You Should Interview More Often Than You Think

Most people only interview when they are desperate. They have been laid off, or they hate their job, or they have been passed over for something they wanted. They enter the process anxious, rusty, and operating from a position of weakness.

This is backwards. Interviewing is a skill, and like all skills, it atrophies without practice. More importantly, it is a source of information that is almost impossible to get any other way.

When you interview regularly, even when you are happy in your current role, you learn things. You learn what the market values. You learn what skills are in demand and which are becoming commodities. You learn how other organizations think about problems similar to yours.

You also learn something about yourself. You discover which parts of your experience resonate with others and which don't. You find out whether the story you tell about your career actually makes sense to people who don't already know you.

There is a practical benefit as well. When you have a standing offer, or even the realistic prospect of one, you negotiate differently. Not aggressively. But from a position of genuine choice rather than dependency.

The best time to interview is when you don't need to. When you can approach the process with curiosity rather than desperation. When you can evaluate opportunities clearly because you are not trying to escape something.

Make it a practice. Once or twice a year, have real conversations with real organizations. Treat it as professional development. Because that is exactly what it is.