"Positive Thinking is Critical to a Successful Job Search"
One of the hardest things in modern life, right up there with family, health and finances, is career management. Finding and maintaining good work assignments play an overwhelmingly important role in whether our lives are positive or less than what we’d hoped for.
In today’s economy, almost everyone, with few exceptions, will have to enter the tumultuous world of job search on average every five years. This is, of course, a striking transition from the world of your parents and grandparents. However, the trend continues and, in some fields like Information Technology, career changes can occur almost annually.
One of the most insidious and devastating difficulties of a job search is dealing with rejection, failure and, perhaps most damaging, not knowing what is happening or will happen. After a month or two of search, you may have 50, 100, 200 inquiries out the door with very little feedback.
This can wreak havoc with your mental health. Fear of failure, with its financial consequences, can be totally unnerving. Often, people’s habits and behaviors are negatively affected. Individuals who have been life-long early risers begin to find themselves getting out of bed at the “crack of noon.” For the first time in their lives, people start considering, while in the supermarket checkout, buying Soap Opera Digest as a way to fill their afternoons. They may start to look at Judge Judy as their new best friend. Or, worst of all, consider starting the day by pouring Jack Daniels on their shredded wheat…
Now, granted, the above is a little bit on the exaggerated side. But, the issues are real and people suffer during a job search from anxiety and uncertainty. The best way, as lawyers say, to “mitigate” these potentialities is to plan and execute a comprehensive and thorough job search process, with measurable benchmarks and objectives.
Example:
• Set a goal of contacting five-ten executive recruiters weekly. Call them. Discuss your needs and background. Send to those who are interested your resume with a cover letter reiterating the telephone conversation. By Friday, you will have achieved an important goal in your search and can enter the weekend feeling the “recruiter market” has been addressed.
• Develop contact with at least three new networking people daily. Every day you achieve the goal you can feel satisfaction and a sense of control over your life.
Basically, by achieving designated goals, you can maintain a solid outlook and congratulate yourself that you are so many steps closer to the successful conclusion of your career transition. Also, you may well sleep better each night...
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