Most people are familiar with the five P’s of task accomplishment: prior planning prevents poor performance. When it comes to career transition and job-hunting, however, there are six additional P’s to consider.

Career transition elicits a broad range of emotions. From elation to frustration, from glee to disappointment, from pleasant surprise to disbelief—the typical job seeker will likely experience it all. Keeping the Six P’s in mind will help you maintain your perspective during this wild ride and enhance your chances of a successful landing. Let’s take a quick look at each of the Six P’s: patience, persistence, professionalism, presentation, politeness, and preparedness.

The interview is over. You are told to expect the results in two weeks. A letter arrives two weeks later and you open it and read the following.

We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a position at this time. Although your background is impressive, your skill set is not compatible with our requirements, and we have identified another candidate who is a better fit for our opening. We will keep your resume on file and contact you in the event a more appropriate position becomes available. We enjoyed meeting you and wish you well.

The dreaded “Dear, John” letter!

You are disappointed and confused.

You thought the interview had gone well and you would like to know what went wrong. 

Well, start with the language in the letter: “Your skill set is not compatible with our requirements.” That must be the reason, correct?

Probably not.