Is your job search doing your head in?

Trying to find the ideal job, even when employed, can be one of the most difficult realities to deal with. Initially the prospect of finding a new job is not that daunting, but if you don’t quickly secure a new job, it can take a toll on your self- esteem (not to mention the financial pressure if you don’t have a job). Yet a positive outlook is crucial, as an employer will not want to hire someone that comes across as desperate, or depressed. So how to you remain positive?

Reduce expectations

Having expectations invariably leads to disappointment. If you expect to quickly secure a new job and you don’t, then it will impact on your self-esteem. If you expected to breeze through a job interview and you bombed out, then your self-esteem will take a battering.

In Australia, we live in a society in which having expectations is almost obligatory and the only way people can achieve their goals. However by having expectations, we set ourselves up for the inevitable fall and disappointment.

In order to manage any job search process with our self-esteem intact we need to ensure we don’t attach any expectation to any of it. The reality is that our expectations during the job search process emanate from our fear, fear of not getting what we want and fear of losing what we have.

Focus on prior accomplishments or successes

If all you focus on is the latest rejection letter, then your self-esteem is going to take a battering. One of the keys to staying positive is to not focus on failures, but instead to focus on what you have achieved more generally in life.

Learn how to take rejection gracefully

Nobody likes rejection – I mean rejection is really hard to take, especially if it is a job you really wanted. But you have to remember, you are not alone as even the most famous amongst us, where rejected, or faced obstacles before they succeeded. Take these few examples from the history books:

• Chester Carson faced seven years of rejections, before he persuaded Haloid to purchase the rights to his electrostatic paper-copying process. Haloid went on to become Xerox Corporation.
• Thomas Edison failed 2,000 times, before inventing the light bulb.
• General Douglas MacArthur was rejected by West Point Military Academy twice, before securing a place at the Academy.

The point is, there are two ways which you can handle rejection. The first is to never do anything that could possibly get you rejected. Stay home and wait for the phone to ring, or simply put up with your lot. The alternative is to accept that rejection is part of the job search journey and to use rejection as an opportunity to learn.

Now I know if you are currently job searching and you already have a couple of rejection letters, then you are going to think I’m mad if I tell you it is not rejection, but an opportunity to learn. But hear me out on this one, as changing your mind set could be crucial to your job search strategy and long term career aspirations.

You see our minds are programmed to believe that a rejection letter is a rejection of us, as an individual. It is so challenging to our self confidence, that whether we acknowledge it or not, we take it very personally and the natural tendency is for us to believe that we’re not as good as the next guy, that we are not one-of –a -kind and that, dare I say it, not deserving on a sub-conscious level.

But we are deserving of that job, promotion, higher salary level and new opportunity. We just need to re-program our mind and use the rejection letter as an opportunity to learn, improve and even an opportunity to test the waters.

You see at school, if we didn’t get it right, we ‘failed’ the exam and were a complete flunk. But in job-hunting, if we don’t get it right, then we simply need to LEARN, so we do get it right!

Identifying areas you need to learn and improve upon

• Are you networking effectively?
• Are you tapping into the hidden job market?
• While looking for new work, are you volunteering so you can maintain, or hone your skills and potentially meet key industry contacts?
• Are you setting aside significant time EVERY day to find work?
• Have you sent your resume to all relevant recruiters and employment agencies?
• Have you set up a Google Alert and job alerts on relevant job-search boards?
• Are you following up with recruiters and agencies weekly?
• Are you spending time everyday making cold or warm calls to prospects?
• Are you applying for appropriate jobs that match your skills and qualifications?
• Do you need to learn new skills, or gain new qualifications to secure a new job?
• Are you following up with employers after the interview?
• Does your resume or CV sell you effectively, by outlining the VALUE you offer to potential employers?
• Are you submitting an effective cover letter with your resume to employers?
• If applying for government jobs, are you writing effective selection criteria?
• How well are you performing at interview?
• Do you follow up an interview, with an appropriate thank-you note?