Staying Super Motivated During Your Job Search Campaign
By David Smith
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Perhaps the most sage-like, yet simple, and yet so difficult to stick to advice ever given by your GP, Dietician, Guru, Life Coach [pick your professional of choice] must be….
‘Maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle.’
Oh, if only we could all do that, the concept is so appealing! Lose a bit of weight…eat a little healthier, get some exercise, quit smoking, cut back on the Merlot, get out in the fresh air, find more time for relaxation, read more, watch less TV! So appealing……
Good Intentions….
I don’t know the figures, but I reckon January must see the most new gym memberships above all other months – don’t quote me on this, but I did read that gym owners actually bank on people giving up at some point in the year because otherwise, they would never squeeze everyone in for the whole year.
However, the same source said that in a recent year – 80% of those who joined in January had stopped going within the first five months. The reasons are varied, but include discouragement!
There is no quick fix to getting this ‘healthy and balanced lifestyle…’
The figure of five months is interesting, because a job search can take a period of sustained effort [similar to getting fitter] before you snag the right opportunity. Obviously, it is impossible to say how long it is likely to be, as there are many variables to consider, from age and skill-set of the job seeker, to the fluidity of the market in your industry and 101+ other factors!
The point is that getting ‘past the burn’ and into your next role will require that you have a healthy relationship with your job search campaign for the duration!
Here’s 6 ways to maintain the health of your job search campaign!
Maintain a Healthy Weight
This is the starting place of any health programme, no less so with implementing a healthy job search regimen. Carrying excess weight will hamper your efforts.
Is your CV | Linkedin Profile | Covering Letter, or any aspect of your job hunting methodology carrying a few extra pounds?
Some great areas to trim the excess?
Streamline your CV if it is looking a bit bloated with older, less relevant content, tidy up some of the entries so that it is easier to read and robot-friendly, cut out the descriptions of the company you worked for, hack the referee details off there, get rid of the ‘old-hat’ CV sections and phrases.
Get your Linkedin profile in the same condition, especially if you have been upgraded to the new UI, this is a great opportunity to revisit your profile and go through it to make sure recruiters aren’t having to plough through information from the 1960s [I have seen it…I kid you not!!]
Junk the Junk Food
Cut out the job search junk food – all those sugary terms on a CV that contain nothing in terms of calories or nutrition that will invigorate your CV. The ‘good timekeeping’ lollipops and chocolatey ‘team players’ are going to do nothing but make the buttons pop off one of your main job hunting tools.
The same goes for outdated covering letter techniques. Nobody wants to get a message addressed to ‘sir or madam’, and I am still seeing single-line notes instructing the recipient to ‘please find attached | enclosed a copy of my current CV’ – this is just going to slow you down.
Visit the Doctor…
It is suggested that you see a health professional before embarking on a rigorous programme of activity, especially if there could be a potential underlying problem, just to make sure you are not going to cause harm with your planned mode of activity.
At this point, I am going to step into the frame, figuratively warming my stethoscope.
Most of my brethren of CV Writers, Job Search or Career Coaches are willing to check your CV | Linkedin profile | Covering Letter over.
I am willing to have a chat with anyone who has concerns about their next step – no obligation – my Linkedin profile says that I am passionate about helping people, so this is my opportunity to put my money where my mouth is.
Don’t Go it Alone…
Most endeavours are going to have an increased level of success if they have a support network, you can apply this to losing weight, giving up smoking | drinking, training for a marathon…the list goes on….and it is no different with your job search campaign.
Having someone to bounce ideas off; having your close network keep their eyes open for you, or to ask around where they work.
Don’t forget to engage one of the most powerful aspects of your network…your Linkedin network; your feed will be full of shared content, vacancy listings and connection suggestions…IF you ask! So get asking, I see [and share] requests like this every single day.
Get Moving!!!!
A very moderate 30 minutes of exercise per day is recommended to get your heart and other muscles pumping – in fact, if you are going to make a difference to your health – this is a necessity, not an option.
The same with your Jobsearch! If you know the formula for having a job float into your inbox without actually doing anything at all, please tell me – we’ll be rich…rich I tell you!
Seriously though, get searching; get your speculative applications out there; contact people you know to enlist their support.
If you are not working at the moment, then I recommend far more than 30 minutes of job hunting, if you are in this place…your full time job is getting a job, you can’t afford to chat around the water fountain when you should be on the stair-master!!
Take Some Time Out
All work and no play…? That is no fun, so you need to know when to switch off and do something else for a while – if you are starting to see the Linkedin logo in your sleep, you may need to tone it down a bit, or at least take a break or two. Get away from the screen, do something else.
It is easy to get stressed when you are looking for work, it is easy to get discouraged if your searches are turning up the same batch of vacancies, it is easy to give up and stick with ‘the devil you know’ if you don’t get something within the first few weeks.
Don’t give up!
I love feedback! If you need any more advice or help with this topic, just get in touch!
About the Author:
I’m a Job Search Coach with careervisa.co.uk, with decades of experience under my belt; you’ll find me in the middle of a Venn diagram with ‘jobseekers’ and ‘recruiters’.
I am happy to get feedback, or offer extra help on this, or any other topic, just contact me on your preferred option below.
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