Being Committed But Not Attached

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It used to drive me crazy.  I would talk to experienced pharmacists who would tell me about issues they were having with their job search. They would apply to places they wanted to work at and then either 1) not get invited in for an interview, or 2) not understand why they didn’t get the job even after what seemed like a good interview.

After talking to them for a bit, I could see how I could help them. A feeling of excitement and “oh—I could solve your problem!” would bubble up inside me when I knew that some simple (yet not always obvious) changes would have made the difference between getting offered a job or not.

Because of the challenges I saw experienced pharmacists having, I started to teach some underused, yet effective, strategies that can be used to either hear about jobs before they come out, or  get noticed when applying for a job.  I would tell the frustrated pharmacists about how I taught this in the bootcamps I offered, and that they didn’t need to worry because I could help them.  In my excitement, they sometimes got offended because they felt I was “selling” what I had to offer to them.  Sometimes they got turned off because they felt I wanted to make money off them.

We would hang up, and then I would see them continue to do what they had always done –making the same mistakes in their job search and missing out on jobs they deserved. Sometimes they would come back to me later when they finally realized the cost of taking time trying to figure it out themselves.

I learned from my experiences that being more committed to them than they were about turning things around  with their job search was not an attractive thing. Aside from that, I think I came across a bit too “salesy.”  I was confident in what I offered—I knew they couldn’t learn what I teach anywhere else.  I have not seen other pharmacist recruiters willing to teach the secrets they know about how to get your foot into the door.  Also very few recruiters are pharmacists themselves.  Yet my passion to teach pharmacists how to improve their chances for getting a job  actually got in the way of them deciding to learn from me.  Although it was hard at first, I eventually let go of being attached to their success.

Now I am committed but not attached. If pharmacists recognize they want expert help in saving them time and lost job opportunities, that’s when I share how they can learn what to do differently.  If they choose to figure it out themselves, I completely honor their decision.

As a result, the pharmacists who learn from me are the most committed and often write me, thanking me for shifting their job search approach and helping them get the job they wanted. Many of them are pleasantly surprised with what was taught, especially in the Hidden Job Market Bootcamp, which include strategies they can use throughout their pharmacy career to be in “the know” and hear about jobs before their competition.

You can apply my concept of “being committed but not attached” to your job search. Sometimes you may come across job opportunities that you are excited about, but the employer doesn’t seem to be interested in you because they’re not responding.  It might drive you nuts because you know they could be a good match for you, if only they gave you a chance.  Sometimes you have the opportunity to influence the decision and you just need to learn how to do it in an elegant way.  Rather than writing it off as that it’s simply because of the tough job market that you didn’t get a shot, redirect your energy to figuring out what to do differently to get noticed.

The key is to be totally committed. If you’re half-assing it and sending out resumes to 10 different places just because you need a job, that doesn’t spell commitment.  If you say you are committed, but you don’t take the time to get to really know what you’re applying for and  to personalize your approach to capture the attention of a hiring manager, then you have a deeper commitment to something else.  Your deeper commitment reflects  hoping things will turn out, rather than putting your best foot forward and then letting things fall into place for you.

So be committed. After that, don’t be attached to where you end up, because what happens will just be perfect when you know you’ve tried your best.  Even if you can’t see it now, when you look back, you will see how it was all an important part of your path.  Just as some of you being “turned off” by me was an all- important part of my path to working with those I enjoy most working with.

To learn how to find out about jobs before they come out, listen to the free preview call:
“How to Tap into the Hidden Job Market to Beat Your Competition to the Interview”.