Trust Your Gut During A Job Search
- Chris Scherting
- Apr 13
- 8 min read
If you are in full job search mode, you are probably getting lots of conflicting or confusing advice. I want to encourage you to trust your gut and intuition.
Helping people like you with your job search is my weird hobby. I love seeing people land new jobs where they make more money, escape toxic work environments, and hopefully, improve their financial stability and career paths. I want you to have a nice life and be happier in your job.
I network all the time and share my nerdy advice. What I share is a mix of what has worked for me during my own job searches, and tips I’ve picked up from years of reviewing resumes and hiring marketers for my team.
But here’s the truth: There is no single "right" way to write a resume, prepare for a job interview, update your LinkedIn profile, or navigate the hiring process. You’ll receive advice from all sorts of people—including me. Not all of it will be a good fit for you, your personal brand, or your current role.
That’s why it’s crucial to trust your gut feeling throughout the job search, interview, and recruitment process.
Gut Instinct, Rationale, and Career Decisions
I’m not a neuroscientist or psychologist, but I have observed psychology play a huge role with people choosing to stay in a toxic environment or being too scared to start a job search. Fear can be paralyzing.
I’ve seen people stay in unstable, horrible work environments because their self-esteem is too low and their fear too high to leave. If that’s you, I get it. But I also want you to listen to your inner voice and pay attention to your intuition during your job search.
Ask yourself:
Am I afraid because something is truly a wrong decision, or am I just uncomfortable because it's pushing me in the right direction?
Did I receive good advice that I know would lead to better outcomes, but it feels overwhelming to implement? Or is it just bad advice?
Did a company's culture show red flags during the hiring process? Am I considering accepting a job offer anyway because I fear it’s my only chance or I am feeling desperate?
Your gut instinct often knows what your rational mind isn’t ready to admit. Listen to it.
Resume Design and File Format
There are a million different resume templates available for free online. You’ll see one- and two-column layouts, chronological and functional formats, and resumes with design elements, color accents, or plain black text.
At the end of the day, the best way to format your resume is:
A reflection of you and your past experiences.
ATS-friendly (meaning it won’t get rejected by an applicant tracking system).
Easy to scan by a human being. Pay attention to text formatting using all caps, bold, underline, italics, margins, and bullets. These differences can make the resume easier to scan.
If a resume template looks nice but doesn’t function well and is difficult to change or edit, skip it. Don’t waste your time! Hiring managers care more about the words on the resume and finding the right person than about a fancy design.
I have seen contradicting advice to submit MS Word or a PDF file. ATS may find the Word doc easier to scan, but recruiters may prefer PDF. The ATS may also struggle with special fonts, colors, or formatting with two columns and boxes.
My Advice: Use a text-based, single-column format with clear formatting to designate sections, company, title, date, and bullets. I used Word when submitting online and PDF when sending to a person.
LinkedIn Profile and Your Personal Brand
LinkedIn gives you plenty of options to present yourself. Consider your own personal brand and what kind of career change you’re after. Decision makers and recruiters will check out your profile, so what do you want them to see?
Decisions you’ll need to make:
Profile photo: Casual or professional?
Header image: Custom design, template, or the default blank image?
Work experience: Full descriptions or just job titles?
About section: Professional and polished, or casual and witty?
Headline: Keywords, a full sentence, or leave it blank and let LinkedIn default to your current job title?
I recently met with two job candidates deep in their job search. Both were advised to strip all details from their LinkedIn profiles and only share their job titles. In my opinion, that’s counterintuitive to what LinkedIn can do for you. If a hiring manager or recruiter is searching for a "Director of X" and you have that title but no details on your profile, you may not even come up in the search.
My advice:
All of my advice here ties back to trusting your gut and sticking with your personal brand.
Photo: A nice headshot from a SmartPhone can look great. I think it’s ok to show some personality. Sure, wear a suit if you are seeking executive-level jobs or targeting super-corporatey companies. There are AI tools that can help style your photo too.
Header Image: Add something here! Don’t leave that empty green default template that new profiles start with. LinkedIn has a library you can choose from. Or try tinkering with Canva. Again, another place to show some personality with a landscape or art design.
Keep in mind that your circle profile pic will cover part of the header image.
Work Experience: I think you should fill this in with details and bullet points from your resume to give recruiters a reason to reach out.
LinkedIn doesn’t make the formatting easy. I would avoid long paragraphs and try to create bullet points or shorter sentences with line breaks so its easy to scan.
About Section: Spotlight your “Tell me about yourself” story and be true to yourself. If you are a quirky creative writer, show that side of yourself. If you are an old-school business person, keep it professional.
