August is closing out and September Surge starts next week. Before you jump into surge mode, name what you're walking in with. Maybe it's a resume that's finally not generic. Maybe it's a networking habit you built this summer that didn't exist in June. Maybe it's just that you kept showing up when the market felt dead in July and August. Whatever it is, that's not nothing. That's the foundation the surge gets to build on. Drop what you're walking into September with, big or small.

September hits different in job search world. Companies come back from summer slowdown, budgets reset, hiring managers who ghosted in July suddenly have bandwidth again. Everyone calls it “the September surge.” So let’s talk strategy. What are you actually doing to get ready for it? Are you refreshing your resume, warming up old connections, targeting specific companies, or just planning to apply harder and hope? Drop what you’re doing below, even if it’s messy or half-formed. Sometimes seeing what other people are doing is the push you need to actually do your own prep instead of just thinking about it.

I’m not going to tell you September is guaranteed to look different from August. I don’t know that, and neither does anyone posting confidently about it online. What I do know is what I’m doing right now, regardless of what happens: - Tightening my materials - Actually using my network instead of avoiding it - Building tools that do the repetitive thinking for me so I can spend my energy on the parts that actually need a human Control what you can control. The rest plays out however it plays out. What’s one thing you’re doing this week that has nothing to do with predicting the market and everything to do with being ready for it?

This week, celebrate the networking wins that matter. Maybe someone replied to a message you sent. Maybe you got a warm intro instead of cold applying. Maybe you had a real conversation that didn’t feel transactional. These wins don’t always show up on a job board, but they move the needle just as much as a callback does. Share your networking win from this week, even if it hasn’t led anywhere yet.

Networking is not asking strangers for a job. It’s activating people you already know. Most of us are sitting on networks full of people we met once at a conference, worked with three jobs ago, or went to school with, and we never think to reach out because it feels awkward or like we’re “using” them. Reframe: reaching out to someone you already have a real connection to is not using them. It’s networking working the way it’s supposed to. What’s the last warm connection you actually reached out to, and what happened?