Looking for a New Job? It’s Time for Beast Mode!

Last month I had the great experience of teaching the first cohort of my new course on Maven called The Breakout Leader.

I was thrilled to meet my first group of students - who came from different countries, industries, functional backgrounds and ages - and made this weekend of learning truly magical because of their own unique perspectives. One thing I hadn’t expected until we were together is how many of my students would either be “between gigs” looking for a new job, or possibly interested in making a bold move to find a new job. So it got me thinking that it would be a good time to share three myths and three lessons I’ve gleaned over the years from amazing bosses, mentors and recruiters about how to crush it with your job search.

Myth #1: You won’t get hired if you are out of work because it “looks bad”

I am going to call BS on this - because if you stay in a role you are unhappy in for too long, you’re losing valuable time to put towards finding something new. It can be incredibly hard to see the woods from the trees when you’re so committed to your team and your lengthy to do list.  Any successful job search will take meaningful thought, reflection and  TIME. Just jumping from one job to the next available isn’t necessarily going to get you where you want or need to go professionally.

Myth #2: Because you are out of a job you are unworthy of the best opportunities and are now a less interesting candidate.

I see it time and time again - people are out of work either from their own choosing, or not - and suddenly go from this confident and networked executive to feeling like they are flailing and nervous to reach out and ask for help.  You are the SAME person with all your magical capabilities the day before you are out of work and the day after. The road of a great career is a long one - and this situation will happen to literally everyone - it just happens to be your moment right now. This is NOT a negative on you - it’s a moment in time of glorious transition!

Myth #3:  Your job search leads you, you can’t lead it

Once again - I don’t buy it!  I think there is this misperception that “the market” defines your value. I couldn’t agree less. A job search is this amazing moment in time where YOU get to tell the market who you are, what you want and why they need it.  Being clear, in your own mind, on what you are seeking (and what you aren’t) is POWERFUL. And that clarity will show up in how you show up.  When you know what you want, you won’t waste time pursuing opportunities that aren’t right, leaving plenty of time to focus on the ones that are.

If you’re currently out of work and seeking a new position, know that the “in-between” stage doesn’t define you; what does is how you approach this opportunity to realign, redefine, and position yourself for growth.

Here are three key lessons that have been instrumental in my career journey, and I hope they guide you, too. Let’s dig in!

Lesson 1: Narrow Your Focus to Widen Your Opportunities

When we’re out of work, it’s natural to feel the pull to consider any and every job that comes our way. That instinct is understandable, but when you think about it - job searching is just like marketing a great product. You have to know what you want to do next and be ready to say NO more often than you say yes, and be really narrow in understanding your unique value prop and target audience. If you don’t do that - how will the right audience find you?

When you narrow your focus, you actually start attracting the kind of opportunities that you are going to be great at and that you actually want because you are being so clear in every hiring conversation.

I’m super grateful for the advice of my good friend Liz Zea, an executive recruiter and founder of Juel Consulting who I met about 6 years ago when I was between jobs. She sat me down at a coffee shop one day and made me write out on a bunch of note cards the important things to me in my next role. The list was loooooong - and included everything from a company mission I cared about, a large team of awesome humans I could work with, a high potential brand and a strong business, a set of investors I liked and trusted, the financial guardrails that made sense for me and my family, the location of the role.

Then came the hard part - I had to stack rank every note card. BOY that is hard - but boy does it get you focused. The end of this story is that I ended up taking my role as the CEO of Exos - which actually turned out to be one of the greatest joys of my career - exactly because I HAD prioritized that I wanted to be in a human capital/services business and that the people I got to work for and with were higher on my list than other items.

As Liz reminded me - recruiters are busy people - do everything you can to make the match making process easy for them.

So, take a moment to ask yourself: What lights me up? Which areas of my career have I truly enjoyed? What are thing things I don’t want or need in my next role?  Aligning your search with those answers can open more doors than you might expect.