Headline: Mine is currently in the keyword style (Strategic Marketing Leader | Hands-On Execution | Change Agent | Servant Leader) but I like the full-sentence style too. I suggest not leaving it blank.
This is a great place to ask ChatGPT. Upload your resume and ask ChatGPT to write 3 LinkedIn headlines in both formats.
LinkedIn Posts During a Layoff
If you’re laid off, you have more options to consider:
Do you announce your layoff in a LinkedIn post?
Do you add the green "Open to Work" banner to your profile picture?
Do you update your last job’s end date or keep it listed as current?
Some people prefer to keep things private; others want to make sure connections, hiring managers, and recruitment professionals know they’re available. Both approaches can lead to good things.
My Advice: When I was laid off, I made an informed decision to be vocal. I asked for job search help from my profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook. In my opinion, that is casting a nice wide net of potential helpers.
I added the green “Open to Work” banner and posted updates regularly on LinkedIn. I had new people reach out to help after every post I made.
Time Spent on Online Applications
Applying for jobs online brings another set of choices:
Cover letter or not?
Use LinkedIn Easy Apply with just your profile, or upload a resume too?
Customize each resume per job, or use one generic resume for everything?
Apply to hundreds of jobs, or be selective and strategic?
Your gut can help guide you here. If a job description truly excites you and you know you are an awesome fit, taking the extra effort to tailor your resume and cover letter, might be time well spent. If you’ve been laid off for months and feel scared or even desperate, casting a wider net might be the right fit. You don’t have to do what everyone else does, just what works for you.
My Advice: Be strategic about the jobs you choose to apply for online, especially if you are submitting a cold resume and don’t know anyone at the company. Spend more time on the jobs you are an excellent fit for and that you are excited about the company.
With 100% remote jobs you are competing with the entire country. If there are 1,000 applicants, do you really think you are going to be THE best candidate? If not, skip it.
Consider narrowing your search to local jobs. Many of those will end up being remote or hybrid, they just don’t advertise it.
Only apply for the jobs where you match 80-90%+ of the requirements.
Tailor your resume for each job. (I have plenty of tips to help you in this article)
Write a custom cover letter for each job.
Apply to fewer online jobs but improve the quality of each application.
Job Interview Prep and First Impressions
Interview prep is another area where approaches differ:
Wing it so you don’t sound scripted, or prepare so you sound confident?
Research common job interview questions and write down practice answers, or just think them through in your head?
Make a list of questions for the interviewer, or let them happen naturally.
Thoroughly research the company and its decision-makers, or do a light scan?
Prepare an answer to “Tell me about yourself,” or make it up on the spot.
Again, trust yourself. If you get nervous in job candidate interviews, prepping and practicing out loud can be a game-changer and build your confidence. If you’re comfortable thinking on your feet, less preparation might feel more comfortable.
My Advice: Prepare, research, and practice! Do not wing it! Job searches are taking longer than ever. Put the work in so that you can present your most confident, prepared self. I have several other articles that show my nerdy approach to interview prep.
Every interview begins with this question. Write it down, practice it, and make a solid first impression in the first two minutes of the interview.
What are the interview questions you hate? Spend time thinking about your answers and write them down so you can practice!
Gut Feelings About the Hiring Process
Interviews can be nerve-wracking, but they’re also a two-way street. As much as the company is evaluating you, you should be evaluating them. Pay attention to red flags.
Are the job requirements realistic? Or are they setting you up to fail?
Are they slow to respond to questions or does it take a long time in between each interview? That’s probably how it will be working for them.
Do they schedule Zoom or Google Meet video interviews but not turn on their camera? That’s a cultural sign. Does that work for you? Or not?
Are they currently remote but indicating that may change in the future? If so, are you up for a 30-45 minute commute each way?
Have they allowed time for you to ask questions during the interviews?
If they make you feel uneasy during the process, listen to that feeling.
I had a hiring manager get up in the middle of our 30-minute video call to feed his dog. He kept the interview going while he was off-camera. His conversation style was unstructured, jumping from one idea to the next without follow-through. This was a red flag for me—his leadership style wasn’t the right fit for me.
I believe that how a company or hiring manager treats you during the job search process is how they will treat you as an employee.
Trusting your gut in a job search doesn’t mean tossing logic out the window. It’s about balancing instinct with solid facts to make smarter decisions. You might find a job that checks all your boxes but something just doesn’t feel right. Simmer with that. Balance your gut with a little more research. Do reviews on Glassdoors reflect what your gut is telling you?
Is the flutter in your gut a good exciting, tingly flutter? Or is it a doom-and-gloom sick flutter?
When you pair intuition with good strategy and logic, you’re more likely to land in the right place with better long-term results. Go for it!
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