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Go Against Your NCAA Brackets: Use Your Gut to Pick Jobs

This is my absolute favorite time of year.

NCAA Basketball Tourney Time! So much energy and possibilities; any team can win on any give day.

Being a HUGE University of Kentucky (UK) Wildcats fan, though, makes it really hard for me to objectively pick winners in the tournament pool I run every year. And this year is no exception.

Kentucky looks tough this year, but I have my doubts…eh…fears.

Normally, at this point in my blog, I connect the metaphor of picking my tournament brackets with “and this is like finding a job because.” This time, though, I’m going to go in the opposite direction.

Deciding which positions to apply to requires research, forethought, strong networks, and preparation, all of which are needed to pick an objective NCAA bracket. HOWEVER, unlike the brackets, I believe there is a very large “gut feeling” that goes into picking the right position.

Your body usually tells you when something feels “right” and when something feels “too good to be true.” I’ve ignored that gut feeling too often in my career and been burned.

When I’ve paid attention to it professionally, though, things had a way of turning out right. If I truly feel a job is a good fit and I feel it in my gut, that is a thumbs up to me.

Not so with the NCAA Tournament. Or is it?

Do you have a story of when you ignored your gut related to a job or professional opportunity?

Now back to picking my brackets….Go Kentucky!!

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GovLoop

I also think in NCAA analogy that some of the 3 or 4 seeds or actually the best jobs. I find people often focus on the #1 seed jobs (the super popular ones, hard to get into agencies, or cool divisions) and actually some of the best jobs (or teams) or the #3/4 seed where it’s slightly under the radar

Corey McCarren

It’s a good thing I don’t pick jobs the same way I pick a bracket: “My best friend graduated from there, I think Temple will win this one…” “My ex-GF goes there, I think it’ll be a big loss for them here… A devastating loss, really…”

The gut feeling is important, it’s what brought me to GovLoop, and I’m sure it will be important to my future job choices. Pro-con lists are great, but sometimes there’s just something that will draw you somewhere even if it may not have the most “points” for you on paper.