At the early stage of the screening process it is paramount to make a positive impression on the interviewer, whether it is a potential employer or a recruiter from an agency. The type of questions such as “How is your search process going so far?” might sound like a polite way to start a conversation, and you might think that the recruiter does not put much weight on it.

As a matter of fact, he or she is fishing for how successful you are in your job search, or whether you raise any interest among potential employers at all. That’s why it is worth thinking about possible answers to this question very carefully.

If you say that you are in the market for a couple of months and still did not get any invitation for an interview, it might  make a somewhat negative impression on a person you are talking to, and might even turn him or her off. Depending on circumstances of your conversation, possible answers to this tricky question might be: “My job search is going pretty well, I am looking at some opportunities at the moment and trying to figure out how they are going to work out in terms of …” and here you may point to different details: location or remuneration, or the scope of responsibilities that you are looking for etc.  You can even mention a specific organizational culture that you can fit and would be interested to work in.

You do not have to lie, but if your situation is not very good in fact, and you really did not generate much interest amongst employers, try to look at your situation and interpret it in the way that would not deteriorate your further job search. Probably, you have been frustrated with temporary lack of success in your job search and did not have a chance to find any explanations on what is going on. Try to analyze your situation, think of some constructive solutions, and demonstrate that you are in the control of the situation, but not vice versa. You may wish to say that you take job search very seriously (which is absolutely true!) and carefully study every opportunity that comes up, rather then jump into the job without giving too much thought to it. Remember, almost everything can be viewed form different viewpoints. Try to find out the most constructive and favourable one for yourself.