When it's taking longer than expected
Six-month-in checklist. Contracting, consulting, pivot signals. What to do when the search stalls.
In progress5 min @ 250 wpm↓ 1,249 words
§ Journey
Six-month-in checklist. Contracting, consulting, pivot signals. What to do when the search stalls.
Six months in, the encouragement from your network gets quieter. The follow-ups stop coming. The recruiter who was "sure something would come up by Christmas" is now suggesting you "keep an eye on Q3". You wake up at 4am running through the maths and the maths has changed.
This module is for the version of you who did everything right and the offer still has not landed. It happens. More often than the LinkedIn highlight reel suggests. Your job here is to audit, adjust and move, in that order.
Before you change strategy, you check your data. Pull the tracker. Run these five numbers:
Read the funnel left to right. The leak is where the numbers fall off cliff-edge.
If conversations are low (under 50 in 90 days), it is a top-of-funnel problem. You are not in enough rooms. Fix: more outreach, more LinkedIn DMs, more targeted intro requests, less time on cold apps.
If conversations are high but first-round interviews are rare, it is a positioning problem. The story you are telling is not landing. Your CV, your LinkedIn, the way you describe yourself in coffees, all need a hard look. Show it to three honest people (not your mum, not your partner) and ask what is unclear.
If first rounds are high but second rounds are rare, it is an interview-craft problem. Specifically the answer to "why did you leave", the answer to "why are you interested in us", or the way you talk about your wins. Get an interview coach for two sessions, around the $300-500 mark for the pair, money well spent.
If second rounds are high but you are losing in the final, it is a fit-and-chemistry problem (or the internal candidate problem, which you cannot solve). Adjust your target list to orgs where the cultural fit is more obvious from the first call.
If you are getting offers but they are wrong (wrong level, wrong money, wrong patch), then it is a target-setting problem and a different module.
Around month four to six, you will start asking yourself: should I do something different.
Pivot signals (real ones):
Not pivot signals (the false ones):
A real pivot is a long road. It usually means accepting a step back in salary or seniority for 12-18 months, and you will be selling against people who have been in the new field for years. Possible, just costed.
Three different shapes, all useful at month four-plus:
Why this matters: contracting beats waiting. Six months on a 6-month contract puts cash in the bank, keeps you in the market, and (very often) converts to permanent if both sides like the fit. Even if it does not convert, you have a current client to talk about in the next interview, instead of an eight-month gap.
The mental shift required: stop waiting for the perfect permanent role. Take the imperfect contract, do good work, and let the next thing find you while you are paid.
Recruiters and hiring managers will ask about gaps over four months. Have an answer ready.
The honest version, that works:
"After my redundancy I spent the first few months on a structured search for [type of role]. The market in [sector] has been slower than expected, so I have been doing some [contracting / consulting / project work / advisory] for [type of orgs] while continuing the search for the right permanent fit."
That is the answer. It does not apologise. It does not over-explain. It signals you have been working, not waiting.
If you genuinely have not been doing paid work, swap in study, volunteer board work, helping a mate's business, writing, or a structured upskilling project. Anything specific and named beats the word "looking".
By month six, the cost is not just financial. Sleep, appetite, social withdrawal, irritability, drinking more, exercising less. Run the audit honestly:
Two or more, you call your GP. Mental Health Care Plan, ten subsidised sessions, you do not need to be in crisis to qualify and you should not wait until you are.
This one is harder than the day-one conversation, and it matters more.
What you bring: an updated runway figure, an honest read of the search funnel, a list of options on the table (including ones you have been resisting, like a contract, a relocation, a step back in seniority, a sector switch), and your gut on each one.
What you do not bring: a fully-formed answer, a defensive posture, or the assumption that they want to hear how hard it has been (they have been living it too).
The decision is shared. The runway is shared. The next move is shared. By six months in, your runway and not your pride sets the move. Audit. Adjust. Advance.
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