Be on fire about your career

The news this week  had a story of not one, but two couch fires in the Chicagoland area. Holy smokes, how much time does someone have to sit on the couch to get it to combust? I actually don’t know the cause of the fires in the stories, but I hope these fires did not cause any additional financial burden for anyone suffering from job loss.

Activity in the job search means that you are out and about, talking and networking with people. Actually the job seeker needs to be on fire about finding a job. Meaning, you need to have a passion about your career, the opportunities and the abilities you bring to the job market.

After a job seeker has many weeks of looking for work under her belt, she starts to lose the expectation that she’ll find a job soon. Doubt starts to insert itself into the job seeker’s consciousness. Doubt can lead to negative thoughts and negative self-talk which start to feed on themselves and the job seeker can soon lose hope of ever finding gainful employment.

Back in 2009 I told the story of being as enthusiastic as a puppy dog when the doorbell rings. <Link> Keeping a positive attitude isn’t easy especially in a job search that seems to go on and on. But, I believe that one of the things that allows doubts to grow into depression is inactivity. Being a couch potato is one of the best ways to kill a job search. Focused activity leads to proficiency of your job search skills,  which leads to more network meetings, which leads to interviews, which leads to job offers.

Note the terminology focused activity: what do I mean by “focused activity?” Not all activity is productive and sometimes can be distracting the job seeker from meeting job search goals.  So, activity for activity’s sake can be counter productive and even destructive. When your activity is focused, it clearly enables you to achieve a short-term or long-term goal... getting you that much closer to landing the job.  

Be on fire about your job search, passionate about your next job and the future you’ll have. Don’t, however, let you the couch suck you into killing your job search and burn up your dreams.

New Year's Goals

It’s New Year’s time. Get those dusty old goals out and and polish them for the new year. While your friends are making New Year’s resolutions you can be setting goals and achieving success. How many people make New Year’s resolutions on January 1 and give them up by January 30th? Why? There are at least two reason for this. First, some people are not the structured goal setting type. Second, some folks only work with part of a plan to succeed.

In the first case, you may prefer to stay open to new information and be flexible when making decisions. Rigorous goal setting may be outside your mode or abilities. It doesn’t mean that you do not set goals, you have goals and attain those goals in a different way. In Myers-Briggs terminology you deal with the outside world as a “P” or perceptive person. The “P” folks out there prefer a, “...spontaneous way of life, and like to understand and adapt to the world rather than organize it.” That’s okay.

The second case presents others who set goals but forget to realize and keep in mind the benefits of achieving the goal. Or they don’t break down the big goal into smaller bites and set time lines. Or they don’t write down the goal and communicate it to people who might help.

There is more that goes into goals than just making a resolution. Goals need to be written down, shared, committed to a time line and tied to a benefit. Plus, each step or mini goal needs to be recognized, appreciated, and celebrated when it’s met. Often goals are made and written down, but then our daily activity doesn’t fit into meeting our goal.

Like my friend and chiropractor tells me, things work better when they are in alignment. That holds true for our physical body and our lives. This is the case for those of us who are more spontaneous in our goals and for those of us who find comfort in planning out the detailed steps in achieving our goals.

It’s New Years; may this year be happy, prosperous and successful for you.

A Coach or a Therapist

Some people are afraid of going to a career consultant sometimes called a coach. I had a client once ask me what is the difference between a “transition coach” and a psychologist or therapist. I believe this is why some folks are afraid of using anyone in a counseling role, they are afraid to deal with past issues.

Here’s the biggest difference I know of between a career coach and a psychological therapist: the career consultant is focused on your behaviors and not your motivations. I was reminded of this recently when I was facilitating a transition support group. We were discussing the importance of networking and asking for help and advice in the job search. One of the group members said that they couldn’t ask a stranger for help or advice. Another group member asked why this was a difficulty. As the first member began to respond, I interrupted the conversation. I pointed out that in this venue “the why” was not the right question; that is, “why” is the realm of the psychotherapist. The right question is, what will it take for you to make the change in your behavior and ask for help and advice in your job search.

Now, I understand that many people have issues and traumas in their past and others were conditioned by the events of their life into who they are today. As a career consultant, I am focused on my clients current behavior and changes that will be more productive in their career growth. The past may influence the present--as Freud said, “The child is the father of the man”-- but people can change their behavior without in-depth psychoanalysis.

I see people every day that have big issues and problems and their career crisis or job loss has brought those issues to the foreground. In some of these cases, the folks I am talking to are suffering from depression, either acute or chronic and really need professional psychological help and I refer them to a therapist or psychologist or psychiatrist for immediate help. The person in crisis needs to deal with the emotional problem first before continuing their job search.

Yet, many others have “issues” that don’t require medical or psychological attention. They need to adopt some new behaviors, change some bad habits and move on. That is were the coach is best suited to point out and direct the needed change. I point out things my client doesn’t see, help my client develop more skills and cheer on my client to overcome an obstacle and succeed. 

If you are struggling with your job search and it’s going on longer than you believe it should, call a career consultant, contact me. I’d be happy to work with you and aid you on your way to gainful employment.