"Finding a job is a full-time job."

You've heard it. I think it's one of the most self-defeating lines in job searching.

A job gives you support, structure (and pay!) over a five day window. A job search is fluid, unpaid, without structure and follows no routine.

It produces its own kind of burnout.

What if we framed it as a muscle we haven't worked in a long while?

Before you see progress in any new skill, you will be rubbish at it for a long time. Then one day, out of the blue, you look back and the invisible gains have stacked into a small marker of something.

To get to that point there is a long window of suck. Welcome to the job search in 2026.

With any other skill, that period is fine. No shame attached. It's accepted that most skills have a pick-up time before they produce results.

I am trying to learn Chinese. It is very hard. For a long time and through multiple trips to China, it was like I hadn't taken lessons at all. On my last visit my brain clicked and I held the world's smallest conversation.

I had engaged in Chinese at the same level as a child. It took a year and 50+ lessons.

Side note: if you ever need someone to tell you the colour of various farmyard animals in Mandarin - hit me up.

Why do we assume finding a new job doesn't require the same dedication before we get good at it?

If we frame the search as a job, the implication is that you already know what you're doing and can step in and assume the role. The reality is that it relies on variables and conditions - lots of which are beyond your control.

It’s not as easy in competitive markets as hammering LinkedIn Easy Apply and hoping for the best.

The best candidates reach out directly (we have a script pack to help if that’s something you struggle with - free when you sign up to the Shortlist!). And they keep a record of everything.

I facilitate job processes for a living. Sometimes I don't even have a clue what I'm doing or how things are going to play out. I see both sides of the table. Our time to hire is pushing 6-8 weeks in some markets.

Anyone promising you a new role in 2-4 weeks is living in fantasy-land.

If it feels slow and frustrating, you're in the part everyone goes through - and nobody remembers once they're out the other side.

This is learning curve theory in action. The early attempts at any skill take the longest and produce the least. Then the reps stack and everything speeds up. A job search follows the same curve.

My top three tips:

1) Keep a record of your outreach - to whom and where. Organisation > chaos.

2) Follow up. Most conversions take 7 touch points. It’s not as easy as one message and done. Take it from me, I miss messages on LinkedIn all the time.

3) Refine and rework. Take note of what gets responses, work with that, cut the stuff that doesn’t.

When you're in it, the window of suck is longer than you'd like. The progress is uneven and sometimes invisible.

But it is happening.

And the only way out is through.

If you're fed up not hearing back I will review your LinkedIn profile today, on video.

This market is tough and you don't have to go through it alone. Right now you're one of 500 applicants for every role and the silence is becoming expensive.

I will tell you exactly what I tell the candidates I actually place. What's working this week. Why you're getting passed over and what to change to start getting interviews.

If you want to understand more about what it takes to get hired today.

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Thanks so much for reading!

- Charlie