For years, my end-of-April tradition was running the Cherry Creek Sneak in Denver - and if you haven’t shopped, eaten, or run through Cherry Creek, please do. It is exceptional. The first year I ran it, my running partner leaned over at the starting line and casually told me this wasn't a 5K. It was a five-miler. For some reason, those extra two miles completely freaked me out, so naturally I did the worst possible thing. I took off way too fast, because apparently some part of me believed I could outrun the extra distance. By mile three, I was run-walking. By the time I could see the finish line, I had forgotten about my time, my pace, and certainly any PR. I just wanted to finish.
I think about that race a lot when I talk to RPA clients who are in an active job search, especially the ones who come to me and say, "Terri, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing. Why is nothing happening?"
They started extremely strong. They let us ask deep, telling questions, then redo the resume, then update LinkedIn. To comply with most hiring processes, they did the research, applied to twenty jobs, then twenty more, reached out to everyone they could think of, and checked LinkedIn before breakfast and again before bed. And then comes that period of too much quiet. A promising conversation with the new COO, who is actively hiring, goes nowhere; a recruiter disappears; a role they were perfect for gets reposted. Someone tells them they are "overqualified." Someone else tells them they went with another candidate. Somewhere along the way, the question changes. It stops being "I’m pumped for my next opportunity?" and becomes more personal. Shame rises, doubt and darkness move in and your mind says really softly to you.
“Is it me?”
That is the element of a job search I wish we talked about more. Searches, particularly senior-level searches, often take months. Hiring decisions are slower, companies are cautious, roles change halfway through the process, budgets get questioned, internal candidates appear, and searches get paused and restarted. Meanwhile, the person looking for the job is expected to wake up every morning and somehow maintain the enthusiasm of Day One. Isn’t this all so exhausting?
You need a pace you can actually live with
I watch people attack a search the way I attacked that five-mile race. More applications, more networking, more LinkedIn, more messages, more hours. Surely, if I just work harder, something will happen. Sometimes that works. More often, people burn through the very things they need most: confidence, curiosity, energy, and the ability to connect with another human being without making every conversation feel like a transaction. A longer search requires a different strategy. You have to be able to do it again tomorrow.
And please, stay human
I see another storm brewing. All the candidates are beginning to sound alike. Resumes are polished within an inch of their lives with all the right keywords, LinkedIn profiles are packed with the same leadership language, and messages are technically perfect and completely forgettable.
I want to know something about you. Tell me you have run the Cherry Creek Sneak every April for ten years. Tell me you coach your daughter's volleyball team. Tell me about the sourdough starter you somehow kept alive since 2020. Tell me you restore old motorcycles, play Euchre competitively, take in rescue dogs, or have served on the same nonprofit board for twelve years. Give people something to remember. Your experience gets you into the conversation. Your personality gives someone a can’t-forget conversation.
So what do you do when the search isn't moving?
You keep moving, but you stop measuring progress only by interviews and offers.
Every day, assign yourself tasks and do those few things well. Have one real conversation with a person to spark new connections and ideas. Move one opportunity forward with a personal note or follow-up. Spend a little time being visible instead of hours scrolling, and learn something useful about a company you genuinely care about. Then, at some point, stop for the day and look back over your work. Use Claude to highlight the highs and lows of your applications and get new suggestions for tasks that will move you in the best direction.
Every week, look at what is actually happening. Are people responding once they meet you? Are applications disappearing into nowhere? Are conversations happening but failing to turn into introductions? Are you getting interviews but not moving past the first round? Those are different problems. Do not blow up your entire search because you had a bad week. Figure out where the race is getting hard and adjust there.
And every month, look back, and not just at what didn't happen. Count the conversations, the introductions, the people who offered to help, the interview you handled better than the last one, the company you discovered, the person who now knows your name, and the thing you learned about yourself. There is progress happening that LinkedIn will never put on a dashboard.
The sowing season
One of my favorite directions from Galatians says, "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." There is something about due season that feels different when it comes to finding work, feeding your family, making the mortgage, and looking for work. You can plant a lot of seeds before anything appears above ground, and that does not make the planting meaningless. The conversation you had Tuesday may become an introduction six weeks from now. The person who could not help you today may call three months from now. The company that passed may remember you when another role opens. You cannot control when every seed grows. You can keep planting good ones, and you can take care of yourself well enough to still be standing when they do.
I finished that first Cherry Creek Sneak, by the way. It wasn't fast, and it wasn't pretty, but I crossed the finish line. And every year after that, I approached the starting line differently because I knew the actual distance. I paced myself, I stopped panicking about the extra miles, and I became a much better runner because I understood the race I was running.
If your job search feels like mile three right now, please hear me.
Mile three is a terrible place to decide how the race ends.
Change your pace. Look at what is working, ask for help, rest when you need to, have another conversation, and plant another seed. The finish line may be farther away than you hoped. You can still get there.
If you need a thinking partner to look at your search with fresh eyes, that is exactly what our complimentary Clarity Call at ReflectionPoint Advisors is for. There is nothing to sell. We will look at where things are getting stuck, what may need to change, and where your energy is best spent next. Because sometimes you don't need to run harder. You need to know what mile you're actually on. Book here: reflectionpointadvisors.com/clarity-call
Keep going. Your due season may be closer than it feels.
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