How many months have you been job searching? Years?
When do you know it is time to stop looking? Or is this even true – stop looking for a job when you really need one to make a living. With a downward trending job market and layoffs still looming large the struggle to get back to the workforce becomes even tougher. You have been applying for hundreds of jobs now – almost every month, but not getting any positive response. If any of these situations look familiar, is it time to stop looking?
I would not suggest that STOP looking for a job completely when you really need one for whatever reason but you must know what to STOP doing what you have been doing. Always know that if you keep on doing the same thing over and over again with expectations of different results, you better shake yourself out of sleep. Here are some pointers on what to do now – when the job search process has been excruciatingly long and negative results are your best friends.
Because we already live with many scripts that have been handed to us, the process of writing our own script is actually more of a process of rescripting, or paradigm shifting – of changing some of the basic paradigms that we already have. As we recognize the ineffective scripts, the incorrect or incomplete paradigms within us, we can proactively begin to rescript ourselves.
~ Stephen Covey
Skills Assessment and Reinvention
Employers have an upper hand these days, with a lot of talent jobless, and new 4.0 graduates from distinguished schools graduating by thousands – there’s a big retarget pool that the employers can dig into – then why hire you? It’s time for some reinvention, time for rescripting your skills and marketing power. Which skills are in demand, which job descriptions do you see more often on the job boards these days? What are the industry trends? Research more to know more and the more you know current hiring trends the more you have the power to appropriately redirect your skills in that direction. And don’t completely rely on the job boards, the power now lies with the social network – how is yours and how powerful can your professional reach be?
Market your Attitude
Don’t sit on your laurels, it’s great you have a masters or a PhD, you’ve done that and been everywhere, so what. Where are you headed now? How can you be the go-to person for one thing that the hiring manager wants? Is there something that makes you more desirable than others? If you have answered no to these questions – now’s the time to dig deeper and turn these to a yes. When you have the answers to a vehement “yes” you’ll see how the confidence flows through you, and others see it well. And that’s what makes you even more desirable – confidence, skills, attitude and the go-getter approach which shouts out loud that this is the person who has risen above the circumstances and others who didn’t make that effort. Stop looking for job now and work on how to have a desirable confidence that makes you feel like flying!
Don’t Sit – Stand, Walk, Power-Walk
Don’t search for a job sitting down on your computer, it drains you immensely and often you’re lost in the information maze. Don’t sit, stand up – do some good to your mind and body – work out and while you’re doing so identify those steps that can help redefine what you want to do next – in a different way. And once you are used to standing up for long time – practice running – accelerating towards skills reinvention, confidence gathering and meeting new people who offer new perspective. Stop looking for a job now – make yourself the powerhouse that the job reaches out to you!
We all have the power, it just needs that inspirational moment, right guidance, motivation and belief in yourself – reinvention is possible!