I have the good fortune to have a job right now, but many of my friends are out of work. Most have been searching for a while. Some are encountering a problem that has my full sympathy, something I’ve experienced myself at various times. I’m not sure I can solve it, but maybe I can help put words to what some are going through.
The problem unfolds in three distinct phases as the job search drags on.
Phase I: The Obvious but Impossible Search
You’ve spent several months sending out scores of carefully tailored resumes and cover letters for jobs you know you are fully qualified for and would excel at. Usually you get no response. Occasionally you get a polite “position filled.” That’s it.
You’re knocking on all the obvious doors—all the jobs closest to what you’ve been doing—and nothing is opening up. It’s exhausting and frustrating. The very act of telling your friends you’re “discouraged” feels like swallowing a horse pill; “discouraged” does not reach the depths of your fear and despair.
The obvious path forward—finding a job in line with your resume—no longer looks like a path. It looks like The Cliffs of Insanity. What used to feel like the Obvious Way Forward now feels like the Impossible Way Forward. Somewhere in your brain there is a tank of gasoline that gets burned each time you force yourself to do something irksome. That tank has burned down to vapors.
You are burned out. You are burned out on search. You are burned out on an impossible search.
But you can’t stay still. So your mind looks for new paths.
Phase II: The Adjacent-to-Impossible Search
You consider job openings that aren’t quite aligned with what you were doing but might offer better chances. Maybe it’s in an adjacent industry, a slightly different role, or somewhere you never really wanted to live. Maybe you could take a small pay cut. Maybe an hour’s commute wouldn’t be so bad. You expand your search away from the impossible to a broader horizon, to things that are adjacent to impossible.
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