| Putting the care in your career | Friday, 17 January 2025 - 19:57 |
New Year, New Energy
The number one New Year’s resolution job searchers need for success in 2012 is to add a new power to your search. New Year, new energy. Give it all you’ve got without holding back. Avoid fits and starts by keeping up a maintainable push forward. The following are ways to increase the momentum of your job search.
Be positive. You are what you think you are. Expect you will receive a job and smile. Remember the little engine that could—I think I can, I think I can…
Show enthusiasm with everyone you meet. People like enthusiastic people. The positive vibe strengthens bonds and encourages collaboration.
Maintain healthy eating habits, it keeps the weight off, and you prevent numerous illnesses. Avoid sweets and empty calories. Eat more fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains. Reduce the amount of red meat you eat.
Work out regularly to keep your mind alert, your body fit, and your spirits uplifted. You look fabulous when your body is healthy and toned. Walking is an excellent exercise and doesn’t require any equipment or expensive gym fees.
Interact with other people often. Surround yourself with positive people by socializing or volunteering, it is a powerful way to build your network. It is a well-known fact that over 80% of jobs are obtained by networking.
Continue learning new things. It looks terrific on a resume when you are constantly learning new things; shows you are up-to-date and haven’t stagnated. Two places you get more information on free courses are www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses and www.education-portal.com/articles/Colleges_and_Universities. You won’t receive credit, but some schools will give you a certificate of completion. Some of the participating schools are M.I.T., Harvard, Tufts, Notre Dame, U. Cal. Berkeley, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Yale.
Target your resume and cover letter to each position that interests you. One resume and cover letter does not fit all positions. Make your resume stand out of the stack by showing how you meet their needs like no one else can. Keep all your accomplishments and honors in the top half of the resume. The people in human resources will look at for about 10 to 20 seconds.
Put closure on your last job. Confront the feelings of loss with the Job Loss Recovery Program that are holding you back. Say good-bye to the anger that is casting a shadow on your search.
Whatever changes you want to make in other aspects of your life, adding these will provide you with a new power to pursue your dream job.
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Arleen Bradley is a certified career coach and certified job loss recovery coach. She assists clients in moving beyond job loss grief in order to land dream jobs. To learn more about the Job Loss Recovery Program and how you can benefit from it, log on to www.arleenbradley.com.
When I was growing up in the late 50s and early 60s, my father’s family would gather December 25 to celebrate Christmas. My uncle who didn’t have children yet played Santa Claus for his eager nieces and nephews. While Santa was in the living room giving gifts, we were told Uncle Walter was not there because he was out buying cigarettes. Little did we know at the time that all the stores were closed. Actually, nothing was open. Just like today, most of the retailers, businesses and professionals are taking a holiday. This gives you the day off from job searching, too.
Take time off to enjoy family and friends. Reflect on the meaning of the day. Relax and renew. Enjoy the delicious food everyone has prepared and shared with the rest. Look at the joy in the faces of children as they open present after present. Or the delight a toddler takes in the wrapping paper and boxes. Relish the generations that have gathered once again. Listen to the same stories that are retold time and time again as if they were fresh and new. They are your legacy.
Yes, there will be trying times today, and you will need patience; for the children wired up from the sugar in the candy and cookies they have been eating all day; for the friend or relative who has just a drop too much of Christmas cheer; for the gift, you received that doesn’t fit or make any sense; and for listening to unsolicited advice from yet other well-meaning source. These too are what memories are made of.
However, most importantly because all of this you will be able to put off job searching for the day. You can put to rest the resumes and cover letters, refrain from searching the big boards for open positions, and anxiously awaiting for the phone to ring with an interview or job offer. The only thing you will want to continue is networking. Nevertheless, today you can create relationships instead of leads; relationships that you can follow up on after the New Year and should definitely do so. You can enjoy the friendship and conversation instead of trying to get a sense of whether this person can help you.
One day when the rest of the country is taking time off won’t make or break your job search. In fact, it will help. In order to recharge most batteries, they need to be not working when recharging. That is what you should be doing. Be fully in the moment today without the job search being on your mind. Put it out of your mind and concentrate on the day.
Enjoy the day, because just like the stores handling returns, you will have to work on your job search on December 26th.
Arleen Bradley is a certified career coach and certified job loss recovery coach assisting client to go beyond job loss grief to land dream jobs. www.arleenbradley.com.
3 Gifts to Give Yourself
Serenity Courage Wisdom
At this point in the holiday season, you have probably finished selecting and wrapping presents for others. Now is the time to think of yourself and what gifts you would like. I would like to recommend three things that job searchers should give themselves for Christmas. They are serenity, courage, and wisdom. These gifts are inspired by a short prayer that is known as the prayer for alcoholics. Each word has power that can change the life of anyone who has experienced an unplanned job loss. By following the advice in this prayer you can change your life for the better.
SERENITY to accept the things that cannot be changed—Many people who have experienced an unexpected separation from their job have trouble moving on. They hang on to what could have been by bargaining, denial and wishing that they could go back. However, by refusing to go forward they run the risk of suffering from many health issues including high blood pressure and frequent headaches. They find changes in sleeping and eating habits. These and other ill effects can appear for up to two years after starting a new job. As humans, we find change difficult. Losing a job is a huge change. There is no longer a place to go every day; no more interacting with colleagues, superiors, customers, vendors and others; loss of self-esteem and self-confidence are difficult to accept. Once you have given yourself serenity, you will find things will go much easier for you. Serenity to be able to leave what should be left in the past and the serenity to know that the future is yours.
COURAGE to change the things I can—With job loss comes new opportunities. Many people fail to see the bright new future that awaits them when they wallow in the numerous losses they feel. In talking to several people who have been laid off, I find they didn’t really like the job, the people they worked with, the commute, or numerous other details. Here is a perfect chance to find something you will enjoy, meet new people, change your commute, use skills you love or that are new and do something that really interests you. No longer do you have to do a job that you have trained to do; you can explore new challenges in many different directions. With a little training you can be in a different career—one that feeds your passion. This takes courage. It isn’t easy to make changes toward a goal that is new and unknown and to proceed toward a future that will reveal itself as you inch along.
WISDOM to know the difference—There is a vast discrepancy between what you can change and what you can’t. One thing that can’t be changed is that going back to lost jobs because those jobs are gone and are not going to be coming back. Many of the jobs that have been lost in the last couple years have gone to other countries. Others were eliminated when companies folded. Whatever the reason, there are very few jobs that are resurrected. Take the memories and skills and move on. Leaving that job in the past is a decision that has to be made and accomplished. (There are a variety ways to do this. The Job Loss Recovery Program by Lynn Johnson, Ph.D. is an ideal way.)
Your attitude is a great way to begin the change. Give yourself the gift of looking at your job loss as an opportunity to reinvent yourself.; a chance to do what you love and enjoy; to do what you have always wanted to do but couldn’t because you did the job someone else wanted you to do. Now is your time to be what you have always wanted to be. The opportunities are as endless as your dreams. All you have to do is do it. It may take some additional training, but you have the time without giving up your secure job with benefits. You need wisdom to take what you have accomplished and turn it into something that makes you happy to go to work every day.
This holiday season is your chance to become who you want to be. Take some time to think about what you really want in a new job. Find out what it will take to get it and go for it. You have it within you; all you have to do is give yourself the serenity, the courage and the wisdom to do it.
Arleen Bradley is a certified career coach and certified job loss recovery coach assisting clients to go beyond job loss grief to land dream jobs. www.arleenbradley.com.
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