311: FAQ About Mid-Career Job Search Frustrations: How to Stay Confident, Stand Out, and Move Forward

Are you tired of sending out job applications and hearing nothing back? Wondering if you’re overqualified or not qualified enough? If you’re a mid-career professional struggling in today’s competitive and employer-driven job market, this episode is for you.

In this episode of The Mid-Career GPS Podcast, I’m answering some of the most common and most frustrating questions I hear from clients in their 30s, 40s, and 50s navigating a job search or career transition.

You’ll learn how to position yourself for roles you may not meet every qualification for, how to communicate leadership even if you don’t have a management title, and how to know when it’s really time to leave a job that’s no longer working. We’ll also talk about the emotional toll of job searching and how to maintain confidence, even when the rejections pile up.

If you’re ready to make a strategic shift and get results in your job search, this episode offers practical, proven advice to help you regain control and take your next best step forward.

Key Topics Covered:

• ✅ How to stand out in a competitive job market by communicating your value and overcoming common hiring objections
• ✅ Why you don’t need to meet 100% of job qualifications and how to know which jobs are worth applying for
• ✅ Practical strategies for showcasing leadership when you’re not in a formal leadership role
• ✅ The right time to leave a job and how to evaluate the risks and rewards
• ✅ Tools to manage rejection, track your progress, and stay confident during your search
• ✅ How to pivot industries at mid-career by telling a compelling, transferable career story

Resources Mentioned:

Free Download
Why Your Mid-Career Job Search Isn’t Working and What to Do About It

This free guide will help you rethink your job search strategy, boost your confidence, and start getting better results faster. Visit https://johnneral.com/resources to download it.

Next Week’s Episode Preview:
Don’t miss a special episode where a former client shares their inspiring job search success story, including how they landed a new role in this tough job market.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Common Career Questions
• 1:34 Standing Out in a Competitive Market
• 4:18 When to Leave Your Current Role
• 6:31 Positioning Your Transferable Skills
• 8:30 Demonstrating Leadership Without Direct Reports
• 12:07 Maintaining Confidence During Job Rejection
• 16:29 Making a Mid-Career Industry Pivot
• 19:14 Resources and Community Support
• 21:50 Episode Closing and Next Week Preview

Transcript

John Neral: 0:00

Today I'm doing something different. Over the years, whether it's through coaching, speaking or conversations with mid-career professionals like you, I hear a lot of recurring questions about job searching, interviewing and navigating career transitions. So in this episode, I'm sharing some of the most common and relatable questions career professionals like you are asking right now. Currently, this is an employer's job market and, admittedly, it's frustrating, but it's not impossible. So in this episode, I'll give you practical strategies and insights to help you move forward with more clarity and greater confidence. So if you've ever wondered how to stand out in a competitive job market when it's really time to leave a role, or how to make a career pivot at mid-career without starting over, my friends, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Hello, my friends, this is the Mid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm your host, John Neral. I help mid-career professionals like you find a career they love, or love the one they have, using my proven four-step formula. This episode If you go to my website, johnnarrellcom, forward slash resources, you will find a brand new free guide called Why Your Mid-Career Job Search Isn't Working and What to Do About It. all about the questions I most often get, but if you're really frustrated with this job search right now, or even with this job market, I've got something to help you. This free guide is not just another downloadable. This is a proven tactical toolkit to help you diagnose and pinpoint exactly what's not working in your job search and figure out the next steps to improve it. So go visit https://johnneral. com/resources to check out all of my resources there, including this free guide. Okay, let's get right into it. So one of the questions I'm most often asked is this John, I've been applying for jobs for months and am barely getting interviews.

