Be Hungry, Not Thirsty

Unless it’s beer o’clock

“Be hungry, not thirsty.” –Erin Riska

There’s 2 scenarios where you don’t hear back from a company you’re interviewing with:

1. They ghosted you. It sucks. It should never happen but it does.

It’s one of those problems that through technology and basic human thoughtfulness should be solved. I’ve resigned to the fact that it is only solvable on a micro level, i.e. you reading this can be sure you don’t ghost people and improve your company process.

Macros level? It’s never going away. We can continue venting our collective frustration, but it ain’t going anywhere. Source: reality.

2. Something changed and they need a minute.

This obviously isn’t what anyone likes to hear. But anyone who’s worked longer than a minute has seen it first hand.

A crisis. A downturn. Someone left. A priority shifted. New need arose.

These things are understandable. It’s life.

Here’s the issue: We’re conditioned to believe sheer persistence and drive can brute force our way through problems. Follow up, follow up, follow up. Blast off emails and voicemail multiple times a week, even when there’s no response.

It’s wrong.

Scenario #1: You wasted your time. Full stop.

Scenario #2: You freaked them out. And unfortunately displayed a lack of EQ. Maybe they would have replied to the 1st or 2nd message and needed more time. But after the 10th, they realized they’re just not that into you.

That’s the real damage of being thirsty.

👉Be reasonable with your follow up. And put all that extra time into building a bigger funnel.

Job searching is frustrating. Cast a wider net and find places that *do* return your calls instead of obsessing over the ones who don’t.

See the full episode of The 10 Minute Talent Rant, Episode 70 “Bad Job Seeking Advice, Exposed” here.

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.