"Now we've been on the road for six months and there's still no job in sight. I'm starting to get nervous." He looked at me with a mixture of disappointment and anticipation. "If I remember correctly, you had said we would find something in that time frame". Mr. Fiedler had been the commercial manager of a medium-sized company, had started his education in the classical way via an apprenticeship, and then had done his business administration degree at a technical college while working. He was in his early fifties, a little roundish, wore glasses with thick lenses and was rather reserved in type. The dismissal had come as a surprise to him, but in retrospect it was quite understandable. The company had been taken over by an international group, and he was a victim of the existing dual structures. The fact that his foreign language skills were not very strong and that he had only ever dealt with annual financial statements according to the German Commercial Code (HGB) had certainly contributed to this. At first he had not understood it, after all he had been in this medium-sized family business for over 10 years and could never have imagined that it would hit him one day. He had a good family background, his wife worked part-time, his two children were still at school. They lived in a nice house, were embedded in the community where they lived. During coaching, we had clarified that the radius of action for the job should be such that he didn't have to move. I looked at him, "That's right, that was our goal statement. But I also told you that we can uncover opportunities, but bake jobs, we can't." "Well, that hasn't really worked out yet, has it?" The criticism in his voice was unmistakable. "Maybe it's the paperwork. An acquaintance of mine said they were too long. Or the salary demand is too high. After all, I would be satisfied with considerably less, and I wouldn't necessarily have to be a commercial manager either." I knew these arguments, and of course I could understand his dissatisfaction. An application process can go like this, but the most important thing, as with many other things in life: Hold the line. "Let's look at your application returns file together again". He looked at me, slightly irritated, because he probably hadn't expected that answer. "Look," I said, "you've had a lot of invitations to interview with recruiters. Do you think they would have wanted to see you if they hadn't been convinced by your record?" This argument seemed to work. "Yes, I do, but after all, it only led to a few cases. And even the conversations that ensued ended quickly." "There we are at the crucial point," I said. "We operate in a market like there are many others. In this one, labor is traded. And it seems that at the moment there is not the right offer for your qualifications. That could be a completely different story in a few weeks." "Okay, but I only have three months left, and then I'll be out of a job. And that makes my situation much worse. Then I'd rather take a job where I earn less. I don't have to be a commercial manager". "I understand. Still, it doesn't help to offer yourself below value. A new employer will pay a lot of attention to that. He knows very well that you're only taking a step back temporarily and may be gone soon if you get a better opportunity. That usually doesn't work." Questioningly, he looked at me. "So, what do we do now?" The mood had changed, and he was now open again to working together and constructively with me on his future. We went through his papers again thoroughly. I offered him a shorter version of his resume, encouraged him to take tests so he could see that it couldn't be that. And I asked him how far he was with his further education in English and international accounting. We could score points there again when he received his certificates soon. A month later, he suddenly had three invitations in one week. We prepared these. Freshly motivated, he went into the next interviews and we were back on track. A step backwards remains a step backwards