Adventures of an Unemployed Career Transitioner: Being Good Enough
I have six interviews coming up. Woohoo!
But when I reread the job description to prepare, I saw:
4 years of professional experience as a copywriter, journalist, marketing manager, or related role
1–2 years of leadership experience, overseeing the work of other writers
1–2 years of copywriting experience in healthcare
And I thought, “I’m screwed.”
I was applying to jobs left and right because what have I got to lose. Now that I’m hearing back from people who want to talk about my experience, I’m thinking:
“I can’t do this.”
“I would fail at this.”
“I shouldn’t even try that hard during the interview because they won’t pick me.”
“They’re going to find out that I’m a fraud.”
While these manic thoughts were running through my head, other ideas came up.
“Why do I have this bias towards myself?”
“Why am I sabotaging myself?”
“Instead of letting the hiring manager decide that I’m not good enough, why am I already deciding I’m not good enough?”
Last week, I attended a workshop where the speaker described imposter syndrome as a lack of trust in oneself, which hit home because I struggle with trusting myself and thinking I was never good enough.
In 2020, I recognized these thoughts were the source of my self-sabotage and worked on building self-love and reminding myself I was good enough. I successfully applied this to other areas of my life, like my physical health. Yet, I am struggling with these thoughts during my job search. Getting rejected from a job is hard. Getting rejected from a job when transitioning from another career is also challenging. When I’m told “I don’t have specific experience.” or I’m getting ghosted from my job, it feels like I’m constantly getting told I’m not good enough.
After talking about this with my career coach, she reminded me that because I have great qualities, it comes down to conveying confidence in myself during my interviews, which snapped me out of my current mindset.
Will these thoughts pop up in the future? Probably.
Am I going to get rejected by more jobs? Of course.
But am I good enough to transition to a new job? Yes.
Do I need to believe in myself that I can? Yes.
What can I do now:
- Remind myself I’ve gotten jobs before.
- Remember that I have positive work qualities.
- Go into interviews with the intention of doing my best.
I had an interview today that I didn’t think went well, but I tried my best, and that’s all I can do.
