You are looking for a job and are applying for several positions, for example police officer resume. Unfortunately, the application processes do not run parallel to one another but are staggered in time. You already have an invitation to a second conversation with one company, while the other takes its time after the first telephone conversation. What if a company beckons with a contract offer while you would still like to at least examine the other options? Many applicants find themselves in a dilemma here. What should I say to whom and when, how open should I be, how do I get the most chances until the end. With various tactical considerations, an attempt is made to foresee the chess moves of the other side so that all chances remain open for as long as possible.
I have five tips to help you navigate safely through the various job opportunities:
- Check the facts
- Communicate
- Trust
- Check the options
- Decide
Check the facts
Look at the forest, not the trees! Take three steps back. Organize your thoughts and make a list of the criteria that are important for your next job. In addition to the activities, what are your expectations of the company culture, environment, superiors, management style, team, etc? Actively search for all available information. This results in a table of values with which you can grade your options.
True story: A candidate has been looking for a job for a long time and is very critical in her selection. She has many criteria that she wants to see fulfilled at the same time. Of the numerous interviews, one was very promising, but the process was very slow. Other offers became more specific, and she accepted one of them. Even during the probationary period with the new employer, the dream company came to a positive decision with the dream job. The candidate resigned during the probationary period and accepted the “better” position. The employer saw himself as the second choice and was annoyed.
Communicate
Be as open as possible with all parties involved. Keep them informed. Only address relevant information to people who are really involved. Please don’t get complicated or show indecision. Remember: your new employer is not a job coach. And beware: e-mail is NOT communication.
Just happened: My client, company owner, and CEO wanted to make a contract offer after a lengthy selection round and asked the candidate to call back. The candidate registered by email and let him know that he had accepted another position. My client was irritated and was disappointed in his personal assessment of the future employee. At least he would have wanted to speak to the candidate again.
Trust
To find our way into the unknown, we need trust. Trust in our abilities and trust in the companions and partners with whom we are on the journey. The potential employer will sensitively register every sign of your transparency and enter it into his catalog of values. Here you can score with openness. Also, allow private and personal matters. In this way, your counterpart can understand your considerations and put themselves in your shoes. This makes you appear transparent, personable, and trustworthy.
A reminder: I have never forgotten how a young man said to his future superior in the last interview: “Can I tell you something else?” She perks up: “Yes, please?” “I live with my partner,” says the candidate. She smiles and says: “That’s nice!” The gentleman is relieved. He did not want to withhold this important information from his future boss. If she had a problem with his sexual orientation and the working relationship was then strained. His future boss was touched.
Don’t overestimate yourself
Not all options are equally likely to be available to you. You have listed your variants and assume that you will be spoiled for choice. This is usually a fallacy: you will never have enough information to be certain that the desired event will actually occur. Therefore: keep all options open as long as possible. You will learn that job opportunity judged to be secure vanish from one day to the next. Reality doesn’t stick to probabilities.
A story about it: A candidate over 50 is unemployed and has been looking for a job for a long time. He is committed to very selected positions and applies extremely pointedly. New reasons keep popping up why a job offer is not as interesting as expected. A very exciting position seems to be becoming concrete. He then actively withdraws from several other application processes. This without having received a specific offer from the desired position. This dream job dissolves because of investment problems, the candidate remains unemployed for longer and cannot pick up the threads that have been lost.
Decide
You now have the contract documents on the table, with all the details on wages, holidays, PK, and bonuses. You notice that a decision is pending and yet you hesitate. You slide to point 1 and look at your table of values. Do you still need time? No problem, communicate. To make a decision always means to definitely rule out other possibilities. To take one path and thus not be able to go the other paths for the time being.
In the personnel selection, the ability “to be able to make decisions” and “decisiveness” are considered management criteria. It’s a horror to work for a boss who can’t decide!
Or to paraphrase Harry Potter:
Much more than our abilities, it is our decisions that show who we really are.