“The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from the shore.” – Dale Carnegie
Will I ever get a job that I want? This question worries many people I speak to these days. Job finding process is surely a nerve wrecking experience on its own. It is analogous to a dreadful dating process. You are out there searching for your perfect match — going through dozens and dozens of opportunities, putting your best self out there, rehearsing your schpeal, repeating the same stuff, answering all kinds of questions, hoping and nervously aiming for a perfect shot in the dark. At some point you get so frustrated with all the judgments, obnoxious questions, and finally numerous rejections. At times a feeling of hopelessness takes over your mind: will I ever find my perfect job? When will I ever wake up every morning happy, excited for the day ahead at work?
The answer is soon, may not be soon enough, but believe it or not, soon! One trick is to treat every single phone and in-person interview as an immense opportunity to get better at your interview skills, just like an actor gets better on stage with every single stage appearance. On a positive note, you are out there already – that is one step closer to finding your dream job; or any job for that matter, if you are unemployed. On a more realistic note, brace yourself; you are for a long haul until you hit that job jackpot! After thousands of resume submissions, hundreds of phone interviews, dozens of face-to-face interviews; you WILL be emotionally drained, psychologically jaded, and even physically exhausted.
Most of us have gone through this process numerous times over, especially at this shaky state of economy. We could even lend an advice or two for each other. No matter how frustrating it gets, do not doubt yourself for a minute: this is a challenging exercise in endurance of your self-esteem. Your self-confidence will either make you or break you; everything else is somewhat overrated.
Here at Moomkin.com we have surveyed our followers for the top 4 most frustrating points of a job-hunting process. We have also listened for your advice on how to approach some of these situations.
Fact 1: “Submit” button takes your resume into a mysterious black hole
Whether you submit a resume because the job description matches your experience perfectly, or whether it is just a random shot in the dark, you plainly don’t hear back from anyone. It is true, unless a position requires a highly specialized skill set, hundreds of applications, just like yours, will be submitted. Don’t despair: try networking harder, think and ask everyone you know to recommend you at his/her job. It is easier to have an insider referring you to a hiring manager, than a hiring manager going through those hundreds of online applications and never getting to yours. Internal referrals work miracles!
Fact 2: Employers look to fill job openings internally first
This point directly relates to the previous one. Place yourself in a hiring manager shoes: would you waste hours of your precious time skimming through similar in skill set resumes, or would you rather hear what your high-performance co-worker has to say about his brother, who apparently, has similar work ethics and talents? Once again, invest your effort into networking. Become a regular on LinkedIn – you would be truly surprised what former co-workers, bosses, and recruiters you could run into here. Suddenly, networking doesn’t seem that challenging anymore, does it?!
Fact 3: Competition in a job market is fierce
Yes it is fierce, no doubt! Do not get frustrated. Do not slow down. Search everywhere: SimplyHired.com, Indeed.com, Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, any industry-related websites, magazines, newsletters, blogs. Just be out there!
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Fact 4: Recruiters get paid to fill job openings, not to befriend you.
Do not spend much of your job searching time on networking with your recruiters. As nice and caring as they might sound, their job is to fill their openings with any person who halfway qualifies. Job providers, not job seekers, pay recruiters.
Please feel free to share your advice on the related topic. How have you overcome all your frustrations associated with your job search? What were those challenges and how did you face them?
Article by Kamilla Kay, PMP. Follow her Personal Blog for similar Ideas and Thoughts.
[Post Tags: job search facts, facts about job search, tips for job search, true facts about job search, how to improve your job search]
From: http://ping.fm/2yEY6
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