It's the last Friday of May. Quick check-in.For the past few weeks I've been asking you to lock in, share wins, and treat this place like the room you'd want in your corner. Reflect on May for a second. - What worked in your search this month? - What's one thing that moved, even small? - What didn't work? - What's one thing you're going to stop doing in June? Mine: Even though I'm not searching right now, I'm always open to opportunities. I'm not a believer in shutting doors. This month I interviewed with a competitor. I was qualified, I met all the requirements, and the interview went well. But the vibes from the recruiter were off. I had that inkling feeling going into it as I reviewed the company's website, and I chose to ignore it because I thought my skill would outshine whatever was going on underneath. It didn't. They had an agenda, I was aware of it, and I walked in anyway. - What worked: Staying open and taking the meeting. You never know what a conversation will teach you. - What moved: My ability to read a room in real time, even when I want to be wrong about it. - What didn't work: Ignoring my gut because the role looked good on paper. - What I'm stopping in June: Overriding what I already know. What's for me is for me. Drop your May reflection in the comments. Win, lesson, or both. One sentence is enough.June starts Monday. Let's keep going.

Quick reframe. If you turned down a recruiter pitch this week because the role wasn’t right, that’s a win. If you withdrew from a process because the comp was insulting, that’s a win. If you walked away from a job that felt toxic in the first interview, that’s a win too. A bad job will cost you more than no job. Six months in the wrong role can set your career back two years and leave you searching again with worse stories to tell. Saying no is not failure. It’s strategy. Last year, mid-search, I declined to move forward in a process I knew wasn’t right. The role looked great on paper. The conversations told me everything I needed to know. I said no, kept searching, and the right offer landed two weeks later. The “no” cleared space for the “yes.” Anybody say no to something this week? Drop it below. We celebrate the no’s here too.

A win you might not be counting: getting past the ATS. Most people don’t celebrate this one because they don’t even know it happened. When you apply to a role and get a real human response — even a rejection email written by an actual recruiter, your resume cleared the ATS scoring layer. A person opened your file. That is not nothing. Here’s what the 2026 data actually says, because there’s a lot of recycled myth out there. ATS systems mostly rank and sort. They don’t usually silently auto-reject. What filters many applications first are knockout questions set by the employer, like work authorization, minimum years, or location. After that, your resume gets scored against the JD, and recruiters usually work from the top of the list down. ResumeAdapter’s Q1 2026 pipeline data shows the median first-submission resume score is 48 out of 100. Only 23% of unoptimized resumes hit the 80+ range considered a strong match. So if you got a recruiter call or a real human reply, your resume is doing real work. You’re in the top quarter or better for that role. The next time you get a “thanks but no” from a recruiter, don’t read it only as rejection. Read it as data. You cleared the gate. Now you tweak for the next one. Anybody get past the ATS this week, even if the role didn’t go anywhere? Drop it below. That’s a win.

Drop your smallest win this week, I'll go first.Job searching is a long game and most days don't feel like winning. So we're going to redefine what counts. A win this week is anything that moved the needle, even one inch. Mine: I helped someone revamp their resume with metrics and value Wins that count: - You sent one quality application instead of 50 spray-and-prays. - You got a callback, even from a role you're not sure about. - You said no to a recruiter pitching a role that wasn't right. - You got a referral. - You finally updated your LinkedIn headline. - You used AI to rewrite a bullet and it actually sounded like you. - You got past the ATS for the first time in weeks. Drop yours in the comments. Smallest one counts. Two sentences max. I'm reading every one.

Here is a testimonial from someone that implemented my suggestions and got a role within 30 days of implementation, after being laid off for nearly 2 years.