The Job Search Challenge

You are now faced with the job search challenge. One of the big challenges in life is to make a successful job change or career move. For some, depending on the industry they are in this can be relatively easy. But for the vast majority of job seekers it is a time of high stress, anxiety and fear of the unknown.

Job Search-The Four Biggest Stresses

It is often said that the four most stressful things in life in no particular order are:

1. Losing your job
2. Moving to a new area3. Divorce---not just from a spouse but also a business partner.
4. Death of someone close to you.

Job Search-Losing Your Job—The Triple Stressor

You’ve lost your job. I believe for many this is the most stressful event. Why? When you lose your job you inevitably are going to have to move to a new area in terms of work location. And, you are going through a divorce in a business relationship. In a way you have all three stressors coming together at the same time.

Even worse because you are not being forced out, you are unhappy in your present position, feel stuck, overwhelmed and don’t see a way out. If you are looking for a path to low self-esteem and unhappiness punch your ticket every day to doing something or working somewhere you don’t enjoy.

Job Search-Reality-I Must Do Something—But What?

And, now that reality has hit you smack across the side of your face and you are staring at the fact that you don’t even know where or how or both, to begin designing your future to have the job or career you desire. The skills it took to perform your present job well aren’t going to help you find your next job. They will be a starting point in that they will qualify you to apply for a job.

Job Search-The Skills You Must Have

But the skills of resume writing, interviewing and creating a job search process are in a word, non-existent or at the very best haven’t been used in a long time. As a personal business coach who has collaborated with clients on job searches I can assure you that the quickest way to increase your odds of success is to improve these skills.

Job Search-This Is A Competition

A job search or a career change is a competition. How are you going to stand out from the crowd? First, you must have a resume that is accomplishments driven. After all, potential employers are interested in what you can accomplish. Most of the time, resumes are a chronology of where people have been and their titles.

Think about it, lots of people have a comparable history to yours with similar titles. It’s your accomplishments that let you stand out from the crowd. I start by collaborating with them to rewrite their resume.

In subsequent posts I will talk more about the resume and two other important components to a successful job search, interviewing skills and creating an ongoing process to generate leads for job interview.