Jobs @ Career Consulting Limited

Return to career-consulting-limited.com
Managing
People
Managing Your Career
CV Examples
Coaching
Cover Letter Examples
Pre-Employment Tests


Why Bachelors Make Bad Decisions: Five Tips to Move from Reality Television to Your Career Change


The Bachelor is one of the many reality shows that have gripped the US television viewing audience.

Premise: A very eligible Bachelor (last season featured an NFL quarterback) stays in a mansion with several eligible young women. They seem to spend their days swimming, tanning, and speculating about the Bachelor's intentions. They meet the Bachelor in one-to-one and group activities. Each week the Bachelor gives a rose to the women who will continue to compete, and two who do not receive a rose go home. (If you're a more faithful viewer than I am, please email me with corrections!)

So what can we learn about career reality from this reality show?

1. Walk out the front door of your comfort zone.

From the women's perspective, The Bachelor is a metaphor for the wrong kind of job hunting. Whenever you're one of a group chasing the same dream, it's difficult to create a realistic game plan and use energy efficiently. But they're chosen to compete and it's so easy to get caught up in the game.

Career changers, of course, aren't stuck in a mansion with a single prize, however dazzling. Like the contestants, though, they can get awfully comfortable. Better to walk out the front door and keep looking until you recognize your true goal and the ink is dry on the offer letter.

2. Prepare for irrational rejection.

If you choose to stay and compete, remember that the decision-maker is looking for reasons to eliminate options because there are just too many choices to evaluate rationally. Interviewers overwhelmed by hundreds of resumes often can find an adequate choice from the first fifty ­ or from any fifty chosen at random. You can't read anything into rejection except the laws of probability and randomness.

3. Look through the windows: there's a world outside!

When you're caught up in an intense contest, it's easy to forget there's more than one race in the world and certainly more than one prize. And I believe everyone should pursue multiple goals at the same time. It sounds time-consuming, but usually you can achieve synergies by creative planning. You learn how to pursue one goal by striving after another. And most important, you're likely to come out a winner.

4. Recognize that choices look different when you're on deadline.

From the Bachelor's perspective, there are pluses and minuses to this series of forced decisions. First, it's easy to procrastinate when you face a tough decision. A deadline often clarifies options and actually makes the choice easier. But when you're facing a complex decision with consequences that last for years, where a mistake can be costly, it's best to take more time.

5. Don't anticipate the final decision until the ink is dry on the contract.

Nothing happens until you get the offer in writing. In one episode, the Bachelor took two different finalists to the same jewelry store to look at engagement rings! Even after you've looked at rings together, the show seems to say, you're not even engaged to be engaged. (We won't go into the ethical dimensions of these actions in the context of romance. But would you want to accept a rose ­ or a ring ­ from someone who just went through the same process with a different potential partner?)

I've heard first-hand accounts of verbal offers that were withdrawn or materially changed by the time they were translated to writing. And even written offers can be withdrawn for sufficient reason. During times of stress, people make promises they don't intend to keep, and others hear promises that were never intended to go beyond light banter.

Bottom Line: It's no accident that Bachelor match-ups seem to fall apart when the season ends. And it's no accident that great decisions lead to empowering, satisfying, meaningful lives.

I offer one-to-one consultations on career and business strategy.

About The Author

Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.

"Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com

Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294


MORE RESOURCES:




Supply Chain  Lowe's Careers


Careers  City of Phoenix (.gov)



Working for ICE  ice.gov

Careers  University of Northern Colorado


Careers  City of Ontario, California (.gov)



Careers | Home  USDA (.gov)

Jobs  Multnomah County

Careers and Jobs at CRS  Catholic Relief Services


Careers - MDOT  Maryland.gov

Work at Fairfield  Fairfield University

Careers  Baxter





Employment Opportunities | Game Commission  Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (.gov)

Careers at USCIS  USCIS (.gov)


Careers at TWU  Texas Woman's University



Work at Butler  Butler University


Water Services Careers  City of Phoenix (.gov)


Job Search Results  UnitedHealth Group Careers

Jobs  City of Rochester (.gov)

Employment | Department of Corrections  Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (.gov)

Work With Us  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (.gov)


Career Opportunities  Gilead Sciences

Careers  Johnson & Johnson


Careers at Willamette  Willamette University

IOM career gateways  International Organization for Migration


Careers  Washington State University

Careers  BASF

Jobs at Liberty University  Liberty University



Student internships at J&J  Johnson & Johnson Careers


Work for the City of St. Louis  City of St. Louis, MO (.gov)


Certified Direct Care Professional (CDCP)  Wisconsin Department of Health Services (.gov)

Jobs & Employment  Monmouthshire County Council


Careers  WV Department of Education



Careers  The Ocean Cleanup

UF Health Careers  UF Health Careers

Job Seekers  Illinois Human Resources

Careers  CrowdStrike


Careers at Union  Union College


KPMG Careers  KPMG

March 2025 Preview: What to Expect in the Jobs Report  Center for Economic and Policy Research








Human Resources Department  City of Phoenix (.gov)

Provincial Government Job Opportunities  Government of Prince Edward Island


Current opportunities  Turner & Townsend




Careers  Euromonitor

Job Opportunities  Bellevue School District




Careers  El Dorado County (.gov)

The Job Market Is Frozen  The Atlantic

15 jobs that work with wild animals  International Fund for Animal Welfare | IFAW







Work at UI Health Care | University of Iowa Health Care  University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center

Need More Information?
Site Home | Site Map | Links | Contact Us | Privacy Policy
© Career Consulting Limited.com 2011

tumblr visit counter