Job Search Possibilities Matter – Forget Probability

When you are trying to work out whether something is worth doing, a tiny computer inside your brain clicks into action. Right, job search possibilities, let’s go. What are the odds of a specific action leading to the desired outcome? What has worked so far? How do you need to refine your approach?

You actually work out the probability (as possibility is too abstract) and try to find the most efficient route.

Let me explain in terms that are close to my heart:

My daughter is a netball Goal Shooter. Her contribution to the team is mainly based on scoring goals. The closer she is to the posts, the more likely the ball is to swish into the net. She shoots at 96% accuracy, but she sometimes doesn’t shoot if she feels that she is a little too far away. She might pass to a teammate, for example, and get herself in a better position. Now and again, this will result in her team not taking a shot at goal at all.

Much of sport (and life) is about weighing up the odds. I would like to suggest that a job search is different.

If I told you that you might have a chance of securing your dream job, but you have to keep “shooting” and missing from the edge of the shooting circle for ages before that chance comes along, would you keep risking rejection? Job search possibilities are endless, but rejection hurts every time. Everyone has a reasonable probability of getting an average job. Yet is the possibility of securing that dream role enough to motivate someone to carry on despite the failures?

Possibilities lead to opportunities

Sadly, few people are brave enough to shoot for the stars.

They understand that the odds are stacked against them, but they know that if they centre their search around the job search possibilities (rather than probability), they will do so much more to move towards making it happen.

My daughter is starting to take more long shots in game situations. She realises that she is converting far more of them than she thought she would.

In a job search, the issue with this is that they are relatively infrequent. If job seekers had more experience of the power of job search possibilities, they would have that little more trust in pursuing what seems like an improbable outcome. Job searches don’t come along very often. A lot is riding on them, and people often make the job search choices that result in them probably getting a job rather than possibly getting the job.

The possibility of getting THE job is always there. You just have to believe in the possibility.

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists. 

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).