Job Search Mindset

I’m writing this article as 1^stFebruary has arrived. Funny thing about February – in that all those New Year Resolutions are a long distant memory and more than likely have been broken and faded into obscurity. This is particularly true if you are a job seeker, as enthusiasm tends to wane after a few weeks – as the reality of the job search process hits hard!

The fundamental truth about job-hunting is that it ‘sucks’! I mean it is hard to stay positive, when you get another rejection letter, and job-hunting is a really stressful experience (no denying it). [Read more…] about Getting past psychological blocks that stop you from having your dream job

If Christopher Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him.  Of course, no one would have remembered him either.  Unknown Author

Let’s face it – job hunting is a pain in the neck and it is especially irritating if you need to address complex selection criteria or write ‘war and peace’ just to secure an interview.

But it is more painful, when you get a rejection letter after spending hours putting your application together, only to be ignored and relegated to the ‘not interview list’.  Yet the reality is that rejection is a fact of life when you are job-hunting.  You can either take it all very personally, or you can develop that critical ‘can-do’ attitude, in which you accept the setback as only temporary and part of the process of securing your dream role.    To stay motived after rejection:

Surround yourself with support

Surround yourself with positive people.  Get rid of people who zap your energy and self-esteem and gather support from people that will give you the encouragement and the critical feedback required to stay on track.  You want people that remind you of your strengths and help improve your weaknesses, as opposed to people who commiserate with you, but only focus on the negative, not the positive.

Stay focused

It is easy to lose focus on the task of job hunting, in particular when working full time or when you receive rejection letters.  But you need to stay on track, by developing your own personal action plan.  Job-hunting is like any campaign, you need to choose specific actions and take and perform them on a daily basis.  These actions might include researching industries or employers, looking on job boards every day, networking, contacting industry contacts, cold or warm calls to employers, follow up calls, applying for specific vacancies, obtaining feedback from job interviews, sending follow up letters, role playing a job interview twice per week, practice negotiating a job offer, getting feedback on written applications and extensively repackaging yourself in your current marketing documents (resume, cover letter, selection criteria).

Think positive

A positive attitude is vital to your success.  Most successful people fail, more than they succeed, but the difference is that they realise their own self worth, so always end up succeeding spectacularly.

One approach to stay on track and remain positive is to write out positive affirmations about your job-hunting skills.  Affirmations are based on the theory that every thought has an impact on actions.  If you believe you are going to stuff the interview up, or not get that dream job, than this becomes a reality.  If you believe you are going to be successful, than this too becomes a reality.  Obviously it is more complex then this and there are countless books and research papers on the subject area, based on how the mind works consciously and subconsciously.

Put simply, affirmations are a way to help re-program the mind, in which you start to believe in yourself, through positive statements and putting your intentions in writing to help you focus on the goal.  “Affirmations imprint thought upon the subconscious mind” says behavioural psychologist and educator Gene Schirmer.  “By nature the subconscious mind accepts everything it’s told by the conscious mind and services as an automatic pilot in guiding our conscious behaviour, sharpening focus and reinforcing commitment”.

So write positive affirmations about your job-hunting skills, such as:

• My unique qualifications and solid experience have prepared me to be the new team leader at DIAC.
• I will perform like a star in the interview.
• I come across with confidence in interviews.

Stay healthy and be social

Get enough sleep.  Eat well and exercise.  Go out and see your friends and don’t talk about your job hunt all the time, but enjoy yourself.

By staying motivated and positive after rejection and accepting rejection as a fact of life when job hunting, you will be able to regard every ‘no’ as a ‘not today’ and a step closer to success.

Are you your own worst enemy when it comes to your career success?  So often we blame others for our specific circumstances or think that our career or job satisfaction is out of our sphere of control.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Only we can take the steps necessary to create the life that we want and secure the job that we desire.  In today’s article, I cover some of the key lies that could be holding you back.

Age is holding you back

We hear it all the time.  We are either too young, or too old, or just too something.  It is so easy to blame age on our failure to secure that job, promotion or get an ideal job.  Worse still, we use age as the easiest option to avoid doing something, by saying, ‘I’m too old (or too young) to do this.

The reality is that it’s almost never really true that you are too old (or too young) to do something and people like Yuichiro Miura, who at 80 years of age climbed Mt Everest is testament to that. Do you remember telling yourself when you were young, that you were too young to do things? Now that you are older, you might be telling yourself that I’m too old for that, or they won’t pick me, because I’m too old and I’ll be discriminated against.

