Interview Conducted by Relevante Teammates: William Brassington, Chelsea Broody, Lee Ann Davidovich & Thejas Prasanna.

Insights from Career Coach Lora Hirschhorn

Executive Summary

The job search is rarely a straight line. Even for highly accomplished professionals, transition can feel like a loss of identity, routine, and confidence. In a competitive market, job seekers often expect progress to appear as a dramatic breakthrough like an offer or a perfect lead. But real momentum is built through smaller, repeatable victories.

In this newsletter, Relevante Career Coach Lora Hirschhorn shares how structured career coaching helps displaced employees recognize progress sooner, stay motivated longer, and build a job search strategy that compounds over time.

As Lora explains, “You’ve got to plant the seeds,” and progress often feels tedious before it becomes visible. The role of coaching is to help candidates stay consistent, build confidence through tangible outputs, and create momentum through small wins that ultimately lead to the big win of landing the next role.

Why Job Search Progress Feels Non-Linear (and Why That’s Normal)

Job searching isn’t linear because outcomes come after repeated effort. Candidates can do the right activities for weeks before seeing responses, interviews, or traction.

Lora describes the process simply: “It’s nonlinear… you’ve got to plant the seeds.”

That planting can feel tedious when the feedback loop is slow.

This is exactly why celebrating progress early matters. The job search can stall not because a candidate lacks ability, but because motivation drops when results do not arrive immediately.

Coach insight: “Consistency, clarity, and confidence compound over time.”

What HR leaders should take away: Employees in transition need more than job leads. They need a structure that keeps them moving during the most discouraging stretches of the process.

Momentum Isn’t an Offer. It’s Evidence.

Many job seekers define progress only as interviews and offers. That definition often leads to burnout because it ignores the smaller signals that the strategy is working.

Lora frames momentum as any sign of forward movement, including increased engagement, more responses, and improved performance in the process itself:

“Momentum can be anything from getting more feedback… engaging on LinkedIn… getting responses to your applications.”

Momentum also includes something more subtle and equally important: the candidate’s ability to keep going with consistency and adjust strategy when needed.

Examples of momentum signals (small wins that matter):

• A sharper value proposition and a stronger “tell me about yourself” response
• A clearly written resume with a confident tone aligned to target roles
• LinkedIn engagement that sparks new conversations
• A portfolio or proof-of-work asset that builds credibility quickly
• Compelling outreach language that improves response rates

These are not “nice to have” milestones. They are often the difference between a candidate staying engaged or disengaging entirely.

The Psychology of Small Wins: Confidence Comes Back Through Action

When people lose a job, they often lose more than income. They lose purpose, identity, and confidence.

Lora observed that for many professionals, “When you take away a job… it pulls the purpose out of people’s lives.”

Identity is frequently tied to work.

During transition, candidates may feel discarded or unseen. This is why coaching must include rebuilding confidence through tangible progress. Small accomplishments like building a new resume or optimizing a LinkedIn profile may feel insignificant to the candidate, even though they represent real forward movement.

The science angle

Small wins do more than boost morale. They activate the brain’s reward system and reinforce motivation.

• “Small wins… activate the brain’s reward system… which releases dopamine.”

Small wins are not just emotional encouragement. They are a practical mechanism for sustaining effort in a process where results are delayed.

Coach insight: “Switch your thinking… it becomes: this is a win I accomplished to get ready for the job market.”

The “Habit Stacking” System: Turning Effort Into Momentum

One of the clearest ways Relevante coaching converts small wins into consistent progress is through time-blocking and habit stacking, treating the job search like a job.

Lora encourages candidates to build job-search blocks into their calendar and often recommends early morning focus for sourcing and applying quickly:

• “Develop blocks of time… work on the job search as a job.”

She emphasizes consistency over intensity. Networking works best when approached as a daily practice, not a short sprint:

• “It’s more of a daily consistent habit.”

