Fear of applying to attractive roles

Every job has lessons that can be taken away. For example, the knowledge of what we are good at, what we are not good at, what we enjoy and what we don’t enjoy. These reflections can help steer decisions and more widely, a lifestyle. There are various reasons for not applying for an ‘attractive’ role. Attractive in italics as what is desirable is often subjective or down to the individual’s priorities, values and aspirations. Fear of applying, or anxiety, is a powerful motivator, and in this article takes a deep dive into why applications aren’t completed. Self-belief and imposter syndrome are important, and these topics can be explored separately here.

One reason is fear of failure. The worry that not securing the role, a worry that is greater than the idea of applying. At a deeper level certain factors can impact this fear. For example, previous negative experience of applying for attractive, perhaps ‘senior’ level roles. Fear of failure is similar to the fear of competition and fear or rejection. Therefore, the worry around not being successful or ‘likely’ to secure a position, may be reason enough not to apply. However other factors like value of time could be worth considering.

Another factor that may influence applying for an attractive role is one’s value of time. This implies time that needs to be sacrificed to research the company and go through the recruitment process. This sacrifice may be too much for individuals, making them unmotivated to apply, especially if a long (2 months or more) recruitment time frame is specified. Therefore, the value placed on time may impact if an attractive role is applied to. Time invested without reimbursement links to over investment.

Hesitation around hidden commitments and over investment in a company, role or manager may impact an application submission to an attractive role. For example, mental health related what-if thinking can lead an individual to take a step back and forgo effort to apply. This is because the belief a role will be overbearing leads a person to opt out of aligning their career with what seems to be an attractive role. Therefore, the view that a role will be the be all or end all of someone’s future may lead to no action with an application to an attractive role.

Another reason to not apply could be related to professional identity. For example, At university I asked a graduate who worked at IBM, an ‘IBMer’, how they intended to disassociate the professional link between them and IBM. The graduate was rather confused with the question, taking a staunch, unwavering position that he wanted the professional label of an IBMer. This surprised me as I thought everyone is an individual, and with loyalty to the individual depleting with growing redundancies, how can a professional afford to tie self-worth to an organisation that sees employees, especially ‘self-employed zero hour contract workers’, as replaceable, disposable, or a commodity? Therefore, wanting to maintain independence to conglomerate, multinational organisations may mean an individual chooses not to apply for an attractive role.

Therefore, the philosophy of work, values, principles and ‘snapshot’ motivations may impact if someone applies to an attractive role.

Stay brave, keep following your instincts and be sure to… Stay Fruity.

Yours,

Real Rubens.

In the right workplace?

Financial Times’ Anjli Raval writes how organisations can “inspire loyalty by recognising good work, empowering staff, eliminating toxicity and communicating better”. Investing in retention can save expensive recruitment and training costs.

Make sure you feel invested in, because there is another company out there that will.

Reflect on what support you have appreciated in the past, and be armed with that knowledge. Have confidence to make sure what you need, like adjustments, are in place.

Stay you, stay fruity,

Real Rubens

New Resource added to signposting: Christians Against Poverty (CAP)

Christians Against Poverty is an organisation open to everyone who offer various avenues of support:

Debt Support free advice to support with the best route to get out of debt faced.

Life Skills (8 week in person group course) to help live life on a low income.

Money Coaching free service to support with developing the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence to better manage finances.

Job Clubs to gain skills and support to find work.  free service designed to empower you with the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence to better manage your finances

Stay aware of your options, Stay Fruity.

How to prep for an informal interview

Long story short: just like a formal interview.

Company research, including news, and values.

Identify your motivation to join that company but also that team.

Be able to share how you will stand out, articulate your unique selling point.

Prepare answers to skill based questions using the STAR method.

Bring your cv.

Source: Harlow, 2022.

Employers don’t think university prepares graduates!

Following my piece ‘Does University give graduates the tools they need to perform well in a graduate role?’ concluded that the level of preparation university provides graduates for a graduate role may reflect how proactive the student is to make the most of the available opportunities at university. The education environment and work environment are different therefore a student’s study strategies may not work in the office so would likely benefit from transitioning to work.

However, in 2022 the CIPD found ‘a third (33%) of the employers surveyed said candidates from higher education were either ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ poorly prepared for the workplace.’ Since 2018 HR has been calling on businesses to bridge skill gaps between education and work. Here there is conclusive evidence while university is an influential factor in hiring graduates, they are far from work ready and require more, work specific training. Unsurprising however, since university is arguably a platform to develop transferable skills.

Finally, unconscious bias is seen at it’s finest when recruiting graduates over non-graduates in the below link. Reflectively, it scares me to think that due to completing a sandwich degree, I’m 4 years behind people my age based on the fact they have 4 more years work experience and work ‘readiness’. However, skills adviser Lizzie Crowley, said: “While a degree is a requirement for certain occupations and roles, too often employers base hiring decisions on whether someone has a degree or not, regardless of its relevance to the role (Jackson, 2022). Clearly, hiring managers are still biased to recruiting graduates, regardless of their potential lack of work readiness.

Stay aware of your options, Stay You, Stay Fruity.

Real Rubens