Job Search - The Voice of Job Seekers

5 Signs Your Job Search Lacks Courage

It’s discouraging throughout your job search to see the success of others when you are working hard to find your next opportunity. Whether you’re unemployed or trying to find a job while you’re employed the length of time it takes to find a new job can be daunting.

Depending on the job search articles you read, or who you talk to there are no hard facts on the average time it takes to complete a job search in 2016. Many are still quoting articles from a couple of years ago citing that one should plan for one month of job searching for every $10,000 of salary desired, so if you desire a salary of $60,000 than your job search will likely take six months.

When unemployed it is important to renew your reasoning for pursuing a chosen path.

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It has to be YOUR reason. If it’s not, it will be that much harder. Plus there’s the possibility that you lack motivation.

There are probably signs you have lost motivation and here are some ways you are giving in:

You’re afraid to fail so you apply to easier jobs. If you do this, you’ll be overlooked for the sake of appearing overqualified. We get it, when your motivation begins to wane, sometimes you don’t want a job with much pressure so you fool yourself into thinking a lesser paying job will be fine for now. But what happens when the lesser paying job is much more stressful and aggravating than the one on your career path?
When criticism from past jobs persists in your current job search. It is a problem when the voices of the past haunt you. The best remedy is to fill your life with more success narratives that remind you that you are good at what you do and you have the confidence to succeed. Just because you might be currently out of a job, it doesn’t mean you’re not good at what you do.

For the complete article go to Beyond.com’s The Confident Career!

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Why Your Career Needs CPR

Many people have a hard time taking career advice from family and friends. They will sometimes ask a family member to help with a resume (unlikely to yield significant results), but will usually seek outside help. The job seeker then seeks out marketing materials such as resume, cover letter, and a few will see the critical value of a LinkedIn profile. Many will want coaching or at least advice to best find job openings or how to transition to a new career. That’s good.

What’s bad? Many depend on some other circumstance, person, or charity to give them something that breathes life into their career soul. I agree people career needs require revival, but many times it starts before a resume, or a job board profile, or even a LinkedIn profile. There’s life ready for resurrection and everyone has it but just needs re-awakening. I call it “Career CPR.”

It’s not a product I have or a webinar. There’s no way I can author something already paginated on our souls. It’s powerful and it exists in everyone:

#courage

This attribute is available more in just survival mode. We think it’s only available when fear is present but it is far more in excess during a proactive job search. We’ve determined we want more than a job. We want a career fulfilling our need to be useful and productive. Chasing meaning means more than chastising our obligation to money. Then there are the times when layoffs, being fired, a bombastic boss, or a lack of fit means accessing this anecdote to fear. We’re vulnerable and weak, yet there are cells of strength in our cells and corpuscles we can employ without thinking.

#patience

One of the hardest attributes to practice. When our circumstances go awry, we want to forcefully take it back and impose our will in places it doesn’t belong. These days, friends and family will quickly abandon any charitable acts of comfort or any type of help. It’s better to sow the seeds of our future while we have at least momentary control of our careers than exhort anyone during a sudden change. Patience unlocks understanding. Understanding unlocks faith in our abilities.

#perseverance

While will wait for employers to make decisions, we will not put all of our eggs in a single basket. We push through like a thread through a needle. We will not wait to be handed anything even when the pain of asking for another personal for a referral is excruciating. Even if we have an offer in our hands we need to ask, “Is this the right possibility?” Even if we had a third interview we ask, “Is this what’s best right now?” Survive, but don’t settle.

#persistence

It is easier to accept “no” as an answer the first time. Jamie interviewed more than 90 times in the same company and still didn’t get a promotion. She could have allowed “no” to harbor bitterness but decided to create a purpose through her blog Black Girl Nerds. There are many job seekers who survived long-term unemployment like Paul who received one job offer after receiving his doctorate from M.I.T. Do more than just “hang in there,” thwart “no” as a final answer in your mind, then live it.

#resilience

We learn from our mistakes sometimes a little later than we should, but comes from a default mode, as if the choice was on the dessert menu. We want to complain and grumble but does it help? Does it ease the pain? Not really. It only passes the time. True resilience conceives character, determination, and understanding. It makes durable. It forces us to overcome.