John Neral: 2:24

As a mid-career professional, how do I stand out when it feels like employers just want younger or cheaper candidates? Well, that's understandable Right now, as we're seeing companies look at budgets and try to figure out cost savings, and look at their FTEs, their full-time employees, and look at those staffing numbers. Yeah, companies might be looking for younger or less expensive talent, but here's what I want to offer you. Where's the objection? Where is the objection specifically to hiring you? Is it something with your skill set? Are you maybe applying for positions that are just simply out of your salary range? But where are you not communicating your value to the hiring manager, recruiter or HR professional? Something in your story is missing here. I want to offer you that, while in some cases it may be that, yeah, they're just looking for someone who they can bring in at a lower salary, oftentimes it's not always the case. There may be something in how you are branding yourself or delivering your message, communicating your story, that you're not sharing enough about these impactful results that are really going to get them interested in who you are and what you do. So when I hear a question like this, I offer my clients. This is an opportunity for them to tap into their mindset. In other words, the more value I provide, the more value you are going to make or save because you're bringing someone experienced like me into your organization. Somewhere there's an objection, it's your job as the candidate to figure that out. Call it out, talk about it and see why you're the better solution. Okay, all right.

John Neral: 4:18

Next question I am torn between staying in my current role, where I feel stuck but secure, or taking a risk, and looking for something new. How do I know when it's really time to leave my job? This is a great question and admittedly, it is a hard one, especially in this job market right now. That is, without question, an employer's job market. That means they control more of the cards. They're able to take longer in terms of making hiring decisions. They know that there aren't as many jobs out there as there used to be, so they're going to be a little bit more selective.

John Neral: 5:01

But if you're thinking about leaving your current role, this is where something like this is often addressed in the coaching relationship, because this is personal. In a coaching relationship, we would end up exploring what are the pros and cons for you staying in your job versus leaving your job, and also we take a look at what are the risks and rewards. Now I will offer you that's something you can do on your own. You can talk about it with close family members, support systems, peers, colleagues, heck, you could even dump it all into ChatGPT and see what it spits out for you. But ChatGPT is not going to give you the aha. It's not going to give you the insight where, as a coach, is going to be able to really help you unpack those decisions, to feel and know what truly is the best option for you. As a coach, I never tell my clients what to do, especially when it comes to big life decisions like this. That's for you to decide. It's my job as a coach to ask you all the questions. Have you explore all the avenues and opportunities that are there so you can make the best decision for you? But if you're thinking about leaving your job, understandably it's going to take up a lot of thought and reflection on your part to make that decision. Okay, next question Every job posting seems to ask for skills that I don't have.

John Neral: 6:31

How can I position my transferable skills and experience without feeling like I'm not qualified? Here's what I want to offer you. If you are looking at a job posting and you believe you fulfill 100% of the requirements, you are probably overqualified for that job and are not going to get an interview. Remember that a job posting essentially is a laundry list of things that the company is looking for in their ideal candidate. They are not expecting someone to come in and be able to do all of those things with outstanding or excellent proficiency. What I would suggest is figure out where the line is in terms of how strongly you believe you meet the criteria for the job and when you don't. So let's say, for example, there are 10 bullet points in the job posting. Okay, you go through them and you feel like you can confidently perform 80% of them. Is it worth it for you applying for the job? That depends on your barometer about when you are willing to invest the time, effort and energy in applying for that job. Some people I work with we set a very strict criteria of a 90% match. Others might be 60%. It just depends on their individual situation and what they're looking at. But keep in mind, if you can do everything in that job posting with excellent proficiency, more than likely you are overqualified for that job posting with excellent proficiency, more than likely you are overqualified for that job in my opinion and my expertise. Okay, all right, let's see I'm going down my list here.

John Neral: 8:15

Okay, interviewers keep asking me about leadership experience, but I've mostly been an individual contributor. How do I confidently talk about leadership when I don't manage a team? This question has been coming up a lot lately, and so when you think about your career path, if you're thinking about taking that next step and you want to elevate into that next role and that next role may be you having direct reports and you have supervisory experience or duties and responsibilities here you need to be able to find where you are demonstrating examples of leadership and where you are influencing without authority. Think about this when are you leading inside and outside of work? Leadership experience doesn't have to be solely contained to what you do inside that organization with your church and you're leading a particular fundraiser. There can be plenty of examples you can provide about your leadership, but when you do, this is an opportunity for you to be strategic. It's your job to tell the story about where you're connecting the dots between how you lead, why it's important, why it matters and what were the results. This is a chance for you to tap into prior experiences and use those experiences to create your leadership narrative.

