In my email this morning I saw an advertising email talking about not giving up. The title was “Don’t Give Up – Positioning for the Right Perspective.” As far as I can tell, this was an email about investing in the market, or staying the course with your business. I can’t really tell.
But what caught my eye was the “Don’t Give Up!” message. And my first thought, for job seekers, was that maybe there are a lot of things we have to give up.
In the job search we learn a lot about who we really are. No longer can we blame a bad boss or colleagues or a bad company or work environment. The results we get come from how effective we are as job seekers. That means, how effective we are at filling out job applications (which I recommend ZERO per cent of the time) all the way to how effective we are with networking and communication with individuals. The buck stops with us.
If you are bad with networking, and really don’t care about people, then it will be a painful job search. If you rely on job postings that are likely outdated, or the hiring manager to be proficient in interviewing and actually choosing the right person for the job, you may have a painful job search.
I don’t want you to give up. I don’t want you to give up on YOU, nor on the task at hand.
I definitely want you to give things up, though. Give up your comfort zone. Give up the bad, outdated job search practices you are hanging on to.
I know it’s easier to look for jobs and apply online than it is to network. Networking can feel embarrassing, uncomfortable, or un-whatever. But it’s generally more impactful than applying, along with hundreds of others, to a job that may just be filled by a referral.
Give up on bad tactics and embrace things that actually work. I’ve been there… for months and months I did the bad, useless tactics. I thought I was better than the advice I was reading. Instead, I just proved them right.
There’s plenty to give up in this job search. And that’s okay. You’ll come out a better, more intentional, more grateful person. That sounds pretty good to me.