by Amber on April 14, 2011
Looking for a new job or changing careers is an overwhelming undertaking that can cause one to look critically at their image as well their skills. Between reading job descriptions, measuring ourselves against various organizations expectations, and being faced with incoming rejection letters, one area that may begin to suffer is our confidence.
Confidence is of the utmost importance when looking for employment. While a flashy resume or cover letter and a well placed phone call will get your foot in a door, (or ear on the phone), for an interview, securing the job is ultimately about how your interviewers feel about your responses to their questions and the image you project to them. Maintaining a confident and capable demeanor is one way to communicate to a prospective employer that you will fit comfortably into a new role at the organization.
When there seems to be many more applications completed, than call backs for interviews, it is easy to begin to feel unsure of yourself and the talent or skill you could bring to a position. Below are a few tips to help keep the right perspective when conducting a job search:
- Stay up to date on the latest updates and news in your career field. This will ensure your knowledge is current and also keep relevant information at the top of your mind.
- Know your self. Know how to describe in a few sentences what you are looking for in a job, what you are able to bring to a job and how you plan to use your expertise when you find a job. Know these things well and understand that if you don’t believe them when they roll off your tongue, no one else will either.
- Avoid reading the sad stories on job boards. Your job search, is your job search. Do not let the negative experiences of others impact how your view yourself and your skills
- Set a goal for how many applications you are going to put in each week and stick with it. If you want to do more than your goal, go or it, but never do less. This will keep you both actively looking for employment and in the habit of reading between the lines about what employers are looking for so you can present yourself better and better each time.
- A rejection letter says you are still looking, not that you need to quit. Many of these letters are templates or auto generated. They are not personal. File it and move on to the next application.
- Take a break! If you find yourself grumbling at the computer after combing the want ads for three hours, walk away. Unemployed, or employed and looking are probably the hardest jobs you will ever have. Make sure your disposition is not programmed to negative when facing this daunting task.
Of course there are many other ways to help maintain your confidence when looking for new employment. Feel free to post your ideas or suggestions in the comment section below. You never know who could use the extra boost!
Amber.
by Amber on February 21, 2011
It is the times that you need yourself the most that they will be reaching for you. The time robbers. The dramatic friend. The needy co-worker. The unstable significant other. Oh, and the ever updating news feed on Facebook and Twitter. Just when you decide you need your space, your grace and your time, it won’t matter how descriptive the explanation you offer for your departure. The onset of your unavailability will cause needs to become numerous and people will begin the endless, selfish clawing at the space you have claimed for yourself, as if you are better off serving the world, while your own life deteriorates.
Still, stand tall and say no.
No one will ever work as hard for what you want, than you. No one will ever understand your passions and motivations and desires as well as you. Sure, they need you. More than they need you though, you need you. To do for you, you have to say no to them.
There will be times when the hardest thing in the world is to push out that one syllable word, but likely, those are the times you need to say it most.
Prepare for the guilt trips, the gut wrenching text messages, the accusations that you are cold and must not care. Prepare for people to pull out all the stops to get back some of the attention you have taken from them and applied to your own life. Prepare for so-called friends to have fits and acquaintances to judge you. Do not be moved by any of this. Focus on what you need, why you are taking the time in the first place, and develop it with the same fervor you’d give to the cares and causes of others.
Saying “no,” does not make you selfish or wrong. It does however, give you a sense of control of your time and your life that you deserve. Push through the pressure from friends, family and others, and take back your space by saying one of the shortest and most powerful words of all:
NO.
by Amber on January 25, 2011
I think a lot.
In fact, I think so much that I am often accused of over analyzing things and preparing for the almost impossible possibilities. I can easily find myself overwhelmed by my own thoughts to the point of tears. It happens to me far more than I like to admit. I also have miniature panic attacks and temper tantrums and shut people out and give up on things, only to start them over and over again.
Through it all one thing remains true: Nothing is ever really that complicated. In fact, most of it is pretty simple. We just are educated away from simple. Simple must mean wrong. We are taught to puff ourselves up and present ourselves to our coworkers and peers and business associates as grand and complicated individuals. It is no wonder that we take the same exaggerated and dramatic approach to living out our dreams.
In 2011, I am focused on trimming out the extra spectacles and doing things simply.
I want to write a book, so I am writing a book.
I want to pay off all my credit cards, so I am paying them off.
I want to read more. I want to have a better paying job. I want to grow spiritually.
One by one, I am doing these things. Simply by applying the effort required toward them.
Any “plans” I have are to guide, not complicate.
That is not to say that some of these things are not hard:
Fiction writing is proving to be a hefty challenge for me.
I, (like you) enjoy spending money more than paying off bills.
I work, I write, I sleep, I pray… When in the heck am I am going to read -more?
This approach may seem obvious because it is pretty simple and it may even feel like you already take this approach to your own life, and maybe you do.
But if the thought of reworking your resume makes you cringe. If you have a stack of books that you want to read, but haven’t gotten to and the thought of doing so is stressful… If you feel behind at work, on sleep, or in life…
You can afford to simplify.
