As stories of people who are unemployed and finding it difficult to get interviews let alone land jobs, I become more passionate about giving people some basic guidelines to follow to get some traction and action on their efforts to land a job sooner than later. As part of a whole webinar series that I created, I will be providing tips that I’m hoping others will add their thoughts to and share whether their approach is working for them, what they learned, and resources they found that were useful and a good value.
With that, here is my first installment of how you can get there from here…
Getting Started
If you were going to build a house, you wouldn’t just start cutting wood and buying furniture and laying down the landscaping, would you? You’d need to do some planning right? You’d need to make sure you had the right resources in place as well as the right materials you’ll need. To do that, you’d have to do some thinking first. Yes, thinking! We tend to be a “Don’t tell me to think, just give me something to do!” Okay, I’ll get to that. First, you must do some thinking and I promise you it will pay off. If you just jump in and start doing, your efforts won’t have focus and a useful direction that is relevant to where you want your career to be headed and therefore all your job search efforts. You with me? Okay…
Step One: Take a breath
Remember you didn’t just get here overnight. You’ve traveled a road which I’m sure has had its ups and downs and yet you made it to where you are today… reading this blog! What have you learned about yourself? Before you start trying to dealing with the big questions like “What am I going to do next?”, you need to get in a productive state of thinking and being. Write your thoughts down. Stuck? Here are a few suggestions:
- How did you make your way out of tough times in the past?
- What works for you to get you motivated?
- What have you learned about your ability to stay focused? What helps you do that?
- What are your triggers that start you thinking down an unproductive path?
- What have you learned breaks you out of a negative loop of thinking?
- What do you need to keep in the forefront of your mind to help you stay positive?
- Who are those people who are good to put around you who lift you up and challenge your thinking?
- What are you afraid of that stops you in your tracks when you think about finding a job or engaging in a job search?
Anything other thoughts from folks out there? Add them here!
Next entry will be about Taking Stock – the practical questions
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