It is never just one thing

There is a principle in medicine called Hickam's Dictum. It says a problem can have many causes at once. Doctors use it when a patient shows up with multiple symptoms that do not point to one clean diagnosis. The answer could be three things happening at the same time.

I have been job searching, and this lesson keeps showing up.

When you do not get the offer, your brain wants one reason. "I messed up the interview." Or, "They did not like my background." Or, "I was not qualified enough." You want a single thing to point at so you can fix it and move on. But that is almost never how it works.

One role I was excited about got paused because of budget cuts. Another hit a hiring freeze right after I interviewed. Another time, a recruiter scheduled a phone screen and just did not show up. And in some cases, being an immigrant added a layer of complexity that had nothing to do with my skills or qualifications.

None of those were the same problem. And none of them were my fault in the same way. But if I had tried to find one explanation for all of it, I would have driven myself crazy. "I am not good enough" would have been the easy story to tell myself. And it would have been wrong.

Hickam's Dictum taught me to stop looking for one reason. Sometimes the budget is tight and the timing is off and the team changed direction and your background is right but the role shifted, all at once, multiple causes leading to one outcome.

If the problem is not one thing, then you are not the problem. The situation just had too many moving parts working against you at the same time.