Through any job search, we should strengthen through the process and produce fruit at the end. We’ll need fruit to contribute our gifts and unique perspective. We’ll remember the blood and sweat as reminders of what CPR produced in us. It wasn’t just survival, it was a test pruning us for this opportunity whether an elongated job search, career change or new opportunity. If we’re not different, and fail to see new possibilities, then where will we stand when need to CPR our careers again?

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

6 Hazardous Roads to an Unsuccessful Job Search

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Welcome back to “The Voice of Job Seekers” podcast, this is Mark, your host of the show. I’m grateful you decided to listen to this episode. This is a solo edition of the podcast where I will lend my views in some areas where your job search possibly needs help. I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and ideas on this show. Here’s how:

1) Leave a voice mail or text message at 708-365-9822. Let me know if I can share it on future shows
2) Email me: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com
3) Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press the “Send Voicemail” button to leave a message online

You can do this on your phone, right now, if you want. All of this is set up so you’ll have the most convenient access possible.

Announcements

I will be taking a short spring break and time to celebrate 25 years with my wife, so I won’t publish another show until March 29.

6 Hazardous Roads to an Unsuccessful Job Search

1. The rough road
You are not finishing anything completely to anyone’s satisfaction. You read job search advice but rarely follow through completely. Then you go to someone who you respect saying you have tried everything. Your resume, cover letter, and other necessary marketing materials are done, but what about your social profiles, LinkedIn profile, or other efforts completing your branding? Why are they incomplete? LinkedIn picture? Other profiles incomplete? How about your networking efforts? Are you having great conversations? You get the point. You know what happens when you go down a road needing paving? Your car gets damaged in more ways than one. The same will happen in your job search when it’s incomplete. Your job search efforts could be easier if you don’t finish strong.

2. The long unwinding road

Did you know your references can sabotage your job search efforts? Are you sure that the people you have listed as references can speak to your competencies? You must know there are areas that your references can speak in your favor. Do you know what they will say? A few months ago, a client got the interview, completed the entire process until her reference check process didn’t pan out. The interviewer knew (or, at least, had familiarity) with her boss, and asked about her. Her boss replied, “She can’t be trusted!” Of course, my client was devastated but understand this could go on if you are not sure what your references will say. If they can’t speak positively, it will be viewed negatively. Know what your references will say and avoid this road that will never end.

3. You underestimated how where the road leads
YOU UNDERESTIMATED THE DEPTH OF BACKGROUND CHECKS.I had a client who lied to me about her job situation but didn’t know I knew the truth at the time. I recommended her to a friend who interviewed her, impressed by her, but the FBI background check was problematic. Not that they were able to verify what was wrong other than many other things that were unverifiable. This grey line is the road you don’t know where it leads. I include a link to a report on the blog on background checks. You should know what each job you leave will say about you. This unnecessarily lengthens your job search and undermine your efforts if your former employer is unfavorably confirming employment. Now many companies today take the position of not giving much information at all. Don’t assume your old employer is among them. Call the ones you’re relying on to confirm employment. Ask them what are saying? If you’re getting ready to leave or more importantly, terminated, how will the employer communicate it. In many cases, you can negotiate or request to just confirm employment. I know there different thoughts on it, but I have had two clients in particular who went and asked the verbiage to change.

4. The indecisive road
You don’t know where to go. Sometimes, you quit or claim some type of moratorium.

5. This road went out of your way. You ignored the detour signs

Many job seekers don’t sell themselves well during their job search, although there is a slight anomaly if you don’t know what you’re best looks like. You never thought about it. Or, in some cases, someone told you, and it’s not what you wanted to hear. If you are unsure of your best features, then look at your old performance reviews, ask others who worked with you, or take strength assessments. Starting there will trigger other areas that you excel, then you’ll be crystal clear what you can contribute.

6. The road only you know
No response to your requests for help because you offer no value. Are you the same person that keeps saying that my network sucks? You don’t give, share, or interact! Like a road no one knows where to find it, it’s a single route you keep to yourself. Networking shouldn’t be an occasional event in your life; it warrants a lifestyle. The road only you know means several hazards within itself:

You can’t re-route right away. It’s likely you’ll not find someone right away to redirect you
Maps have hesitations. A landmark ‘s hard to spot on a map.
You don’t know the conditions of the road. It helps, to know the terms of the market you seek a career in
You get lost and don’t ask directions, or you don’t admit being lost

Need help with your career goals, directions, or efforts? Do you need coaching or instruction? I am here for it!Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

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