By Georgiana Carollus
Is your job search stalled? Is it time to review your strategies
and see what you can do differently to revitalize your search? Here are
five action steps to take:
1. Make your actions congruent with your goal and move out of your comfort zone.
Everything
you do is either moving you to or away from your goal. No doubt some
tasks are easier for you than others. Take a critical look at what you
are doing and what you are avoiding. In order to get results, make the
decision that you will do what it takes, no matter how uncomfortable, to
get the results you want. When you challenge yourself to take these
actions, be sure to acknowledge and reward your efforts.
2. Plan your work and work your plan.
Are
you finding excuses to do anything but your job search? When a job
search is stalled, it can be difficult to stay engaged in your search.
This may be time to find a job search buddy that you report to
periodically on your actions. The best candidate for a job search buddy
may be another job searcher. Accountability to each other can help you
both stay on track.
3. Take excellent care of yourself.
Take
good physical and emotional care of yourself. Eat right, exercise, get
enough sleep, and avoid any temptation to self-medicate. Be a friend to
yourself and treat yourself as well as you would treat a friend or loved
one. Pay attention to your mind and what your self-critical voice is
saying to you. You have the power to silence that inner voice! When it
starts criticizing you, give your mind something else to do - take
action, sing a song, or just tell it to stop! The mind cannot perform
two actions at once, so if your mind starts criticizing you, find
something else to do.
4. Maintain an attitude of curiosity.
The
job search path is rarely linear and it often takes unexpected turns.
When you have expectations about what should and should not happen, you
often leave yourself open to disappointment. A better approach is to
maintain an attitude of curiosity about what will happen next. Release
your judgments and be curious about where your next lead will take you.
Be curious about what you might learn today that will take you closer to
your next job.
5. Review your performance.
Here
are two great questions to ask yourself about your latest job search
efforts: What did I do right? What would I do differently? Answering
these two questions will help you see your strategies that are working
and to also see possibilities for improvement.
A job search is
hard work. Keeping your spirits up is important to your confidence and
success. Take high-value actions and push yourself out of your comfort
zone. And, most importantly, be a friend to yourself and treat yourself
well.
Is your resume working for you? For resumes that get results, visit http://www.ResumeswithSpirit.com.
Are you a friend to yourself? Visit http://www.FriendYourselfProject.com
to find practical tips on how to recognize your brilliance and to treat
yourself as well as you treat your friends and loved ones.
Georgiana
Carollus, a Certified Professional Resume Writer, is a career services
professional with more than 15 years of experience in career assessment,
career development and advancement, and all aspects of resume writing
and effective work search techniques.