Always On interviewing

I completed a decade at Amazon on 16^th February 2025 and two of the many conversations that followed led to some deep introspection. The first was a discussion with a colleague who joked about now being stuck with the organization for good and being unable to get out (she says she speaks from experience). The second was a chat with my mentor who began by asking – so who are you interviewing with currently? Both these conversations threw me into a deep well of thought from which I’m only just beginning to emerge.

The first comment from my colleague gave me pause because one rarely wants to be ‘stuck’. You want to stay because it is a conscious, well-thought out choice; not because you can’t get out. For the last ten years, staying has been an active choice. I enjoy my job. It allows me to learn, hone in on my strengths and throws endless new challenges while being surrounded by exceptionally smart people. You don’t choose to jump out of a well with lilies into one full of sharks. Yet, I wouldn’t know which well has sharks and which one has lilies unless I peep outside. Secondly, as sports stars say, leave when you are at the top of the game. Now, I can’t say I am at the top but I’m at a pretty good place if I can say so. Lastly, jumping through interviews and other hiring assessments are skills that don’t automatically appear when you need them. Like any other skill, it needs practice. Which brings me to my mentor’s question.

A few years ago, when asked the same question for the first time, I looked horrified wondering why the question was being asked. This time I was visibly guilty – not of actively interviewing with other organizations, but of not having engaged in a single interview since our last conversation. I have written about always picking up calls from recruiters, as you never know what you may be missing out on. This goes a few steps beyond just picking up the phone. I know because yet another colleague of mine lost their job, had to put their fears aside to update their resume and begin interviewing. He literally said – ‘I haven’t given a single interview in six years. If I had, maybe I’d not be as rusty.’ Yikes!

On the other hand, a common excuse I’ve heard and myself come up with is that if you are always interviewing, you’ll have built a reputation as someone who wastes an organization’s time. Here’s my rebuke to that. First, you’d have to engage in a lot of interviews to build that reputation. While the post is titled ‘Always on interviewing’, it doesn’t mean you clock an average of an interview a month, but find a balance. On second thoughts, I advocate for an average of an interview a month because each organization approximately has five interviews or assessments. If you engage with three organizations in a year and make it through to offer, you’d have engaged in fifteen interviews. That makes your strike rate a little over my recommended average. If you didn’t make it through to offer, the interviews don’t count towards building the reputation you fear as you can’t be accused of having wasted anyone’s time. Each interview, irrespective of whether you make it through to offer or not will help you hone the skill needed to bag that next great job when you are ready to switch.

Having said that, the best way to ensure that each conversation is worth the time investment for both parties and guard yourself from the accusation of ‘wasting time’ is to be very clear on what you want from your next career move, disengage early if it does not match your five-year plan and focus on helping the interviewer gain value from the conversation too. I may not have engaged as an interviewee, but as an active interviewer I can affirm that the best interviews are ones where I’ve learnt something from the interviewee. Think about how you can engage with the interviewer in a way that leaves them with a unique perspective or greater knowledge of a field you’ve worked in.

In summary,  

• Create a 5-year career plan. Be clear on what you expect from your next career move. This will allow you to engage in the right conversations’ vs shooting in all directions. Your plan may evolve as you discover more but having no-plan is not a plan.
• Always have an updated resume on hand. This is well-known sound advice that is rarely followed. I can affirm that I have an updated resume at hand. Is it the best version of my resume? Likely not. But every time I go in, I know it’s going to get slightly better. I’ll take an imperfect updated resume over having to go in at the last minute to update it any day.
• If a recruiter reaches out, pick up the phone and engage in the conversation vs saying ‘sorry, I am not looking to switch at the moment but will definitely reach out when I begin to look for opportunities’ like I so foolishly did for a number of years.
• Actively explore the job market. Not only to apply for interesting roles, but the job descriptions also tell you a lot about how roles are evolving (or not evolving).  
• Make it worth the interviewer’s time by helping them learn something through each conversation.
• Lastly, when the right opportunity comes along, don’t hesitate to make the switch. Yes, it is scary and yes, this is coming from someone who hasn’t made a switch in a decade but I genuinely believe that if you leave at the right time, in the right way, you can always return if the switch turns out to be what you didn’t imagine it to be. This isn’t a one-way door.

So, before I let you go, I am going to turn the question to you – who are you interviewing with at the moment? Don’t worry – I won’t tell a soul.