There's an interesting conundrum that shows up when you transition from designing your career, to searching for jobs. It's the same conundrum that arises when you switch from informational interviews, to job interviews. What happens is this as soon as you start focusing on getting a job, your mindset shifts in ways that make it harder for you to get a job. I call this the performance problem, because, it's the same experience public speakers, and, musicians, and, athletes have when trying to deliver a great performance. If you focus too much on the outcome, you perform poorly. If you've ever spoken in front of a group, I'm sure you've noticed the performance problem. As long as you're enjoying the activity, and, just naturally connecting with your audience, it goes great. But, if your brain starts asking questions like, is this going well? Are people bored? Suddenly, you become self conscious, and it can go downhill fast. The performance problem shows up in job interviews all the time, because if we want a job we're naturally focused on doing well. But, the mindset of trying to get the job, or do well in the interview actually gets in the way of a great interview performance. So, what is one to do with this conundrum? As a job seeker, one solution is to focus on pursuing possibilities rather than jobs. Let's look at why this works. You can understand the performance problem using these three boxes. As the boxes show, our guiding thought influences how we behave, which in turn influences the behavior of people around us. Often, other people's behaviors then reinforce our loudest thoughts which continues to produce a particular type of situation. Let's look at the three boxes in the context of a job interview, and, a job interview were being evaluated. So, our focus is naturally on wanting to impress the person interviewing us by performing well. Our guiding thought in an interview might be something like, I really need this job, so, I better say the right thing. Our behaviors follow naturally from our thoughts, often in subtle ways. So if we're focused on needing the job and saying the right thing, we're going to act nervously. We might talk too much about ourselves, speak quickly, be a little too eager, or fidgety in our seat, and all the while, we're hyper aware of whether we're performing well enough to get the job. The person interviewing us picks up on this through our words, tone, expression and body language. They notice that we're nervous and being a little performative, which will probably raise some red flags. This might make them ask some hard questions to try to figure out if we're hiding something. They're hard questions, will make us worry even more about saying the right thing. And, through this cycle, our thoughts, how we behave, how they behave, the atmosphere of a difficult job interview gets created. One of the things to learn from the three boxes is that we can shift the whole atmosphere, fear of an interaction by swapping out our guiding thought. Specifically, try shifting your focus from getting a job, to pursuing possibilities. Pursuing possibilities is what you're actually doing as a career designer. So, this is a very authentic re frame. And as you'll see, it completely shifts the interaction in a job interview. Your guiding thought when pursuing possibilities is something like what might be great about this organization or role. When you're focused on what might be great about the job, you'll be genuinely curious and enthusiastic. Of course, you still have to prepare stories and examples for your interview, but you'll ask more questions and appear more engaged and relaxed. The person interviewing you, will be impressed by how natural and easy the conversation feels, and they're likely to be more encouraging, candid and open to seeing what you could bring to the role you're interviewing for. This will encourage your genuine curiosity, and, when that's the mindset you bring into a conversation, there's no room for the performance problem. So, there you have it, the three boxes help us see why pursuing possibilities is such a powerful mindset. In fact, I recommend you not even think of yourself as someone who is searching for jobs, since what you're actually after is job offers. I mean, really, think about it. Even more than a job, when you're still applying and interviewing, what would you really love? You would love to have many possibilities or job offers to choose between. Often, you don't know if you want the job until you have an offer in hand. So, until that moment, you should be hunting for possibilities, not a job. Practice the possibilities mindset when you're conducting informational interviews, and then keep using it when you begin job interviews. Remember the three boxes which show us that the most important thing is your guiding thought. When you notice you're focused on the outcome, on getting this job you really want, refocus on pursuing possibilities. What might be great about this role or organization? How might I contribute? Where might I fit in? If you can shift your focus to possibilities, your words and actions will follow naturally. [MUSIC]
