Is your job search fueled by FOMO?
The internet has been a great tool for our jobs, and for job searches, but have they led to job FOMO?
I was talking to a friend recently who has a good job with a competitive salary, but she was job searching because she thought there was something better out there. And she’s not the only one.
Unrealistic expectations for the market
I’ve seen many posts online from folks trying to break into the field that are along the lines of “after months of looking, I finally got a job offer that is related to what I want to do, but the salary is [insert average amount for an entry-level role in their field], should I keep looking?” Or instead of the average salary, they are hung up on the fact that it’s hybrid and not remote, or it’s in less impressive industry than they were targeting.
Considering how hard it is to get an offer for any job right now, especially an entry-level job, if you get an offer that checks more boxes of what you want than your current job, or you have no current job, then take the offer!
It’s easy to think that there is a better job out there for us. With endless job listings on endless job boards, it feels like there are so many opportunities, especially now that remote work is common and we are no longer limited to the jobs in our cities.
And with pay transparency, it is easy to see the high end of a salary range on a job description and assume that is what you should be making and if you aren’t, you’re underpaid and just need to keep trying harder. But very rarely do companies pay the maximum of their salary range! You have to be a truly exceptional candidate. And in a market as competitive as this one, it is very hard to be the truly exceptional candidate because for most of us, they can find multiple candidates with our exact same qualifications.
Or you see someone on social media bragging about their high salary and assume you should get the same … but you don’t have the exact same qualifications, education, and timing of the market as they did.
The reality of the current market
The reality is that there aren’t endless job opportunities. There are fake or ghost job listings. And the jobs that are real get thousands of applicants. Recruiters used to go through all the applicants for a role just to get a short list of 25 or so mostly qualified folks to talk to. Now many say that can go through half or a quarter of the applicants and find 50-100 potential candidates who meet or exceed all of the qualifications. At that point, they usually stop going through the rest of the applications.
And while the maximum salary range is possible, is it realistic? Are companies that list those high salaries even paying them? Spoiler: often, they aren’t, they are typically paying a salary in the middle of the range. And unfortunately, jobs with high salaries listed are going to be very competitive and get tens of thousands of applicants.
Are job boards part of the problem?
Have job boards become as toxic to our careers as online dating? We tell ourselves that there’s something better out there, so we keep looking. But then we keep getting disappointed when we don’t find it. All the while, we have a perfectly good job with good pay that we’re coasting in while we channel our energy into finding a better role.
But is what is listed on job boards even real, or even attainable? Have our expectations for what we can actually land become unrealistic? Are job boards creating a false sense of what is possible?
And I’m not saying to never job search. If you’re trying to break into a new industry or role, keep looking. If your job is no longer challenging or offering any fulfillment or opportunity for advancement, keep looking. If you have a toxic boss or work culture, keep looking. If you are in fact underpaid (compared to the average when taking a realistic view of your qualifications), then keep looking.
And sometimes searching and not finding anything better (or getting any better offers) is a good way to validate that you do currently have a good job and can give you a renewed sense of dedication and motivation. So even a failed job search can be helpful. You just have to figure out when you’ve validated that you have a good thing and the searching can (or should) stop.
But chasing a new job just because you can, especially in a tough job market like the one we are currently in, can be a lot of wasted energy that might be better spent elsewhere (such as trying to improve your current job which could lead to a raise or promotion or a new set of responsibilities more in line with your goals). Not to mention the negative impact of rejection and burnout when trying to balance a job search with your current job (and family, friends, hobbies, etc).
What do you think? Have the endless job boards and job listings created FOMO and unrealistic expectations? Or have we become jaded?