Reader,

When I left my last job in March ‘25, I was burned out.

70+ hour weeks.
Undercompensated.
And nothing lined up.

I hadn’t really looked for a job in a decade. The last time I truly looked for a role, I was 22.

The market was different.
The competition was heavier.
And even with 10 years in recruiting, I wasn’t immune to the chaos.

I knew I wanted sales: either staffing expansion or B2B tech sales.

But beyond that?

I had no sourcing strategy.

No geographic focus.
No clarity on remote vs in-office.
No defined lane beyond “sales.”

So what did I do?

I did what most people do when they’re anxious:

I stayed busy.

I had 100+ conversations with leaders across the country. That’s…tiring.
AI startups. Big box staffing firms. Enterprise orgs.
I networked. I cold reached out. I explored.
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But I was taking the long route.

For example, I had four separate conversations just to reach the right leader at Robert Half who had an opening to then go through their 3-step interview process. And the role was posted online with the person's name attached to reach out to.

I never even checked. Oops. 😅

Here’s what I realized:

And that widens your competition pool, stretches your energy thin, and makes progress feel random.

The only reason I didn’t spiral is because I treated every conversation like intelligence gathering.

I asked:

• How many candidates are you seeing at each stage?
• What backgrounds are standing out?
• How does my background compare?
• Why did the last person not get the offer?
• ETC

Every rep gave me signal.

That information tightened my positioning over time.

But looking back?

I took the long route.

On Friday, I’ll break down what I would do differently if I had to start over tomorrow and how to build a sourcing engine that doesn’t burn you out.

-Jaclyn
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