The Five Stages of the Unemployment Process
An adaptation of the Kübler-Ross grief model for those who are unemployed.
The job search process, especially when unemployed, can bring about many different feelings and emotions at odd times. In many ways, it mirrors the Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle. Because of that, here are five stages I’ve identified that people generally go through based on posts I’ve seen in my LinkedIn feed and my own experience.
Actionable Steps:
Work with the recruiter and hiring manager to build a role-specific FAQ. In that FAQ include possible resources the candidate can use to prepare or questions they should anticipate receiving (you could even give candidates all the interview questions because they’d still need to answer them).
Build prep sessions into the interview process - These prep sessions don’t have to be very long. Luke Eaton does a fantastic job of giving a framework here.
Be empowered - If a candidate is asking questions that should be obvious, don’t be quick to judge them. You don’t know what is happening in their life and what this interview means to them. Your answering the question costs you time, yes, but the payoff is you are promoting accessibility.
Encourage the facts - Build out robust rejection reasons and then audit them. If you notice a trend where one is being used incorrectly, review the notes and make sure that the justification is grounded in the questions and the facts. If you see candidates being rejected based on information not shared in the interview, encourage clarifying interviews to clear up the facts.
What Got Me Thinking About This:
Back in May, I designed the graphic at the top for an article. After it came out, Jim Stroud invited me to speak about it on his podcast (Side note: definitely check out his podcast and newsletter - they’re fantastic). When I created it, I was at a different point in my full-time job search where each rejection felt deeply personal, and I was blaming myself. Behind the exterior, I had run out of two things at that time: hope and unemployment benefits. During interviews, I’m pretty sure interviewers could read that on my face even if I spoke with confidence.
I had a fantastic convo with Brian Fink the other day and he got me thinking about this: if you are employed, you interview differently (here are his thoughts). You have confidence because you might want the job you are interviewing for, but ultimately, if you don’t get it, you’re still employed and still have a paycheck from your current one. That amounts to a certain level of confidence since money has a profound impact on our lives and psychology. It acts as a shield of sorts and, similarly to winning, people tend to have more bravado the more they have of it (this clip from the first season of Billions says it all - strong language warning, just FYI) and know they can take more risks.
When you don’t have that fallback, though, you interview differently. You prepare differently. You write your resume differently. You answer interview questions differently and aim to give the interviewer the answer you think they want to hear over what you really want to say about it or know is the right way. You will also, as a candidate, overlook flags or possible warning signs of a toxic workplace because you just want the job and don’t want to ask a question that could be perceived as challenging.
One of the reasons I got into RecOps was I wanted to help change how clinical applying and going through the interview process felt. RecOps is a beautiful place where behavioral economics/psychology and technology meet. Most seasoned professionals in the field recognize the people part of that equation drives so much of what they do and try to design processes that help everyone, regardless of current employment or socioeconomic status. Even though it can be quickly forgotten, that is why interviewer skills training and structured interviews are so important. Both help remind interviewers that they are talking to people and evaluate the information being conveyed over inferences.
As Brian always says, “Be human.”