Lesson 2: Know Your Story – Strengths and Weaknesses

One of the most impactful skills you can develop in a job search is authentically articulating your career narrative - the unique story that defines your career. To make that story truly resonate, you need to know both your strengths and, yes, your weaknesses. And you need to have the confidence to be transparent.

Often we are given advice to be able to articulate “What’s my superpower” and that is definitely important. But I would argue that equally important is the ability to walk into an interview and say I am really good at XYZ, but in order for me to be successful I need to play on a team that includes people who are good at ABC.

Again - this is going to feel counterintuitive - to walk up to an interviewer and passionately explain what you’re not good at! But you’d be surprised how it will disarm the person you are talking to and enable you to have a far more real conversation. At the end of the day - neither they nor you want you to end up in a roll where you’re over your skis - as that will not likely end well. So being able to confidently articulate your weak bits will go a LONG way to keeping you in the interview process for the role that is right for you.

I had a great chat about this with Adam Grant on his Work Life podcast. Having been through the humiliating experience of getting fired and laid off twice in my twenties - I had to learn the hard way that the only way to turn this negative to your advantage is to do the REAL work of understanding your weak bits so you can share them confidently in future interviews.

When you’re clear on your story, potential employers see not just a résumé but a person with the kind of self awareness that is far more likely to succeed on a team. So don’t avoid discussing your weaknesses in fear of making a “bad” impression. Instead, own up to areas where you’ve stumbled, and explain what you learned, as it not only shows growth and humility to the person interviewing you, but it is also empowering - as it means you are in control of the person you will be in the future having taken the learnings from your past.

Lesson 3: Find the Right Culture Fit

One of the fun exercises we do in The Breakout Leader course - is to ask our students to answer a bunch of “would you rather” questions - to get a sense of the kinds of culture, team mates and leaders they respond best to. For example: “Would you rather work for a company with a laid-back, flexible work environment but unclear goals, or a company with a rigid structure but clear and achievable goals?” Obviously there is no right answer to the question, and it's always such a rich dialog hearing why different people resonate with different styles. But the important thing is to understand the answer to the questions for YOU - when you’re in the process of looking for something new.

I am sure I am not alone in having worked in cultures that literally felt like a playground of daily fun for someone with my style and values - where I just loved getting up and heading to the office each day. And then there were the absolutely awful experiences where work felt like daily psychological warfare because of a complete clash of styles. The point is - different things work for different people so you need to understand what works for you - AND be confident and bold in asking questions to weed out the truth about the culture you are stepping into.

The importance of cultural fit is something that can’t be overstated. Knowing the kind of environment you thrive in will allow you to be bold in asking the right questions during the interview process. Ask your interviewers to describe a typical workday, or inquire about how teams communicate. Ask how decisions are made - and ask the interviewer to give real examples of how the team worked together when they were faced with disappointing results, market headwinds or big ideas that flopped in the market. The point is - when we are looking for a new job we ALWAYS get excited by the potential of what it can be. But we often forget that every company, every team, every organization WILL face headwinds - so it’s likely more important to imagine yourself in the deepest toughest trenches with this team - will that experience be one you can get through?

It’s easy to get disheartened in a job search, especially when things don’t move as fast as you’d like. But this process is a rare opportunity for reinvention and reflection. Use this time to refine your goals, invest in reskilling - especially right now with so much emerging in the world of AI.

But also remember that the process of getting a new job is not unlike sales, or frankly dating! This is a two way street. Contrary to popular belief, you are in control of getting what you want…the process is not in control of you. It just as it takes TIME for your target “buyer” to come into the market ready to buy what you are selling, it takes time for the right role to reveal itself. But the more effort you have put into articulating what you want and how that syncs to your unique “value prop” the more likely you are going to be in pole position to make the sale when the right opportunity comes along.

Stay patient, stay focused, and above all, stay true to who you are. There’s a great role waiting for you – and if you approach this journey with clarity, conviction, and a willingness to learn, it’ll come your way sooner than you might think.

That right there is job searching beast mode!