There are many different factors that could be considered “the secret” to success but they’d only be a factor in the final result. When you think about it, all the best resumes, cover letters, and knowledge won’t help you get a job if you aren’t consistent in applying for the job. Nothing replaces that foundation of persistence in completing any project.
What if you’ve been applying all the places you can think of and are not hearing back from job applications? It could be your resume. Or it could be something else that a professional career coach could show you. But giving up will almost certainly guarantee failure, and regrouping to try again will increase your chances of success.
A long time ago, I heard a funny story on the radio that illustrates what I am trying to say. The scene was a high school football game and one of the players made a terrible mistake on the field just before halftime, costing yardage and points. Now, what if that player had just given up, thrown himself down on the middle of the field, and stayed there? The storyteller described that scenario humorously– imagining the band trying to march around his body during the halftime show and it was amusing to listen to. But it got me thinking that you can’t just give up and lay down in the middle of everything because you are tired of trying, or failing.
Sports teaches you to deal with failure by getting up and keeping on. You keep working on skills, learning more about the game, training to strengthen yourself, and try again. A job search is very similar! If you aren’t persistent and don’t keep at it, you’ll miss out.
How To Stay Organized On Your Job Search
Job Search
One of the realities we face when unemployed and searching for a job is the reality of disorganization. There are a few reasons why things go haywire:
- suddenly your schedule is not tied to the workplace
- it’s usually at least slightly depressing to be unemployed
- there’s a learning curve in the development of job-searching skills
- people tend to think that someone who “isn’t working” can do all sorts of errands, emergency babysitting, and projects
Disorganization has a way of growing and taking over, just like those expanding spaces in popular match-three games ooze into the board wherever they can unless you explode them all. How can you keep disorganization from taking over your job search?
- Make yourself a schedule and remind others that you have a commitment to searching for a job. It doesn’t have to be eight hours every weekday, but it’s a good idea to block out a good chunk of time to do what you need to do for your career and tell people you aren’t available during those times.
- Stay on top of paperwork. Keeping your resume files organized, having a home for job-hunting expense records, updating a resume with any part-time jobs or seminars you’ve attended, and making sure you are on top of all the details will not only make life easier now, it is a good skill for the future.
- Declutter. The last thing you need when unemployed is a pile of stuff that hasn’t been dealt with and is reminding you of failure every day. Even if you need to take a day every week to work on it, you’ll appreciate space to breathe. Some people find that instead of a “day to declutter,” a timer set for 15-30 minutes every day motivates them to move junk out of their lives.
- Take care of yourself! Get up in the morning and stretch, take walks, eat right, etc., etc., etc. If you are unhealthy, you don’t have the energy to deal with the real work of an organized job search.
- Educate yourself. Use the job search resources that others have found helpful and spend some disciplined time learning how to utilize this time to your advantage.
Common Mistakes To Avoid In A Job Search
Job Search
Today’s reality is that a large part of the population are looking for jobs— not just “a job” but also jobs that have better benefits, jobs that pay more, or jobs that have a chance for advancement. As a recent article pointed out, a lot of job-hunting even happens ON the job! That means that there’s a lot of potential for making some common job search mistakes:
- If you are currently employed, do your job well. You want to keep in mind that your boss and co-workers are the people who will be contacted by potential employers for references, so as much as you can, make those references positive.
- If you are currently employed, don’t waste your employer’s time or resources. You are not being paid to hunt for another job, you are being paid to do your current job! Use your breaks — and your own equipment — to do any job searching. Not only is using your work computer kind of rude, it also is kind of dangerous because your employer owns the history and any files on that machine. (By the way, where is your resume stored? I hope not only on your work computer!) If you need to use the company fax or printer, get permission and don’t abuse the privilege.
- If you are currently employed but hoping to change, be tactfully honest about your goals. The impression you want to give is, “I want to keep up with the trends in my field” not, “this job stinks so I’m bailing.” Keeping your resume updated, continuing pertinent training, and networking maintenance are common sense ways to accomplish this. There are good reasons why you should always be hunting for a new job. But there are equally good reasons that job hunt should be one that doesn’t jeopardize your current position.
Privacy Tips For Your Online Job Search
Job Search
When you are searching for a job, remember that your privacy is still a concern. Instead of blasting your information on every site out there, be particular about which sites you choose to use and go with job search resources recommended by experts. In addition, there are a few basic online rules to remember:
- Read the privacy policy BEFORE you post. That might sound too simple, but you’d be surprised at how many people get in trouble because they assumed the policy was in line with their preference.
- Don’t give all your personal contact information: Use a dedicated email for contacts and protect yourself (and your family). This has the additional benefit of making you look intelligent about security risk.
- Understand and use cyber-safe resumes. Utilize the levels of visibility that site allows and understand the differences between “searchable by employers only,” “private,” “semi-private,” and “open.” Again, you have to read that site’s definitions in order to use it correctly.
- Keep track of when and where you posted your resume. Keep a spreadsheet, or use a career management tool like JibberJobber to keep track of your online job search.
- Your Social Security Number, bank account number, and mother’s maiden name do not belong with your resume. Period. That’s like giving a hacker the easiest target in the world for identity theft. That information can be given at the job site after you are hired.
As one security expert said, the safest place for information is on a piece of paper in your pocket. But you can’t find a job when your resume is hiding so you have to take steps to balance the real need for security with the equally real need for exposure. Demonstrating your understanding of cyber security standards during your job search is an asset to potential employers.
