There's no such thing as an easy job search.

My goal from the outset of the search was to find the best role instead of A role. I’m so glad I finally achieved it, because today I start my new role at Google DeepMind as an Organizational Development Partner! This opportunity combines all my past experiences with the opportunity to leverage skills I’ve wanted to use for years. 🙌🏾

In short, an OD Partner is an internal consultant who looks at the organization as a complex system of people, processes, and culture. My role is to step into a part of the business, understand what’s driving performance (or getting in the way), diagnose issues and opportunities, and design sustainable solutions that move teams from the current state to peak(er) performance mode.

I started losing sight of my ultimate goal due to a very dry summer. I’d underestimated how long the process would take since it wasn’t a cold search. My previous position was eliminated thanks to the DEI executive order, but the company took excellent care of those of us impacted.

The work stopped, but the effort to help us land didn’t. They gave us time and assisted in making connections. The latter is a big part of how I landed this role.

And I wanna be clear: This was in no way an easy search; that doesn’t exist. In my case, it’s one thing to apply to places you don’t work and have no track record, but it’s another to apply where you’ve worked for years and get rejected over and over and over again. It hurts hits different.

The rejection didn’t damage my self-worth, but it certainly throat-chopped my ego. I’d never been in this position before, and I couldn’t understand how I was getting rejected for jobs where I met the all the minimum and preferred qualifications.

“I’ve been doing this shit for years and built a ton of internal goodwill, but I can’t even get a conversation? What the fuck is going on here?”

It felt like all my past experience didn’t matter beyond my most recent role. Not having a certain title or set of responsibilities was costing me consideration. It didn’t matter if I did it before. Especially if I did it somewhere else.

Then there was the time in June I thought for sure I crushed the interviews and the search was over, only to get rejected two weeks later. That was particularly painful. So much so that I cried at the airport when I received the news.

That would be my last interview for nearly three months.

And when I finally secured one interview, it poured. I had four interviews in one week and one more the following. I can’t recall ever having to be on like that for a week straight, but it worked in my favor. By the time I got to the last couple interviews, I was in a rhythm and my confidence was through the roof.

The last interview was on a Tuesday and that Thursday I woke up to the good news. The final one turned out to be thee one! And that’s when I finally let the stoicism go and all the exhaustion from Seven Months a Job Search engulfed me. I signed the offer letter and spent the next week and a half recovering from the most challenging stretch of my career.

I fully believe this experience brought out the best in me—painful moments and all. I developed a new level of empathy for those enduring a cold and/or dry search, tested my resilience, refined the way I prep for and answer interview questions, and landed a position that will leverage all my talents instead of just a sliver.

If you’re in the middle of your own cold or dry search, remember that the rejections are simply data points. They don’t say anything about your capability or worth. Keep your eyes on the ultimate goal, because the job you’re meant to have is still out there waiting for you.

R