by: Joanne Meehl

Recently I spoke with the spouse of a prospective client, something I welcome because I can answer questions from their perspective. Given that I use a certain process, during which things tend to happen at certain points, she was asking "So when would he have a resume?" and "When would he be interviewing?" Behind the questions, certainly, was some amount of anxiety, given the economy and, I'm sure, family finances.

One thing I always remember is that when I work with individuals, I'm really working with the whole family, because it's the family that's hurting from the loss of income, and it the family who benefits when the person lands the new job. What she wanted was guarantees. I would love it if I could give those. But there are just too many variables to honestly be able to do that: what's going to happen this week in the stock market, what will the candidate really do with his or her weekly goals, and so on.

One thing I can guarantee is that using a job search process that has been refined and constantly tested by many others, the chances are high that a candidate's search will probably be shorter and less painful. I can guarantee that sometimes how a hiring manager thinks can be unpredictable, that aspects of the search will make no sense at times, that using today's technology will help a candidate, and that trying to find a good job without networking is extremely difficult.

In other words, I can guarantee frustration and hard work until the candidate hears the wonderful words, "We'd like to make you a job offer."

So like the cat who eventually comes down from the tree, her husband will land. But the part of the search that's in his hands is how good a job he gets, not just any job, by doing the good work necessary for landing it. That's the only thing that guarantees a candidate gets as close as they can to their goal.