Yes ageism (and biases against the young) exists and are real, but are you using this as something to hide behind, something that you tell yourself so you don’t need to take those essential steps out of your comfort zone, or change the way you are doing things, to really secure what you want?

The reality is, only you can decide if you are too old, or too young to do something.  There is never the right time, only the present time and no matter what your age, it is never too late (or too early) to pursue your dream career.

Fear is holding you back

So often we don’t take the essential steps required to move jobs (even though our job sucks) or fail to take the steps to nail the right job (such as using networking) because we are fearful.  We are fearful of rejection, fearful of the unknown, fearful that it will all come tumbling down on us.

Then we tell ourselves that ‘big fat lie’, that if we are fearful or afraid to do something, than we are not able to do it.  Just because you are fearful about networking, or don’t want to move out of your comfort zone, does not mean you can’t do it.  You just choose not to do it.

I don’t have time

So often we remain in the same organisation, or don’t move jobs, unless we are forced to move (think redundancy, workplace bullying or the family moves).   Most of us have a very reactive approach to our career and although not fully satisfied, we simply don’t have the time to commit to finding a new job – as our lives are so busy.

Yes, job hunting is time consuming, (in particular if addressing selection criteria) – but is it true that there’s never enough time?

If you were truthful you should probably say, I want to, but I’m not committed to it at the moment.  You see there is always time if there is a strong desire or a situation arises when you have to find a new job.  When you put your focus on your career, you have all the time in the world.

When most people start down the job search journey they are feeling really optimistic.  But after a few weeks, optimism can often turn into real negativity, as most job hunters don’t walk easily into the next job, let alone securing the ideal job.

It can be very stressful and as each week goes by, people can be more fearful about their future.

Yet as a society I’ve observed that most people don’t dwell on the ‘reality of job hunting’.

SEEK and you shall find, does not highlight that it can take 6 months to a year to secure the ideal job (and that the success rate is as low as 4% on job boards).

If you look at Amazon book titles, there is an emphasis on quickly jumping into the next job, with titles such as ‘Learn how to find your next job in 1 day’, ‘How to get a job in 30 days or less’, ‘Find a job FAST’, ‘The 2 Hour Job Search’, Finding a Job Fast using a 30/60/90 day plan’.

Sorry guys, but I’m breaking the bad news.  Yes, there are some people who will easily waltz into their next job and be breaking open the champagne bottle within a couple of weeks.  But for the majority of job hunters, the reality is a little grimmer than this. It can take months and there is no such thing as an easy road to a new job, let alone a dream job.

It takes determination, resilience and the capacity to change to the reality of the modern job market.

‘It’s not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it’s the one most responsive to change’. – Charles Darwin

Now I’m not telling you this to make you feel fearful or negative.  I’m telling you this, so when you don’t succeed straight away, then you know that it is OK, that you are not alone, that it has NOTHING to do with your capacity, knowledge, or ability, I mean absolutely nothing!

And because it is OK and you know that it can be tough, you can take the right mental attitude with you, so you don’t give up, settle for less than you deserve and understand that you need to change how you approach the whole deal towards job-hunting (as well as understand a few home truths)!

Home truths about job hunting

Don’t buy into the job board promise that the perfect job awaits you and all you need to do is apply for jobs online.  You need to learn tactics in regards to networking and tapping into the hidden job market.  Don’t wait until a job gets advertised – by then it is usually too late (unless applying for a government job).

Move with the times.  If you have been reluctant to start a LinkedIn account, start one.  Times are changing and will change with or without you.  So don’t get left behind, use new tools and resources to help propel your career and learn how to use LinkedIn effectively.  If you are employed, now is the perfect time to set up a LinkedIn profile. (Feel free to connect with me at: http://au.linkedin.com/in/carolynsmith263/).

You need a modern resume and you need effective responses to selection criteria.  They are not the ‘magic pill’ but without effective career marketing documents, it will be difficult to stand out from the crowd, or even secure an interview.  With effective career marketing documents, your job search journey will be so much easier and you significantly improve the odds stacked against you.

For the majority of job hunters, it can take time and there is nothing easy about job hunting.  You need to adapt your resume, write effective cover letters, make contact with those in your sector and network, build an effective LinkedIn profile and learn how to perform like a star at interview.  It takes dedication and it won’t magically happen in ‘less than 2 hours’, in spite of the Amazon book list telling you otherwise.