How Job Search Councils Transformed My Career Journey

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I remember it like it was yesterday.

In August 2024, I received the devastating news that the dream job I wanted wasn’t going to work out. I was shattered and wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Barely able to type, I sent this news as a WhatsApp message to a group of fellow job searchers and then turned my phone off.

When I emerged from the darkness and came back online, Anna, Lindsay, and Ibrahim had all sent me messages of encouragement and understanding. They knew what I was going through because they were going through it too.

I am one of the Career Pivot coordinators and this is my Never Search Alone story.

Never Search Alone

That was my 2024 Job Search Council, which I formed after reading Phyl Terry’s Never Search Alone.

Before reading the book, job searching felt like something you did alone, like reading the news. The idea that friends and even strangers could come together to support each other was eye-opening for me.

But it made sense—that’s what other support groups do. So why not job searching?

And so we began meeting biweekly to review each other’s CVs, help with interview preparation, give feedback on written assignments, and generally keep each other’s spirits up.

Perhaps the most valuable of these discussions was about my candidate-market fit, a concept Phyl developed over his years of experience with products. I realized that I am, in a sense, a product in a busy market, competing with similar products. To make myself stand out, I needed to understand what I bring to the table that others don’t.

To explore my candidate-market fit, I started my listening tour, speaking with anyone who was willing to meet with me—recruiters, LinkedIn connections, and even total strangers I had never spoken with before.

I started to get over my reluctance to send meeting requests and discovered the kindness of strangers. The CEO of one company told me about a job I wouldn’t have otherwise heard about. Another person ended our meeting by saying,

“I thought this was going to be a favor to my friend who set this up, but it was a really fantastic meeting—you’d be a great fit with us.”

My Job Search Council stayed together for about five months, and during that time, everyone found jobs. I found two but ultimately decided to stay where I was.

What I will remember most is that, while there were many messages of desperation, sadness, and disappointment in our group, there was also cheering and celebration of small wins. It was the best boat I had ever been in.

After landing her dream job, Lindsay posted about our Job Search Council on LinkedIn and encouraged others to form and join their own councils.

If there’s one thing you take away from my ramblings here, it’s that job searching is definitely not something you should do alone—because trust me, it’s no walk in the park.