Nancy lost her job 8 months ago. She worked hard to find a job. Unfortunately, she spent 8 hours a day on the computer looking up job postings, sending emails, and tinkering with her resume. She rarely talked to anyone by phone, Skype, or in person. Continued computer work depressed her as did the lack of personal contact. She kept working to get a job, but her despair robbed her conviction. She attended a job search workshop and learned to call 10 people a day and schedule 10 meetings a week. Her attitude improved. She regained hope. She found a great job within 3 weeks.
Isolation and Finding a Job
Consider how traditional job seeking activities isolate you. You spend the majority of your time sitting in front of a computer
- Searching job boards and want ads
- Completing online job applications
- Tinkering with your resume and cover letters
- Sending email with resumes attached
- Checking your emails for response to the ones you sent
- Talking to 1-2 people a week
- Interviewing maybe 2 people a month
You perform most of those activities alone—isolated. Continued isolation, coupled with frequent rejection, brings despair and low self-esteem.
Talking to People Lifts Your Spirits
We encourage you to call 10 people a day if you are looking for a job and schedule 10 meetings a week. Remember, the 10 people do not need to have a current job opening.
People will energize your job search. Talking to people stimulates your thinking. Especially if you discuss something better than “I’m looking for work. Do you know of any job openings?” Instead, you may consider talking to people about:
- Their projects, goals, and challenges
- New software releases, bugs, and fixes
- Economic and industry trends
- Company’s growth and decline
- Ask them if they have information you are seeking about a company
- Ask them if they can recommend other people you can talk to
- Thank them for information or referrals they shared
Wednesday we explore how to identify 10 people to talk to each day
No comments:
Post a Comment