Let’s face it: the holiday season in the U.S. can be so blessed and wonderful, but if you are in the middle a painful time in your life, it can be even more than we can bare. So, how do you get through a holiday job search?
As my husband goes through his transition, I actually dread this time of year. One, for the social commitments I may or may not want to attend to; and two, for the pressure of gift giving, especially when there is no money for gifts and I love to give. It hurts not being able to give to family and friends. I hate it.
But with my frustrations comes time with family and friends, that is humbling and truly blessed. Just being together to share triumphs and tragedies from the past year and plan to a hopeful future for the year to come. How blessed that is.
In surviving the holidays with hope here are some quick strategies that I have found useful for myself and my clients to handle the questions, events, and opportunities that will come across your path this holiday season.
1. Socialize In A Positive Manner
The key in this situation is to make sure you get a chance to socialize in a positive manner with as many influential contacts as possible. Don’t burn yourself out with events, but do attend several. Be careful of your attire and the amount of alcohol you consume. Never make the company holiday party be something you regret.
Bring your spouse, work the room, smile, and ask others about themselves. Lastly, that in your time of plenty, happily employed and growing in your career, remember others and be generous. Focus on really seeing others needs and work diligently to physically meet them. You will be so abundantly blessed because you gave.
2. Be Grateful
You are either underemployed or just hate the work you do or the culture you are in. Either one can be toxic, but remember you are still earning a paycheck and will hopefully continue to learn even within a tough environment.
Work to be grateful for where you are. Network and plan to move onto something better and more inline with your values. Work the rooms of the events and parties you will attend with the future in mind not with how much you hate what you are doing now. Most people want to know what you enjoy doing. It makes the conversation so much more pleasant. Give generously. Helping others puts our tough situations into better perspective.
3. Change Your Mindset
Your mindset is key in all that you do. Being in between work is a challenge. The biggest challenge is the space between the ears. Seriously. When you feel defeated you will act defeated. Don’t be defeated. Take the holidays to remember, in spite of the financial stress you are in (believe I know the feeling), count your blessings. Network like crazy with the future in mind. See the light at the end of the tunnel. Say to yourself - I can do this! This will be good! I will come out of this challenge stronger than even.
To this I say enjoy the holidays no matter where you are at. There are blessings just waiting to be uncovered.
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Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.