How to overcome 5 major obstacles between you and employment.
There’s a term for people who enjoy the thrill of the job search: happily employed. For the rest of us, looking for a job ranks right up there on the list of things to avoid alongside root canals, traffic jams, and the plague. If you’re stuck in a job you hate, or stuck on your couch watching soaps, it’s probably because you prefer your current state of misery to the pain of job hunting. Few things in life have the power to discourage you quite like being rejected or ignored by an employer you don’t really want to work for in the first place.
It’s that feeling of inferiority that makes the job search so dismal. So what is it about you that makes you look and feel inferior? The answers are all in your head. All the negative, depressing, defeating thoughts you entertain as you send out resumes and trudge through interviews . . . they’re all true. But you can use them to your advantage, and stand out of the crowd.
1. To the employer you are nobody.
Anonymity is safe. That’s why you apply online, email your resume, and post your job seeker profile with the millions of other strangers in line at the virtual employment office. You’d much rather be ignored by a computer than rejected by an old acquaintance. But anonymous, absent job hunting is a formula for safe unemployment. If you stay holed up at home in your pajamas in front of your computer, you will never stand out to an employer.
Employers, by the way, are people. To be somebody, you need to connect with somebody, not a Web site. Spend at least a couple of hours every day connecting with real people. Wasting away the hours on Facebook or Twitter isn’t a waste if you are socializing with purpose(use Linkedin). Let people know you’re looking for work and listen to people who are looking to hire. Make lunch appointments, make office visits, and discuss your industry with people you like. This will greatly increase the chances of working with people you like.
2. Employers don’t care about you.
In time, the people for whom you work might care about your problems. That time is not now. The only concern weighing on the minds of a hiring company is the need to fill job openings and accomplish business objectives. Most job candidates have one objective in mind (usually stated nebulously and needlessly atop their resumes): get a job. But if you focus solely on getting a job, you’re probably ignoring how you could succeed at that job. Shift your attention away from you. Think about the needs of the company and how you could help meet them if you had the job. If you can imagine yourself doing the job instead of just landing it, an employer will find it much easier to imagine themselves hiring you.
3. You’re not good enough for this job.
Do you know what happens when someone arrives at being perfect for a job? They get promoted to a tougher one. Having a successful career is all about improvement. You might not have every qualification the job listing asks for, you might not be the ideal candidate. But if you have the basic skills necessary to learn the job, you are a viable candidate. Most employers will expect new hires to go through some sort of training and develop along the way. They will see your potential if you do. And think about this: who is currently doing the work laid out in the job description? Probably no one. Could you do a better job than no one? That’s the spirit!
4. That job description doesn’t sound like you at all.
Ask some employed friends to tell you their current job descriptions. If even one of them can tell you what it is, he or she probably just completed an annual review. But most job descriptions are professional BS that fail to portray what you would actually be doing. Cut through the fancy HR crap and figure out what the job is really all about. Call someone at the company (or find someone with an online presence) and ask him or her to tell you about the position. No real person talks like a job listing. A human being will give you a clearer picture of what’s essential to the job.
The main reason most job descriptions are inaccurate is because most positions evolve according to the strengths of the people who fill them and the ever-changing shifts of the company. Don’t get discouraged if the fourteenth point in the list of job responsibilities is completely foreign to you. If you can handle the main essence of the job, you’ll be fine. Stay focused on the things you do well rather than getting tripped up by the things you can’t.
5. You are entirely uninteresting.
Nobody likes talking about themselves. The people who do are usually unlikable. But the only thing worse than listening to someone boast about how great they are is listening to some self-conscious twit stammer through a wandering stream of consciousness with no direction, meaning, or enthusiasm. We understand you know your weaknesses better than anyone, but don’t force a room of interviewers to live inside your head. It’s okay, no, it’s mandatory for you to put up a polished veneer of confidence and pride in your accomplishments and qualifications.
If you’re uncomfortable focusing entirely on yourself, good. On your cover letter or in your interview, link the things you say about yourself to attributes of the company you want to work for. Show the employer what you have in common. Excite them with the parts of who you are that are relevant to the company. But for the love of all that is holy for you, be enthusiastic about who you are. You are the only one who will promote yourself. And if being a tad too boastful doesn’t land you the perfect job, at least it will save everyone involved from an excruciating interview.
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