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Gwen Jewett
Life and Career
Coach
Phone:
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E-mail:
gwen@coachgwen.com
Apply This Effective Strategy to Your Career Search
(Hint: Think Dating...)
Are you or someone you
know in the middle of a career change? If so, you know that this
transition time brings on some confidence challenges, no matter how
qualified and talented you are. How do you maintain your objectivity while
selling yourself and evaluating new opportunities? Easy. Approach it
with some of the same principles of healthy dating.
When you think about it,
a career transition of any kind is a lot like courting. You must go
through the same process of putting yourself out there, making yourself
attractive, presenting your best qualities, and surviving rejection
(whether you are the one being rejected or doing the rejecting!). Let's
take a closer look.
First, you must let
the world know you're available. Like dating, you want to get the word out
that you are desirable (marketable), available ( to interview) and looking
(want to make a change). When you're really serious about dating,
you pull out all the stops, right? You get friends to introduce you
to people, go to parties, maybe enroll in an online matching
service, and capitalize on whatever other opportunities arise. Likewise, in a new job search you
will be most successful if you pursue any avenue available to you. You tell friends and
colleagues, attend networking events appropriate to your field and get
your resume posted on related online job search banks.
Next, you may have to go
with the volume approach at first. To begin a successful courtship you may have to
meet a lot of people before things start to click. On the television show
"The Bachelor", they begin with 25 eligible candidates for the bachelor to
meet, hoping that eventually one will be right.
Career change is often the same way. Yes, you only want or need that one
great job offer. But in the beginning, unless you are extremely
specialized, experienced and well-connected, you may have to start by
making as many contacts as possible in order to eventually hone in on
those connections that work for you. Some will even initially feel like a waste
of time, but can often lead to better ones.
Once you start making
worthwhile connections, you must appear to be "a catch." In career terms,
this mean that you must convince potential employers that your specific
skills and experience are a fit for them. You must begin to sell yourself,
but just as in dating, you don’t want to overdo it. You must strike that
balance between making them see your worth and not looking desperate. In
your interviews, be ready to provide one or two specifics about what your
unique skills will produce for the prospective company. Make them feel like
they will lose out by not hiring you.
Which ties in nicely to a
critical rule of healthy dating. Don't appear too needy.
Pull off an attitude of confidence by always having a Plan B
in your mind. Know what you will do next if you don't get this offer.
Let potential employers know that you want the job, you would be a fit for
the job, you are eager to start, but you are confident and if they don’t
hire you, you can always go somewhere else where you will be valued. Often
if a potential employer senses that your whole world is riding on this
opportunity, they may pass you by because they don't want that
responsibility. Show them you are confident and capable and that you will
always be successful.
Also, keep an open
mind. You
may have researched your next career thoroughly and devised very specific
requirements. It is good to know what you want, but just like dating,
something wonderful and unexpected can pop up for you if you are open and
flexible enough to see it. Unless it will actually cost you to schedule
the appointment, go to every interview that you can. You never know when
it will lead to the perfect job, or at the very least uncover a
pearl that you use in the next one. It is very rare for any interview to
be a complete waste of your time.
Finally, learn to deal
with rejection. It may feel so right in the beginning (that fabulous
first interview) and you come away thinking “This is it!” You walk on
clouds for a few days picturing your bright future. Then you never hear
from them again. Don’t take it personally. It happens to everyone at some
time or another. I encourage you to follow up once with a phone call to
ask if the position has been filled. If it has, you are perfectly within
bounds to say, “I felt that our interview time went really well. Do you
mind telling me what made the difference in your decision process and let
me know if there is anything I might improve upon?” If there is
constructive information you can use, use it. Otherwise, chalk it up to
experience and move on without looking back. It really may have nothing to
do with you and everything to do with the person who interviewed you.
A wise coach once told me
that when clients are longing for a relationship, she asks them to write
down what they want from the relationship. Notice that she doesn't
ask for a list of the qualities they want in the ideal person. By stating
what they want from the relationship they also define how they want to
be in that relationship, e.g., I want to be secure, I want to laugh a
lot, etc. Apply the same principle to your career pursuit. Write down what
you want from the career and how you want to be in it. For example,
instead of saying "I want to make $100K a year," say "I want to have
financial freedom to live comfortably and invest for the future."
Translate "I must have a corner office" to "I want to work in an
environment that provides me with privacy and inspiration." Know
this: If you know what you want from your career
and are clear about how you want to be in it,
following smart dating strategies will help you find the right
opportunity. You will easily begin to attract what works for you.
Warmest Regards,
Gwen
Copyright 2005 by Gwen Jewett, Life and Career Coach.
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