Keeping your spirits up when you are in the middle of an extended job search can be hard. Here are 5 ways that you can supercharge your job search today.
Ask anyone who has been through an extended job search, and they will tell you how incredibly easy it is to get discouraged, particularly when you have been looking for a job for a long time. You hear a new story about how much worse the job market is getting almost every time you turn on the news.
You start to catch yourself getting disappointed when the phone rings, because it is a friend who wants to ask you how your job search is going, instead of being the job offer you were hoping for. Even though it is tough, staying confident, enthusiastic, and upbeat during this time is so important. It is hard to be any of those things when you have stopped believing in yourself. So how can you keep your chin high during an extended job search?
Here are 5 ways to supercharge your job search:
- Update your social network- Send out an update email to let them know that you are still in the job market in both your professional and personal networks. Be careful to stay upbeat and hopeful in your email and include some interesting tidbit about your search or your industry.
- Weekly goals- Don't just think about the number of resumes you can send out each day, but rather set goals for yourself and your job search each week. Try to make two new business contacts in your network and follow up on three job leads. Using a personalized resume and cover letter, set a goal to apply for at least one job.
- Learn a new skill- You could always benefit from taking short, non-credit courses in Public Speaking, industry related courses, or even a hobby. Whatever your passion is, taking a course about them can allow you to recharge your spirit and meet new people.
- Attend any networking event you can- When you are out of work, it is easy to feel alienated from the business community. Attending events where people are actively networking can be an amazing pick me up.
- Work on marketing your personal brand- Set aside some time to work on your online image. Create a blog or participate in other blogging communities. This is a great way to find out news and job leads and even meet new people who can help you in your job search.
It is all too easy to feel stuck at home, sending in resume after resume. Think about what you can do to keep your focus and energy levels up. Being out of work and feeling a lack of progress can eat away at your confidence, so do what you can to stay busy and look for quality job leads.
What do you do to keep the negativity at bay and keep yourself in a positive mindset? Please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for BusinessWorkForceBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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