A job search that drags on is almost never a competence problem. Most of the time the direction is missing, or the way you present yourself, or what happens in your head on interview day. All of that can be worked on.
Before the tools: knowing what you are looking for
This is the step most people skip, because it feels like it produces nothing. Yet when you do not know what you want, it shows: the application is lukewarm, the letter is one-size-fits-all, and in the interview the question "why this role?" has no real answer. A recruiter picks that up immediately.
- What kind of work gives you energy, and what kind drains it
- Which conditions are non-negotiable: schedule, remote work, travel, salary floor
- What made you leave the last position, and what you do not want to repeat
- What you are willing to trade away for the rest
Structuring the search
Answering postings only means standing in the longest line. Roles filled through referral often never reach a job board at all. Public postings still matter, the problem is spending all your hours on them.
Set a weekly volume
A number of applications and conversations to hold each week, written down somewhere. A search that runs on daily motivation collapses in the first hard week.
Activate your network properly
A specific ask works: the type of role, the kind of organization, and a question the person can actually answer. "I am looking for a job, let me know" produces nothing, because nobody knows what to do with it.
Keep a written record
Who, when, which version of the resume, which follow-up. After thirty applications memory stops keeping up, and the follow-up is often what triggers the callback.
Resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile
- Show results rather than duties. "Responsible for customer service" describes a job title. "Cut response time from 48 h to 6 h across a team of eight" describes what you do.
- Pick up the language of the posting. A good share of applications pass through an automated filter before reaching a human. If the posting says "portfolio management" and your resume says "account follow-up", the filter does not translate.
- Work on the top of page one, the only zone read for certain. A three-line summary saying what you do, for whom, and what you are after beats a generic career objective.
- Write a letter that answers a question: why this role, at this organization. If it would work as-is for another employer, it is doing nothing.
- Use LinkedIn as a complement. The headline and the About section are what surface in recruiter searches, and a profile that repeats the resume word for word wastes the chance to say things differently.
The interview
Most interview questions are variations on a small number of themes: a conflict handled, a failure owned, an initiative taken, a hard decision, teamwork. Preparing the stories rather than the answers keeps you from getting stuck on an unexpected phrasing.
- Prepare your stories as situation, action, result, with a number where you can
- Say them out loud, timed: two minutes, not six
- Have three questions ready about the role and the team, not only about conditions
- Prepare your salary range before you are asked for it
I am a practitioner in applied neuroscience, and the interview involves a mechanism that explains the notorious blank moment rather well. An interview is a social evaluation situation: the brain handles it as a threat, with the physiological response that comes along. The cortisol that rises in those conditions reduces the availability of working memory, the very thing you use to build an answer on the spot. You do not lose your footing because you know your background poorly, you lose it because the resource you improvise with is temporarily busy elsewhere. Hence the value of rehearsing out loud: an answer already spoken gets retrieved instead of composed live.
What you can do on your own
- Say your answers out loud, not in your head. Rereading notes gives the illusion of being ready; the phrasing only becomes fluent once you have spoken it. Record yourself once, listen, do it again.
- Have your resume read by someone who does the job you are targeting, not by a supportive relative. The useful question is not "is this well written?", but "would you call me in?".
- Track a rhythm rather than an outcome. The number of steps you take is yours to control, the callbacks are not. Following what you control protects your morale through the quiet weeks.
- Practise cardiac coherence breathing before the interview: six breaths per minute, about five seconds in and five seconds out, for five minutes, three times a day. It is one of the best documented regulation techniques, and it works where willpower has no grip, on the physiological arousal itself.
What coaching can bring
Clarify the target and the pitch
What you are looking for, and how to say it in three sentences without hesitating. Many applications fail because the person cannot plainly name what they want to do and what they bring.
Practise in mock interviews
Questions asked for real, direct feedback on what lands and what does not. Watching yourself work under conditions close to the real thing is worth more than ten rereadings of your notes.
Last the distance
A long search wears you down. Coaching also serves to hold the rhythm when rejections pile up, and to adjust the strategy rather than repeat the same approach louder.
What hypnotherapy can bring
Defuse interview nerves
When you know what to say and it will not come out, preparation is no longer the issue. Hypnotic work acts on the reaction the situation triggers, so that your preparation stays available when it counts.
Take rejection without folding
After a run of noes, many people start applying less, or less carefully. Reducing the emotional weight of rejection lets you keep showing up with the conviction you had in the first week.
What this support is not
My coaching and hypnotherapy support does not replace any medical or psychological care. It is complementary. I do not make diagnoses and I do not replace a physician, a psychologist or a psychotherapist. I am not a placement agency either: I do not recruit and I do not refer to employers.
If you are going through significant psychological distress, such as depression or suicidal thoughts, I will direct you to the appropriate resources.
Frequently asked questions
It varies a lot with the sector, the seniority of the role and the state of the market. What does show up consistently: a structured search, with a weekly number of steps you actually track, lands faster than a search that depends on how you feel that day. Duration owes less to luck than to regularity.
Yes, at least the top of the resume and the cover letter. You do not need to rewrite everything: picking up the wording of the posting in your summary and reordering your achievements to match what the role asks for is enough in most cases. A generic resume reads as generic.
With a range prepared in advance, based on what the role actually pays in your region, rather than a number improvised under pressure. If the question comes up early, it is fair to ask what range is budgeted for the position before naming yours.
No. I place no one and I have no partner employers. My work with you covers your method, how you present yourself and how you hold up in interviews. The applications and the decisions stay yours.
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Written by David Veilleux, PCC certified coach and certified hypnotherapist in Quebec. Last updated August 28, 2026.
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