Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to 2026. The new year has a way of making people pause. You start to think about the things you want to change, maybe some things you want to leave behind, and maybe some things you want to bring forward. And if you're entering this year at a point where you're between roles or identities or plans, then you're not alone. Welcome to Life Between Titles. I'm your host, Savan. This video is not about looking back. Really about how we approach moving forward. Let me start with saying something that might sound familiar to a lot of you. So you're seven months unemployed. You've sent 200 plus applications. You've had a couple of interviews, maybe a couple of conversations, but yet you haven't had a single offer. And every day you have the same routine. You get your cup of coffee, you open your laptop. You check the job boards, you tailor your resumes and cover letters, you submit them, and you repeat that process over and over again. But what people rarely talk about is the hidden costs of being unemployed. And it's not just the emotional costs, but the financial costs. So I thought I'd take some time to do a breakdown of what those actual costs are. Let's just say you invest in LinkedIn premium, which is about 30 bucks a month. And you do that for seven months. That's 210 bucks. And your resume is dated. So you hire a professional resume writer. Couple back and forth sessions is about 350 bucks. Your interviewing skills are a little bit rusty. You get a coach. maybe two sessions for 400 bucks. And then you go and look for good cover letter templates and AI machines to help you. Maybe that's 45 bucks a month. ATS optimization software runs around, let's just say 95 to 97 bucks. The coffee meetings, transportation, parking, and the time spent trying to network in person adds another, let's just say 145 bucks. So we're looking at anywhere between $1,200 to $1,400 for that seven month period. And that aligns with reports from groups like the National Employment Law Project and Glassdoor, which have pointed out how job seekers are increasingly paying out of pocket simply to remain visible in this crowded market. And the advice job seekers hear is always the same. Invest in yourself. get your resume to stand out, get professional help. All of that gets it done. But yet still nothing moves. And it's not because of a lack of skill and it's not because of poor interviews. It's definitely not because of lack of effort. In my opinion, it's because the system itself is frozen. So by that seven months, The question stopped being, why am I not getting hired? And becomes, what's wrong with me? Here's the truth you need to hear as you start 2026. It's not you. It is the system. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment is hovering around 4.6%. For younger workers and recent graduates, it's meaningfully higher. But unemployment numbers alone don't tell the real story. Data from Indeed hiring labs show employer response rates are dramatically lower than they were in 2021, even when job postings increase. Most roles are listed, but fewer people are actually getting hired. Economists call this low hire, no fire. Companies are not confident enough to hire aggressively, but are not worried enough to lay people off. But everything just sits there. There's no momentum and there's no movement. And forecasts from the Federal Reserve, JP Morgan, and Indeed suggest hiring growth will remain stagnant throughout 2026. Most employers really just plan to maintain current hiring levels rather than increasing them. year the same way you did in 2018 or 2021, you're already behind the market. That's why the strategy has to change in 2026. Here's what works now. First, stop mass applying to jobs. Turn off those saved searches, stop treating job boards as rituals. Second, narrow your focus. Pick 10 companies you genuinely care about and start to invest in them. Look to see the types of things they need and the type of people that you're connected with replace scrolling with research. What are they building? What problems are they facing? What has changed recently for them? Third, identify one person, one real person. at each company. someone doing the actual work, not HR, not a recruiter, but a practitioner, and ask for their perspective. conversations really creates advocates. This works because of how hiring actually happens. Research cited by the LinkedIn economic graph and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows roughly 70 to 85 % of roles are filled through referrals, internal movement, or even direct sourcing before they're even placed or posted publicly. LinkedIn also shows candidates referred by employees are several times more likely to be hired than cold applicants. That's a crazy, crazy statistic. if you spend all day on those job boards, you're competing for the smallest and most crowded slice of opportunity. And the best roles are often filled quietly. With the renewed focus on relationship building, roles appear that would never show up online and your name gets passed and interviews happen. And all this without ever submitting an application online. So you've got the same skillset, the same resume, you're the same person, where you're just approaching it a bit differently. So as you start 2026, this is the mindset shift that matters. The market's not getting any easier, everyone. Applying harder is not the answer. Volume's not the answer. Adaption is. So here's to a great 2026 for everybody. I appreciate you for listening. This is Savan. Let's get it.
If you are feeling stuck, you are not broken. The system changed.
A New Year solo episode for anyone entering 2026 mid-transition—reflecting on what to leave behind, what to carry forward, and how to move through uncertainty with intention.
Key Takeaways
- →The new year is a permission structure, not a mandate: Savan reframes January 1st not as a deadline for transformation but as a culturally sanctioned moment to pause and ask honest questions. The permission to start over exists on any day—the new year just makes it more visible.
- →Carry forward what's working, not what looks good: The instinct at year-end is to add new goals. Savan's advice is subtler: audit what you actually want to carry forward, which is different from what you've invested in or what other people think you should want.
- →Uncertainty is not a problem to solve before you start: Many people wait for clarity before making a move. Savan argues that clarity comes from action, not from waiting. The uncertainty doesn't resolve in advance—you move through it, and understanding follows.
- →Identity in transition is legitimate, not incomplete: Being in the middle of a change is not a lesser state than having arrived. Savan makes the case that the in-between is a complete experience—not a waiting room but a place with its own texture, lessons, and value.
- →The people who show up most honestly are the ones going through the most: Savan has noticed that the episodes that resonate most with listeners are the ones recorded during hard times, not triumph. Authenticity about difficulty is a form of service.
- →Small commitments compound faster than big resolutions: Savan's approach to the new year: one daily practice, maintained consistently, produces more change than a list of annual resolutions that fade by February. The smaller the commitment, the more sustainable it is.
- →You don't need to have figured it out to start: The most common obstacle Savan hears from people in transition is waiting until they know what they want. His response: you figure out what you want by starting. The clarity is in the doing.
Q&A
Questions answered in this episode
How do you set intentions for a new year when you're in the middle of a career transition?
Savan recommends releasing the pressure of having a destination and instead committing to a direction. You don't need a five-year plan—you need a next step and a daily practice that keeps you moving toward something rather than waiting for clarity.
How do you stop carrying the weight of a previous career into a new year?
By consciously auditing what you actually want to carry forward versus what you're carrying out of habit or sunk-cost thinking. Savan distinguishes between the valuable lessons and relationships from a past chapter and the identity constructs that are now constraints.
What should you focus on in January if you're unemployed or transitioning?
Connection first. Savan argues that isolation is the enemy of transition. January is a good time to reach out, schedule coffee conversations, and rebuild the relational infrastructure that job searches and reinventions run on.
Is it okay to not have a plan going into a new year?
Savan says yes—and that pretending to have a plan you don't actually have is more dangerous than the absence of one. Honesty about uncertainty is the foundation of good decision-making. A fake plan produces false confidence and bad choices.
How do you stay motivated during a long career transition?
Savan's answer: anchor to the reason you started, and track small wins rather than final outcomes. Long transitions are marathons, not sprints, and the runners who finish are those who celebrate the mile markers, not just the finish line.
What does it mean to 'move through uncertainty with intention'?
For Savan, it means making conscious choices about where to put your energy rather than being dragged by events. Intention doesn't require certainty—it requires direction. You can be uncertain about the destination and still be intentional about the next step.
How do you explain a career gap during a job search in the new year?
Own it with confidence. Describe what you were doing—learning, building, processing, caregiving, searching—and what it gave you. The gap is only damaging if you're ashamed of it. If you're not, it becomes a story of agency and self-knowledge.
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