - relationship, humanity, empathy, authenticity - and they're all important(!), but there's a difference in the way something feels when the intention is rooted in sincerity vs. transaction.
I once heard a CEO talk about authenticity and how the best leaders exhibit this; it wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before, but he ended with something that I hardly ever hear - that talented people can sniff out inauthenticity. This is when you get to decide how smug I am to say that I'm one of those people. It’s also a good time to share that this strength can turn into a dangerous weakness if I’m not careful. Anyway, the ickiness I feel when I’m in the presence of inauthentic, transactional, or opportunistic intent can be visceral at times.
Okay, right…so about squirrels.
The long and short of it is that as I started networking, people kept telling me that I was "planting seeds,” and as much as I understood where they were coming from, it just didn’t sit well with me; I feel like this often assumes that things will grow and that I’ll reap what I sow.
Instead, when people ask how the job hunt is going, I say that it feels like I'm a squirrel hiding acorns for the winter; I'll have a conversation here [and hide an acorn], then another one there [and hide another acorn] and when I go back to the first one, who knows…maybe it’s not as great as it was when I first buried it, or another squirrel found it and cracked the nut (which is metaphorical for a job).
So that's it - that’s why SOAR is about a squirrel. Soon after I started sharing this squirrel analogy, I heard a Spotify ad for a podcast that explains how squirrels track their nuts. It's only 16 mins and I was delighted to learn how much my analogy pans out.
Have a listen, network however you find relief, mind your health, and thanks for powering through this messy post, xx.
Great analogy!