Before You Spiral, Let's Talk!
A conversation between an HR and a jobhunter.
Today’s Newsletter is Sponsored by Zedcrest Wealth, Your Trusted Investment Partner
The market is open, but opportunity doesn't wait. With the new Stocks module on the Zedcrest Wealth app, you can invest in companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange and take a more active role in building long-term wealth. Open a CSCS account, make your first trade, and get free stocks.
Download the app and take your position today.
Today’s Content
Du Bist Gut Genug( You are good enough)
Talent Factory’s onboarding is tomorrow.
Advertise with us (Send us an email - Thegenzhr@gmail.com)
Du Bist Gut Genug!
It’s the last day of the month, and you still don’t have the job.
Before you spiral, let’s talk.
You set a goal in July. You wrote it down, or maybe you just said it to yourself in the shower on July 1st with extreme conviction:
‘By the end of the month, I’ll have something lined up.’
It’s the end of the month. You don’t have something lined up; in fact, nothing has lined up for you. I know exactly where your head is at the moment; believe me, I do.
Is it the comparison spiral, the “maybe I’m not good enough” loop, or the quiet panic of watching another month flip over while your situation looks more or less the same as it did 30 days ago?
Please sit with what I’m about to say. I’m not here to motivate you or to give you a five-step plan, but to let you know that this is one of the most disorienting experiences a person can have, and not enough people say that out loud.
The job searching phase is quietly brutal.
The part nobody posts about
Everyone who got the job posts about getting the job, but they didn’t post the:
Tuesday afternoon where they refreshed their email 47 times and got nothing.
LinkedIn connection request they spent 20 minutes writing that went completely unread.
Interview that felt so good, the one where you and the interviewer were laughing and it felt like a conversation, not a test, and then three weeks went by, you never heard from them again.
This phase carries its own kind of weight, and you bear it while still showing up, still sending applications, still trying to sound enthusiastic in cover letters for jobs you’re not even sure you will get.
If you have been doing that, if you have kept going even when it felt pointless, that is not nothing. That speaks volumes!
Here’s what I’ve watched happen from the HR side
I’ve been in rooms where hiring decisions get made. I’ve seen CVs discussed, shortlists built, candidates moved forward or quietly passed over, and I want to tell you something that might either upset you or set you free:
Most of the time, it is not about you being unqualified. It’s about:
Timing
An internal candidate who showed up at the last minute.
A budget freeze that happened the week after your interview.
A hiring manager who is also overwhelmed and hasn’t gotten back to anyone.
A role that was already half-decided before the job post even went live.
None of that has anything to do with your capability.
The system is genuinely inconsistent. This is not an excuse for it, but it’s just the truth.
So if you’ve been taking every rejection (or worse, every silence) as evidence that you’re not good enough, I need you to put this down somewhere; that data is false!
So what do you do with July?
You close it, not with shame or a highlight reel of everything that didn’t work.
You close it like someone who has been in the game and is still standing, because that’s what you are currently doing.
Also ask yourself this question about the last 30 days:
Did you learn anything that makes you sharper going into August?
Maybe you learned that your CV needs to lead with impact, not just duties or maybe you figured out which industry actually excites you versus the one you applied to because it felt “safe.” or just maybe you realized you’ve been applying for roles that are two levels above where you are right now, and that’s been making everything harder.
Reflect on these questions, and the answers you get will show you that July was not wasted.
What does August actually need from you?
August definitely doesn’t want you to set a new goal with a new deadline you’ll feel bad about missing.
What August needs you to do is to SHIFT.
If you’ve been applying and not hearing back, the problem is probably your CV or your targeting. Fix one of those.
If you’ve been getting interviews but not offers, the problem is probably how you’re telling your story. That’s a practice problem, not a you problem.
If you’ve been getting offers but turning them down because nothing feels right, that’s worth sitting with. What are you actually looking for? Do you know? Have you written it down somewhere?
Pick the thing that’s actually keeping you stuck and ensure that you unstuck yourself.
And in the meantime,
Please eat something that isn’t stress food. Go outside at least once today. Talk to someone who isn’t on LinkedIn. Do something you love.
The job search can eat you alive if you let it be the only thing happening in your life. Your whole identity cannot live or die by whether a company you applied to three weeks ago sends you an email. You are not your application status.
August is coming, and you are still here, and that is genuinely enough to start from.
See you in August.
What’s Happening At Talent Factory?
🚨 The Founding Cohort (as we call it) will be having its onboarding tomorrow. This onboarding is to welcome the founding students into the academy and to give a rundown of what to expect in the 24weeks.
In that same energy, Talent Factory will be having a physical launch in the city of Lagos at Miva Open University on the 15th of August, 2026. Mails have been sent in respect to this.
Either ways, its parte after parte for those at TF academy.
If you will like to experience this in October, apply today and take the first step towards building a successful HR career.
UPDATES
HRUnwind is the event for HRs, and it’s happening on the 8th of August,2026. Location will be shared with paid registrants. Save your seat HERE.