I love baseball too!

Hooray! With Opening Day yesterday, a new baseball season is finally underway. Every year at this time I feel a bit giddy with anticipation until opening day. Once the season is underway a very comfortable rhythm sets in. I love baseball season for so many reasons; some I can explain, some I just feel.

I think of a funny comment by a friend who doesn’t quite share my passion for the sport, “I enjoy baseball, I just don’t know why they need to play that many games.” I confess I don’t know either, but I know that I’m glad they do. Baseball just wouldn’t be the same if they didn't, nor would it have the same mystique. And I probably wouldn’t have as many analogies and lessons from baseball to apply to conducting a job search and managing your career.

A successful job search, like a long baseball season, is a game of numbers. To succeed in the major leagues, it’s also about rigorous preparation to be as ready and practiced as possible for whenever and however your opportunity comes.

The most successful at both keep the perspective to shake off any "error," but learn from a mistake to prepare better for their next chance to shine. I recommend seeing a job search as an opportunity to find something great that you will love, rather than a problem to be solved. It's important in both to believe in yourself, and then back up your belief by bringing your "A" game. Ball players have their superstitions; most job seekers have as many if not more unquestioned beliefs and assumptions.

There’s a saying in baseball, “the ball always finds the new guy.” That's why I coach interview preparation and practice applied with the diligence that ball players apply to a month of Spring Training before their regular season starts. That way you are not “the new guy” who hasn’t interviewed in a long time. It's laughable to imagine a ball player stepping up to the plate at the beginning of the season, having not batted since last year. To the person who is going to “wing it in an interview (hoping they will only play one game) and see how it goes” – your competition, who are preparing and practicing for a winning season, thanks you. Even with Spring Training, I don't know if there is a ball player out there who doesn't know the value of taking batting practice before every single game.

Winning or losing in the job search, like a ball game, can come down to “a difference of inches” – doing all the little things you can do, to give yourself the best advantage you can have.