Is this a good fit for me?

A section from a collage of photos of Caroline at university, all cut into different shapes. They include one in her graduation cap and gown, and several shots of her smiling at different events and in different places.

In my final year of university, a defining experience was not getting a job I thought I really wanted.

I applied to a graduate scheme that felt like the perfect next step, and made it all the way to the last stage before not getting an offer.

It felt like a shocking failure. An example of not measuring up.

I made it all about me and what I’d done wrong. If only I could have been different, been more of what they were looking for…

I never stopped to wonder if it simply wasn’t a good fit for me.

When we’re looking for what’s next for us it can bring up all kinds of worries:

  • Am I good enough?

  • Will they choose me?

  • If I don’t get this, what does it mean about me?

So we focus our time and attention on the organisation or person doing the choosing:

  • What are they looking for?

  • What does success look like for them?

  • Could I deliver against that?

  • What do I need to prepare so I can show them that I could?

This is all really useful, but it’s only one side of the story. We also need to turn our spotlight of attention around, and focus it on us:

  • What am I looking for?

  • What does success look like for me?

  • Will this deliver against that?

  • What do I need to ask so they can show me that they could?

When we only look at it from one perspective it can be easy to focus on the ways we don’t measure up, but it’s absolutely a two way process.

Instead of wondering, can I make myself fit in this box? Will I measure up?

Ask yourself - is this a good fit for me? Will it give me what I’m looking for?

Wishing you all a week of finding what fits, and what doesn’t,