Riding The Waves
I am not much of a surfer but think I could be given the right circumstances. What I do enjoy is boogey boarding. I know it is not really "riding the waves" but it kind of feels like it to me. What I really like about it is when the waves are strong, I can finally get up on one of them and start to ride it. I don't really care how far it takes me into shore but how high it is and what it feels like. I don't really even mind it when I misjudge the wave and it crashes down on me or with me in it. The feeling when I have totally lost any of the control and have to experience whatever the wave has for me can be fun at times. I normally just hold my breath and see what happens.
Job searching is kind of like that as well. We all have in our own mind the type of job we are looking for. We know the salary we want, the benefits, and the responsibilities. The picture of our ideal job is in our minds and if we could only get an employer to see us the way we see ourselves, the job will be ours. This mental exercise of defining the perfect job in our mind is one of our most basic qualities, control. I don't mean you are a control freak. What I do mean is you want what you want and hope you can find it.
When I first started riding the waves on my boogey board, I thought if I did things a certain way the wave will behave as I want it to. I knew I would have to try and fail in order to be good at surfing. I knew I would eventually be able to understand the wave. Well to my surprise that never happened. I never really understood the wave to the point I could control it. It was a lot of work to stay on it without getting too beat up or worn out. I was not really in control and neither are you when it comes to job searching.
One of the most basic principles in the search for a new job is the process is not ours to control. We may have some basic needs and desires on what we want from our next job. That is nice but the employer is the one who makes the decision or not to even contact us. They have a system of analyzing and sorting candidates that is foreign to us. They are the ones in control and not us.
So what does that mean for the average job seeker. How do we use this knowledge to our benefit? How do we determine what jobs to go after, how to structure a resume, what happens when we apply through a job board like CareerBuilder or Monster or Hot Jobs? If the job boards and local ads are not the most effective ways to find a job, then what works? These are the types of questions we are going to explore in future postings. Stay tuned and tell me about what has worked for you in the past.
One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot take for granted there is a system in place to weed you out not in. You cannot over look the little details in your job search. The details DO matter and knowing how an employer sees you means everything. Riding the job search wave is tough. There are a lot of ups and downs (probably more downs). There are many ways to get a better understanding of what your "impression" to an employer is. One of the most effective ways is to have others analyze what they think of you and your experience level. Ask friends and family or whomever to be honest with you and learn from what they tell you. Don't embrace everything they say. Embrace the first impressions they have of you. This information is golden. If you do this, your wave riding might be a little shorter.
I am drinking a cold glass of H2O today because it is way to FREAKIN' hot and humid here (113 and 35%) for the third week in a row. I know we have another 6 weeks of this stuff. I guess that is why the family and I take frequent dips in our play pool. It sure feels good that way. I am about to make a decaf expresso...aahhhh!
Let's Get Started!
Jeff
Job searching is kind of like that as well. We all have in our own mind the type of job we are looking for. We know the salary we want, the benefits, and the responsibilities. The picture of our ideal job is in our minds and if we could only get an employer to see us the way we see ourselves, the job will be ours. This mental exercise of defining the perfect job in our mind is one of our most basic qualities, control. I don't mean you are a control freak. What I do mean is you want what you want and hope you can find it.
When I first started riding the waves on my boogey board, I thought if I did things a certain way the wave will behave as I want it to. I knew I would have to try and fail in order to be good at surfing. I knew I would eventually be able to understand the wave. Well to my surprise that never happened. I never really understood the wave to the point I could control it. It was a lot of work to stay on it without getting too beat up or worn out. I was not really in control and neither are you when it comes to job searching.
One of the most basic principles in the search for a new job is the process is not ours to control. We may have some basic needs and desires on what we want from our next job. That is nice but the employer is the one who makes the decision or not to even contact us. They have a system of analyzing and sorting candidates that is foreign to us. They are the ones in control and not us.
So what does that mean for the average job seeker. How do we use this knowledge to our benefit? How do we determine what jobs to go after, how to structure a resume, what happens when we apply through a job board like CareerBuilder or Monster or Hot Jobs? If the job boards and local ads are not the most effective ways to find a job, then what works? These are the types of questions we are going to explore in future postings. Stay tuned and tell me about what has worked for you in the past.
One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot take for granted there is a system in place to weed you out not in. You cannot over look the little details in your job search. The details DO matter and knowing how an employer sees you means everything. Riding the job search wave is tough. There are a lot of ups and downs (probably more downs). There are many ways to get a better understanding of what your "impression" to an employer is. One of the most effective ways is to have others analyze what they think of you and your experience level. Ask friends and family or whomever to be honest with you and learn from what they tell you. Don't embrace everything they say. Embrace the first impressions they have of you. This information is golden. If you do this, your wave riding might be a little shorter.
I am drinking a cold glass of H2O today because it is way to FREAKIN' hot and humid here (113 and 35%) for the third week in a row. I know we have another 6 weeks of this stuff. I guess that is why the family and I take frequent dips in our play pool. It sure feels good that way. I am about to make a decaf expresso...aahhhh!
Let's Get Started!
Jeff
posted by Jeff at
12:10 PM
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