“Would recruiters think I’m a fraud if I apply for a position in a certain company now and apply for a different type of role in say a few months?”

Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation full of true connections and laughters with a friend who had finally got her moment of realization. That moment when you find out all the seeds you have been  planting and watering are not growing not because there is something wrong with you but because you have been trying in the wrong soil. She told me with a beautiful calm smile that she had finally understood that her employer was wrong the wrong environment for what she wanted to achieve in her career. She had realized that it’s not her not trying hard enough, but the company culture and politics playing against her beautiful honest nature.

With my friend, we talked for hours over a delicious local green tea called söderblendning in the center of Stockholm. We talked about finding peace within yourself, accepting your situation as is, taking responsibility for your own life and moving forward from a place of self-acceptance to bring happiness to your life.

However what I’d like to share with you from our conversation is the question she asked me that was “Would recruiters think I’m a fraud if I apply for a position in a certain company now and apply for a different type of role in say a few months?”

And here’s how our conversation went on:

Me: What happens to the first application?

She: They don’t like it, so they don’t call me back, or they have already found a better candidate at the time I apply, so they don’t consider me for the position.

Me: Or they don’t see it at all, hah?

She: Yeah that’s also a possibility. They may be receiving a lot of applications and not even check mine.

Me: And how can you know whether or not they have seen your application?

Me: What are you going to do to make sure they DO check your application?

She: I don’t know. Follow up, send another email, call?

Me: And what happens then?

She: Well I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. I’m concerned about whether I would come off as a fraud if they see I have applied for two completely different jobs in a period of three months.

Me: What you are telling me sounds like this: You refactor your resumé for a few positions you are interested in. Then you print 500 copies of each resumé, shuffle the papers, throw them in the air and then two of them that are for completely different positions fall into the HR department of one company one after the other.

She laughed for a few minutes and then asked: what should I do then?

Me: I think you need to follow up each application until you get an answer from a person. Not an automated response, and not one that is sent at once to all candidates who were not selected. You need to get a personal yes, or a personal no. That’s when you know whether it is ok to apply for a different position in that company or it is a terrible idea.

She: Hmmm, how do I get that answer? Should I call and say why you did not like my application?

Me: Yeah that’s an idea. Although how about calling before you know they didn’t like your application?

She: (Loud laughter) Yeah well.

Me: If you apply to a position, it has to be for either of these two reasons:

1. You want to assess whether or not this company is good for you.
2. You have already assessed the company and you really want to get that job!

She: Yeah you’re right! I should really follow my application before making another one. After all, doing the same thing over and over again will create the same result over and over again. Isn’t it?

Me: Uhum 🙂

She: Gosh! I cannot stop thinking about that picture of resumés flying in the air 🙂

Much love,
/Molood