Staying Positive During a Job Search

If you are looking for a job right now, you should expect it to take longer than in the past. One major reason for this is the recession. While the employment picture has begun to improve, it is still very high. There are more people chasing fewer jobs. Technology is also making it harder as well. Now, with electronic job boards, people from all over the world can apply for jobs just about anywhere, so a job posting is likely to attract many more applicants than in the past.
And now employers are using automated systems as well to pare down the raft of applications, making the process seem all the more mysterious.
Tell you something you don’t already know, right?
Because of all these challenges, it is easy for job hunters to become discouraged, even depressed by the task of looking for work in today’s market. So, what can you do to maintain your spirits?   Priscilla Claman, head of a career counseling company, has a few suggestions.
You need to try to control your emotions, which obviously is easier said than done. You don’t want to give in to negative feelings, to anger, or despair. Once you do, it is hard to mask these emotions, and if you should get an interview, it will become all the more difficult to project the kind of energy and enthusiasm hiring managers will expect to see.
Be a good manager of yourself, Claman says. Set doable weekly goals for things such as networking, researching and applying for jobs. Give yourself breaks, and reward yourself when you reach your goals. Also, don’t be too hard on yourself if you make a mistake, or fail to achieve what you wanted. Take a cue from the old Japanese proverb here, “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”
Also, get involved in things other than your job hunt, so that you are not focused exclusively on looking for work. Here the conventional wisdom applies – join a professional organization in your area, volunteer, take a class, anything that will expose you to something new and different and help keep you on an even keel.
Also, Claman says try not to focus all of your efforts on just one promising job possibility if it should materialize. If it doesn’t work out, the letdown is all the more devastating because you are left with nothing else on your plate. Even if you are invited for an interview with a company, don’t stop the job search. Keep going after other options, so if one falls through, you still have other irons in the fire.
Finally, stick to a routine. Make a schedule for your job search tasks, as well as for your extracurricular activities, including exercise.
Staffing firms such as the Opti Staffing Group. can be great tools for Anchorage, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Lake Oswego, and Chicago residents to use as they look for work. We have temporary, temp-to-hire and even direct-hire assignments with some of these areas’ best employers. Contact us today!

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