As I was casually browsing some of my favorite blogs this morning I came across this page from a Dr Seuss book.

…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting…

This page of “Oh The Places You’ll Go”, talking about The Waiting Place reminded me of something I constantly tell clients who are in their job search: Don’t just wait. 

The job search is full of waiting. Being on the other side of the process (recruiting) I totally understand why. Companies have lots going on and there are truly tons of reasons you may not be hearing back right away about a job (and many are totally legitimate).

Regardless of the reasons, wait you will… and job searches are taking longer and longer (The New York times wrote an interesting article about that back in March).

When things are going really well in a job search, and you’ve had a few conversations with the company, it’s tempting to feel good about it and hope for the best. The natural reaction is to put the brakes on aggressively searching, or to at least slow down a bit.

Doing this can hurt your search for a few reasons. For one, it’s likely to slow you down because if the news isn’t positive and the offer doesn’t come, you’ve lost valuable weeks waiting for an answer and potentially missed some other opportunities that have come and gone.

Second, by putting all of your eggs in one basket, you become that much more desperate for that one job to work out. Whether you like it or not, without other options you’re probably more willing to accept that job even if the offer/title/team isn’t totally right for you.

Lastly, you’re more likely to drive yourself crazy thinking about it. The more you focus on it, the longer those days of silence will feel.

For so many reasons, the best thing to do while waiting to hear back about a job, is to keep searching, and keep interviewing. Keeping your options open is a good thing and keeping the ball rolling is not only efficient, but also helpful for your sanity.