Don’t let emotions impede your job search
Our outlook and emotions on real-life situations influence our actions and attitudes. Without a doubt, a person’s instincts and true feelings are hard to cover for any length of time. Many times, others see right through — or at least sense — someone’s forced efforts to put up a false front to hide how he or she truly feels about a situation. So maybe you’re out of work, or you’re still working, but you’ve made the decision to look for another job. Regardless of whether it’s your fault or someone else’s, you are now in need of a job. Face it: Your situation “is what it is,” and you need to be proactive in your job search. Sometimes an excellent place to begin is your emotional mindset. Having negative feelings about your current job status is great — at least if your goal is to produce self-pity, feel sorry for yourself, raise bitterness toward others and hinder a positive job search. I doubt that’s the case. To improve your career, you must mentally get past — well, the past — and into action mode. How can you overcome the waves of emotion and take control of your job search? First of all, you need to stop looking for people with sympathetic ears who are willing to listen to stories about the injustices in your life. The temptation is to spend too much time in this phase of a career glitch. That listener-turned-counselor can actually cause you to focus on what went wrong rather than on how to move past a bad situation and get onto a more positive path. Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here. Sometimes we all need some consoling; just don’t overdo it. If you can’t get over something, sometimes a professional counselor is an important part of the process. Use your time wisely by beginning each day early, and plan solid efforts to seek employment. Here are a few tasks that will add value to your job search: Update your resume. Check help-wanted ads in the newspaper or on its website. Practice for job interviews. Go on job interviews; then write thank-you notes to the interviewers. These activities can make a huge difference. A productive day has a way of improving your attitude, creating optimism and increasing your chances of finding the right position more quickly. Emotions are useful. They are a good thing, and we should respond to them. However, we don’t have to allow them to get in the way of taking the right actions to advance our well-being. Now get out there and find that new job! — Gary Moore is president of Insight Edge. He has more than 30 years of business experience and specializes in the Personality Priority hiring process, sales and leadership training. Visit Moore’s website, www.insightedge.com, or send email to garymoore@insightedge.com.