Why Do You Fear Applying For Jobs?

Here’s the truth. When you see a position that you know would be amazing, you get excited for a moment… until your brain slams on the breaks.

What if I’m not good enough? What if I get the job and fail? Will I just be wasting my time?

Your brain is hard-wired to protect you; to keep you from harm. As soon as it detects something dangerous or unknown, your brain’s mission is to prevent action to keep you safe. Unfortunately, preventing action is not necessarily the smart thing to do. There’s a quote out there that men apply for a job when they meet 60% of the qualifications, but women will only apply if they feel they’re meeting 100% of the qualifications!

What does this lead to? Missed opportunities!

Early in my career, I applied for a Manager position. I was young, 25 years old, and I knew it was a long shot when I submitted my application. I got a first interview, and then a second, and I found myself getting more excited and more confident about the role. I landed the job, and when I asked, “why did I get the job?”, I was met with a very specific answer. It was the questions I had asked. That’s what got me the job. Were there others who had more experience than I? Most likely. But that’s not always the most important thing. I asked questions that demonstrated the way I would operate as a strategic leader. I also had the personality fit and knowledge they were looking for.

The truth is that it’s not always the most experienced or the most educated person that gets the job. It’s the person who is deemed as the right “fit” based on company values, culture, and current needs. You could be that person!

So you have a job application in front of you, but you still can’t bring yourself to actually apply. Maybe it’s not fear – maybe something else is stopping you? Oh yes – good ‘ol procrastination.

Do you know why people procrastinate? It usually boils down to a combination of 3 reasons:

1). Pain Response

2). Perfectionism

3). Fear of Failure

Pain Response

When you think about a task that you don’t want to do, your brain sends out a pain response. This means that just THINKING about applying for a position can be painful, and this can make you not want to do it. Then what happens? You have a negative feedback loop. You did not apply for a job, and so when you see the next one – well, you didn’t apply for the previous one, why apply now? It’s all about inertia. The truth is that when you actually start working on the application, it likely isn’t as bad as you thought it would be!

Perfectionism

You might be a perfectionist – which could you lead you to think that you either need to do something perfectly or not at all. You know what’s really hard to get exactly perfect? A resume and cover letter. There’s always more changes, more opinions. Yes, you want quality documents, but don’t stop yourself from applying just because you feel you can’t make it perfect or don’t have the time to do so.

Fear of Failure

This is the root of the two previous reasons for procrastination. We fear that we will fail! We get a pain response when thinking about applying because we fear our application isn’t good enough or won’t be perfect enough. This fear of failure stops us in our tracks.

As Wayne Gretzky said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Ultimately, you need to assess if the position can be a good fit for you. I’d suggest you lean on folks in your network to make sure. If you think it’s a good fit, just remember that you ARE good enough. If there are qualifications listed that you don’t have, it’s a perfect opportunity to reach out to the hiring manager and make sure that your resume would be seen.

Need additional help? Working with a Career Coach is the best way to stay accountable! It’s all about taking one step at a time. You got this!

Questions & Action Items:

Do I stop myself from applying for jobs? Why?
How can I best move forward?