This structure typically includes:

• Role targeting and applications
• Networking activity
• Recruiter outreach
• Interview practice and preparation
• Confidence-building outputs (resume, LinkedIn, portfolio)

When done consistently, these actions compound into better outcomes, allowing candidates to experience progress before an offer arrives.

Small Wins That Create Big Leverage: Resume, LinkedIn, Portfolio, Pitch

Small wins become powerful when they produce durable assets. Lora highlights four coaching outputs that build confidence and materially improve results.

Resume as a foundation – Lora begins with the resume because it becomes the base for LinkedIn, outreach, and interview storytelling:

• “Use that resume as a marketing tool… and as the foundation to build or optimize your LinkedIn profile.”
• The resume process also encourages reflection, helping candidates surface accomplishments and quantify impact.

LinkedIn as a momentum engine – LinkedIn creates visible progress and expands networks beyond what candidates can reach alone:

• “LinkedIn’s a global platform… connecting with people all over the world.”

Digital portfolios as proof-of-work – Portfolios allow candidates to show capability while keeping resumes ATS-friendly:

• “Digital portfolios give employers quick visual access to candidates’ program and campaign skills.”
• Portfolios should complement, not replace, an ATS-ready resume.

The 60-second pitch as an interview accelerant – A strong pitch helps candidates control the opening minutes of an interview and position themselves as the solution to business problems:

• “Help potential employers visualize you working there and that you’re going to hit the ground running.”
• Practice out loud. Adapt in real time. Prepare for curveball questions.

When Someone Needs a Job Now: Small Wins Are Not a Luxury

For candidates under immediate financial pressure, this approach must be handled with care.

Lora addresses this directly. When urgency is high, she adapts the coaching process by cutting steps and prioritizing immediate traction:

• “I didn’t follow the normal process… I cut steps out of the process to stabilize the situation.”

Small wins still matter, but they happen faster:

• Resume refinement
• Mock interviews until responses are second nature
• Focused messaging tied to target roles

She also reinforces balancing survival needs with steady job search action:

• “Keep the lights on… but then block out a little bit of time… even a half hour a day.”

Coach insight: “Ask your career coach to do a little more of the heavy lifting for you.”

A Real Coaching Transformation: From Discouraged to Confident

One of the strongest moments from Lora’s interview is a real example of how small wins compound into visible transformation.

A candidate who started with virtually no LinkedIn presence progressed to consistent weekly activity with strong industry engagement. That work expanded into portfolio creation, mock interviews, and clearer messaging focused on outcomes.

A key coaching pivot was shifting from tactics to impact:

• “When we started focusing on outcomes versus tactics, he positioned himself more as a leader.”

Lora also highlights the value of encouragement throughout the process:

• “As a coach, I had the opportunity to cheer him on.”

This is the experience HR leaders want for their employees: supported, structured, and steadily progressing.

What HR Leaders Should Expect From High-Touch Outplacement

From an HR perspective, quality outplacement should show up in clear, practical outcomes.

Based on Lora’s approach, HR leaders should expect:

• A structured, repeatable job search plan
• Tangible deliverables: resume, LinkedIn, pitch, portfolio where applicable
• Confidence rebuilding through measurable progress
• Flexibility when candidates face urgent needs
• Momentum that appears before the offer

Conclusion: Small Wins Create Sustainable Job Search Momentum

Reemployment is rarely one dramatic moment. It’s a series of steps that restore confidence and traction over time.

Small wins keep candidates engaged, motivated, and consistent. They create psychological momentum, strengthen market positioning, and help job seekers show up with clarity and confidence in interviews.

As Lora emphasizes, success comes from structure, encouragement, and a process that turns effort into visible progress.

About Lora Hirshhorn

Lora Hirshhorn is a Relevante career coach with a background in marketing and experience coaching professionals at all levels, from individual contributors to executives.

About This Series

This article is part of Relevante’s HR Leadership Newsletter, focused on practical ways to build humane, high-performance cultures – onboarding to off-boarding, and every conversation in between.