The Job Search Auction

Volume 17

I settled into my business class seat on a Boeing 777 on the morning of January 4, 2007, leaving Chicago O'Hare Airport for Taipei, Taiwan. As a poor grad student, I had no business enjoying 16 hours of legroom, lay flat seat, noise-cancelling headphones, and fantastic food as we crossed to the other side of the world.

Except for the fact I won an eBay auction for a systemwide business class upgrade for the grand total of $41. Still my biggest travel triumph ever.

Auctions are funny things because, depending on the auction, you sometimes don't know what the other person is bidding. I put all of my business school coursework to work to game theorize the optimal strategy, especially considering the auction closed at 1:30 am ET and didn't allow autobidding.

The price was stubbornly low even until 1 am. I didn't bid yet because I didn't want to signal to other bidders that I was potential competition.

I decided to wait until right before the auction closed before I submitted my first and only bid. I assumed that others would do the same and tried to anticipate their bids so that I could ensure that I still bid high enough to score one of the three upgrades being auctioned.

In the end, it worked. I scored an amazing deal on what was the longest flight I've ever taken. And I enjoyed it in comfort.

The auction process I navigated isn't altogether different from the job search process.

Depending on the job, you don't always know how many people you're competing with or even what they bring to the table.

You want to put your best foot forward, but you also don't want to do more than you need to, like overpaying in an auction.

So how can you use this knowledge of an auction to your job search advantage?

First, strategize against the competition. Often in a job search, you won't have clear data on who you are competing against. The safest play? Assume the worst. Figure there are lots of great candidates applying so to win, you will need to take a different approach.

Second, make a compelling bid. In a job search, unlike an auction, the unit of measure to win isn't always so obvious. So use your preparation as a proxy for your interest in a role. The more interested you are, the more work you should do in order to differentiate yourself from others you may be competing against. For those ideal roles, it's worth investing in the additional research, outreach, and preparation to be successful.

Finally, recognize that even if you don't win, you can still win. If you lose an auction, you keep your money and you can try again some other time. Same thing in your job search. If you put in the work and the results aren't in your favor, you gained some critical reps that will help you play the game better the next time.

Just like with my $41 business class upgrade, sometimes the key to winning isn't just what you bid, but how you make your move.

Photo by Anita Jankovic on Unsplash