John Neral: 10:05

When you may not have direct leadership experience at work, the other thing I would offer you is find ways to lead at work. Increase your visibility on a project, take responsibility. Have somebody delegate some things to you that you can demonstrate your leadership. The last thing is you should be prepared for a question about who you are as a leader. Are as a leader and I will tell you. In this job market right now, how you answer this question is more important than ever.

John Neral: 10:42

Hiring managers and recruiters don't want to hear things like I'm a very caring and heart-centered leader. I'm an empathetic leader who cares deeply about my team. That stuff, yes, it matters, don't get me wrong, but you need to be able to give examples of your leadership that are impactful, results-driven. So, for example, you might say something like I'm an empathetic and heart-centered leader, and what that means is that when I'm having to deliver feedback and even difficult feedback to colleagues or people whom I work with, I do it from an empathetic or heart-centered place because I want what's best for them, and here's how I deliver that feedback. That can be a much better example of you demonstrating your leadership values, as opposed to simply putting them out there and expecting them to understand what it is that you mean. Always command your narrative. You're the one that's telling it. That's why these interviews can be difficult or tricky, because you're not doing a solid job of communicating your story in a way that's keeping people interested in who you are and what you do. Oh, this next question, my friends, I get this one a lot. All right, this one might be really familiar to you. Here we go.

John Neral: 12:12

This job search process feels so discouraging at this stage in my career. How do I keep my confidence up when rejections are piling up? Like I said earlier, this job market is tough, but it is not impossible. And, admittedly, if you are currently unemployed, at mid-career, or your company has gone through a restructuring, they've had some economic difficulties, there's been layoffs or cuts and you now find yourself in a position you never, ever thought you would be in. This, my friend, is a lesson in resiliency and perseverance. This job market is not for the weak. It is vulnerable, it is gut-wrenching, it is hard. So how do you keep your confidence up? Track your data, track your data. By that I mean okay. So build your job search strategy.

John Neral: 13:12

Where are you looking for positions? How much are you networking? What kind of positions are you applying for? How are you asking your network to help and support you? And then you are going to ask yourself these powerful reflection questions what's working, what's not working? What are you learning? What do you need to do differently? And those questions, personally, are very near and dear to my heart, because not only are they questions that I've asked myself when I was going through my career transition, but they're also things to this day I still ask myself in growing my coaching business right. I always ask myself what's working, what's not? What am I learning? What can I be doing differently? They're the same questions, because when we have data to track those results, we then can look at that data and go oh, you know what? I haven't networked with anybody in three weeks. I wonder if that has anything to do why I'm not getting any leads or information about jobs. Maybe you haven't invited anybody to an informational interview or talked to somebody about their work experiences or how they navigated this part of their career, navigated this part of their career and, understandably, while applying for positions are taxing and, at times, painful.

John Neral: 14:40

There are people out there who are getting jobs by applying online because they know how to navigate and work the system. Hint, you will hear more about that next week. So what's working? What's not? What are you learning? What do you need to do differently? And then there's this Is it time for you to tag and hire a coach? Find a coach who you can hire, meaning you're going to pay for them. You're going to pay for their services and expertise to help you navigate not just the technical aspect of the job search, but also help you with your mindset, your attitude, your energy when you are going through this job search and it's not easy. Look, I would love for everybody to hit apply on the first job that they see and boom, they get a position, or they reach out to someone in their network and they're hired within three days.

John Neral: 15:40

That's not this job market. This job market is not for the faint of heart. You need to be tough and let me tell you this there are days when it is okay to not be. And let me tell you this there are days when it is okay to not be. It is okay to be ticked off and pissed off and upset and angry and frustrated because you're not getting the results you want. You cannot overlook those things. Those things may happen. I want to just brush it off. We have to acknowledge and own where we are and how we're feeling, but that it's also the battle cry for what you need to be doing differently to get the results you want.