Stuck In Your Job Search? Get Off That Plateau
Job Search
When your job search has been spinning its figurative wheels and all your efforts are ineffective, you have hit the plateau. The “plateau effect” is named after the geologic formation called a plateau: a level stretch of land that extends for many miles. You see the plateau effect in exercising, in medicine, and in a lot of other areas — the thing that worked previously is no longer working and something new has to happen in order to see change.
Make a list of what you have been doing in your job search. This is your assessment tool, so be thorough and honest with yourself. If you have only been looking at the newspaper or online job boards, say so. You want to have a visible list of what your plateau looks like. In physical therapy, the therapist will get very specific about how many steps the patient took, for instance, or exact range of motion in the shoulder they are rehabilitating. That specific list allows them to see where there has or has not been change so they know what to work on. For your job search list, keep track of how many jobs you actually applied for and when you worked on your resume, etc.
Set goals a little outside your comfort zone. That physical therapist will push the patient past what feels good but not as far as injury. This is how the body gets off the plateau safely and the shoulder gains the next degree of motion. Are you on LinkedIn? Maybe now is the time to consider that. The plateau happens because we get comfortable and stabilize. That isn’t always a bad thing, but in your job search it is! If you are ready to get off that plateau, it is going to involve some discomfort as you do unfamiliar things and explore new territory in job search resources.
The results of getting off that job search plateau are new skills, deeper understanding, and more job opportunities.
Nobody likes to be told they didn’t get the job. Rejection has a sting! But there can be some good things about it if you use that “NO” like a tool for making your job search better. There are more, but here are three reasons that job rejection can be good:
- It gives you a chance to find out where you can improve. Most interviewers will have no problem explaining why you did not get the job if you ask them respectfully without arguing. Think of it as free career counseling and use it to focus on what to work on in your job search. Sometimes they will tell you that they’d like to keep your name on file for future positions as they open up and the only reason you didn’t get this job is because someone with more experience or seniority applied.
- It gives you an opportunity to learn from any mistakes. Maybe you really didn’t do that interview well, or you forgot to turn off your cell phone. Is your resume updated and appropriately designed for the job? Did you vent your frustrations with your previous job? Were you dressed like you cared about this position?
- It gives you motivation to keep looking if you change your perspective. To paraphrase a famous quote by Thomas Edison, now you know that job isn’t right for you. Job rejections are like a search engine, narrowing down the choices by reducing the possible matches.
It’s tempting to put all your hopes on getting a specific job, but that is surely going to disappoint you. The reality is that many more rejections will probably be part of your job search because we rarely get the first job we apply for. Most of us have applied for jobs more times than we like to think about. Use these rejections to improve your skills and your resume: this is your chance to polish things up and that’s good!
You’ve just graduated and now the future looms. You worked at a minimum wage job through school, so you are already past an ‘entry level’ resume, right?
Wrong.
An Entry-Level resume goes past the job history in the school cafeteria and coffee shop to include everything that makes YOU a good candidate for a career with the company you are hoping to join. It combines your coursework, skill sets, internships, and all your experience to showcase the benefits you bring to the hiring table.
One example would be your probable expertise with technology, and the ability to multi-task. You might not realize that being able to use Photoshop and being unintimidated by computer programs can be assets, but they are useful skills. A generation that has grown up with smartphones has the ability to go on to other technologies with ease. A good resume can turn that into a point in your favor during the interview (assuming you have turned off that smartphone to give your full attention to what is happening!)
Did you show up on time without fail at that school job? Did you have any good reviews? Your research paper on Medieval French Literature might not apply to the job you are seeking, but the skills you developed and used will. Most employers will appreciate a worker who can research what needs to be done, break it down intelligently, and explain the steps coherently in lucid writing.
You could figure out this resume writing all by yourself because you do have the research skills. But it might be a good investment to see what a professional service can do for you. A lot of the time, a graduate doesn’t have the time or the understanding of what employers are looking for. It’s difficult to figure out which skills are assets if you don’t know how to look at the whole picture.
In today’s job market, you need expert advice to make your entry level resume showcase your skills and education and get you started on your career path with confidence.
A job search or career change is like building a home: both require thought, research, and careful planning to be successful. When you look at blueprints for a custom-built home, you see the wisdom of many experts compiled to create the perfect house. Codes and construction standards, design details and homeowner’s dreams — it’s all there in the blueprints, ready to become reality.
If the experts aren’t part of the design process, those blueprints will be missing something. It’s like a kitchen designed by someone who only eats at restaurants; the non-cook has no grasp on what is practical for a kitchen. You could end up with cupboards too small for cereal boxes, counters with no outlets to plug the toaster into, and an oven that can’t be opened when standing in front of the stove because the island is too close.
With a job search, there are similar problems that can arise. If you are trying to design your career plans without expert advice, you are going to miss some important factors that will cause problems later on. It’s just the way things work; we learn through mistakes, and if we are smart, we learn from others’ mistakes too.
When you are keeping up-to-date with regular reading of available resources you are going to be able to see where you can do things yourself and where to call in an expert. Our Job Search Resources list contains all you need to accomplish this goal, with links to many experts and tools. You can find links to:
- career research and exploration
- job search sites for free or pay
- social networking
- salary calculators
- self-assessments
- and much more
The more expertise invested in designing the plan, the better your blueprint for a successful job search or career change will be.
