Job Search Muscles Sore? My Muscles Are Sore…

Yesterday we woke up to about a foot of snow. I knew we’d be shovelling snow, but I didn’t realize HOW MUCH…!

I went out with two of my kids and we did our driveway and a neighbor’s driveway, and I felt good about the work we did. I was glad to have my kids there, especially as we did service for our neighbors.

I was kind of sore the rest of the day.

And then, OH MY GOSH, this morning I am absolutely SORE!  I’m sore in places I haven’t been sore in for I-don’t-remember-when!

This morning as I was limping and hobbling around, I thought about my pathetic muscles and then thought about the hundreds of thousands of job seekers who seem to be limping and hobbling around.

In pain.

With anguish.

I wondered, as my muscles screamed at me, if these job seekers have exhausted their JOB SEARCH MUSCLES.

Maybe their form is bad (like me, shovelling snow, bent over too low and stressing my lower back muscles).

Maybe they do useless stuff (like when we threw snow into the wind, and it came right back onto the driveway).

Maybe they do the wrong thing for too much time (like when my kids where shoveling down a path that wasn’t not part of the plan… fun for them but ultimately useless as they took resources away from the overall task).

Maybe they use the wrong tools (like when I had to use a kid’s snow shovel … my heavens… about 1/4 the width of the shovel I really wanted!).

There’s a reason the job search muscles get sore:

• You may be doing the wrong stuff, as I mention above.
• You may have muscles that need some work, but it’s just natural to go through that pain, initially.

If your muscles are sore for the first reason, figure out how to fix that (do different stuff?).

If your muscles are sore for the second reason, drink a job search protein shake and just keep working – your muscles will get stronger, it will be less painful, and you’ll be more effective and have better endurance.

If you are just getting started in your job search, realize you may have to go through a painful period, but it won’t always be painful – just jump in, get started and treat yourself right so you can heal and grow throughout the process.

(nice analogy for a Monday morning, eh?)