What Do Wordle and Your Job Search Have in Common?
Today when I did Wordle, my first word had zero correct letters. Clearly I thought I was doomed. But it turns out zero correct letters on Wordle is very informative and my second word was well thought out and I figured out the word on my third attempt. Not bad! Ultimately, that first word we select on Wordle feels like a shot in the dark, but it is an educated guess based on what we know about the English language. But even as an educated guess, it is still a guess and a leap into the unknown. But you cannot play Wordle unless you take that leap and choose a relatively random first word to go with. You cannot play Wordle in your head, ultimately you have to select a first word despite the randomness of it.
One of my favorite activities for my clients to do is to read actual job descriptions and pay attention to the ones they like vs. the ones they don’t like. The ones they don’t like tells them a lot about themselves. For instance you may find the description “fast paced environment” is unappealing to you (although I have had several clients that are surprisingly attracted to that) or that you are repelled by the idea of travel or management responsibilities or numbers or, or, or…. This tells you so much and can help you narrow your search. Just like you have to dive into Wordle and see what happens, you can’t stay in your head with a job search. You need to see what is actually out there and pay attention to your internal reactions to job descriptions. When clients tell me they can’t find a job description they like, I tell them to share the ones they don’t like with me. By ruling out certain things, we can figure out what might be a fit and explore those options. Just like we were taught when prepping for the SATs, the process of elimination has its merits.
I rarely have my clients take quizzes. I find this approach of looking at real-life job descriptions so much more interesting and revealing. New jobs and new job titles are created every day, these quizzes are old news within months of creation. To know what is actually going on in the world of work, you have to go to the source. You have to see who employers want to hire. Like Wordle, you have to dig into real life and get out of the hypothetical.
One of my favorite new positions I am seeing is Employee Experience Manager. Much of this role is a product of Covid and the changing workplace. A quiz created a year ago probably won’t even have this position. But it is everywhere now and I think it seems like an awesome job (if I wasn’t a coach I think I would apply). Checking out current job descriptions will expose you to the newest roles and help you see what’s available now. Staying current, staying engaged and trial and error are the best ways to have a successful job search.
So get out of your head and into the real world and see what’s out there. Even if your first attempts have zero matches, there is still lots to learn from them and progress can be made. Who knew Wordle could be so wise?