John Neral: 16:25

Okay, here is the last question, john. I want to transition into a completely different industry, but I'm worried that recruiters won't take me seriously. How do I make a pivot at mid-career without starting over, wanting to work in a different line of work, a different industry or organization, and you might want to leverage some skills into this particular new role? Well, in this job market right now, companies are wanting people who are skilled up and ready to go. So here's the question why should someone hire you? If you're looking to make a pivot into a completely different industry, why would someone hire you? What do they gain by bringing you on? It is your opportunity and, more importantly I will say, it is your responsibility to make a credible case about transitioning with the skills you have and know what might be in your way for making such a transition.

John Neral: 17:45

I often coach my clients on helping them paint a picture of why their narrative needs to address all of the things that they're going to be doing well, things that they're going to have to transfer or leverage past experiences into this new role, as well as overcome any objections that the hiring manager may have. This is where conducting informational interviews can be your friend, because you could be conducting informational interviews with people about making a successful career pivot or career transition in this regard. How did they do it? What did they learn? What would they have done differently? But again, simply saying, oh, I'm a hard worker, I'll learn, I'll skill up real quickly, that's not going to do it. That's not going to do it. You need to be able to communicate where your skills are transferable and translatable for you to be in this new role. That's where you need a plan. That's where your mid-career GPS can come into play very easily and then, once you have that plan, execute on it accordingly.

John Neral: 19:00

I hope these questions were helpful. Hopefully they tapped into some of the things that you've been experiencing as well and gave you some insight or motivation into how you're navigating this job market and this part of your career journey. Now, obviously, if there is anything I can do to help you, I'd be honored. So there's a few opportunities. One go check out the resources page on my website. It is johnnerrellcom forward slash resources.

John Neral: 19:30

There are free resources there, such as my twice weekly leadership and career newsletter. There is that free guide, which is why your mid-career job search isn't working and what to do about it, and there's this podcast all free. And then there are some what we call low ticket offers that are there. So I have an interview preparation course that is there currently for $27. There is a masterclass called the Mid-Career Promotion Blueprint. It is a 70 minute masterclass for $37 to help you navigate your next step in your career how to figure out how to strategically position yourself if you're going for that internal promotion or the things that you can be saying or doing to make you an even more qualified candidate when you're looking to step out of your organization and into a new one. There's a career clarity course there, and then, of course, there is the mid-career GPS membership community that you can join per month or annually to come in and get direct support from me inside the community.

John Neral: 20:37

I'm also available for private one-on-one coaching, and all of that starts off with a leadership and career strategy session. If you are interested in that, all you need to do is find me. You can message me on LinkedIn or you can email me at john@johnneral. com, and I will share details on how to book that leadership and career strategy session. So stay tuned, because next week I'm going to interview a former client of mine who shared his powerful job search and career transition story with me for all of you in this very difficult job market, and he's going to share with you what worked and what didn't, and how long it took and how frustrating it was, but also some really good things on the other side of it as well. So I'm honored that I got the chance to interview him. You will get that episode next week and that'll drop the day after Labor Day.

John Neral: 21:37

So if you are traveling for the Labor Day holiday, please, please, please, be careful. Be kind to everybody when you're traveling. Be kind when you're on the road or you're in the skies or on the rails, whatever it might be. Be kind to one another. That's so important right now and I'll be back with you next week as we kick off September.

John Neral: 21:59

So until then, my friends, remember this you will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time, and how you show up matters. Make it a great rest of your day. Thank you for listening to the Mid-Career GPS Podcast. Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform and, if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your comments on Apple Podcasts. Visit johnnarrellcom for more information about how I can help you build your mid-career GPS or how I can help you and your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event. Don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at John Narrow Coaching. I look forward to being back with you next week. Until then, take care and remember how we show up matters. Thank you.