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One of the most common patterns I have seen over the years in recruitment is how emotionally attached people become to outcomes they cannot control. A candidate becomes fixated on a single job opportunity. A hiring manager becomes convinced that only one specific candidate will work. A professional ties their entire sense of progress to a promotion that may or may not happen this year.
In optics, we talk a great deal about competence. Clinical accuracy. Communication skills. Commercial awareness. Hitting targets. Managing diaries. Reducing remakes. But behind all of that sits something far less visible and far more powerful. Self-trust.
It sounds like a question about career satisfaction, but it usually isn’t. It’s not really about whether you enjoy the work, or whether you’d recommend it to someone else, or whether the industry has changed since you first stepped into it. It’s a quieter, more personal question than that. It’s about whether the version of you who walks into work now still recognises why you said yes in the first place.
Recruitment’s a mental game. Your mindset drives performance, relationships, and results. These nine thinking traps quietly kill confidence and clarity - whether you’re a consultant, candidate, or client. Let’s call them out and fix them - Mark Goode style.