Job Search Issues
How do I find the time to job search?
Thanks to the internet, you can do it in the interstices of your life. In the nights and the weekends and the early mornings. So much of what you need to do in a job search doesn't require you to be interviewing. Most of it is research on the company, finding the right company, finding the right job, working on your resume, working on your cover letter. So, it just means that you're not going to be watching sitcoms for a while! You're not going to be playing golf for a while! You're not going to your cousin's wedding in Topeka! You know, it really has to be a priority. But, if you focus on that, even if you're working full-time, there are 168 hours in a week. You sleep for maybe 50 of them and you work for 40. That's 90. That leaves still about 80 hours in the week. That's plenty of time to job search.
What do I do if I hate job searching?
Everybody hates job searching. Get over it. The truth really is, the thing that people hate most about it is imposing. Especially telling your friends that you're looking for a job. You feel like a beggar. You feel like you're a loser when you tell people. Remember, today people are changing jobs 1 to 15 times in their lives. It's a matter of how you present it. If you say ,"I'm looking for a job. I really need it. Could you help me find it?" Yeah, then you do sound like a loser. But if you say, "You know, I've finally figured out what I want to do. I'm really looking to be a marketing manager, in the computer game space ideally. Might you know somebody who might want to talk with me?" People are actually going to be grateful. They're going to be impressed by the fact that you're assertive. You know what you want. You're not embarrassed about it. It's just fine. I think it's getting over the embarrassment. And if it's a stranger, let's say, one of the good ways to get a job is to call potential employers in your field. Don't be afraid of imposing. Instead say to yourself, haven't I ever stopped somebody on the street and asked then for directions? They were happy to give them to me. Well, the same is true with contacting an employer. You're only asking for a minute of their time. Just long enough to hear your little pitch. If they're too busy or not interested they can say I'm sorry, I'm not interested, click. But you're imposing no more than you would when you're stopping a stranger on the street, So, those are the two reasons people hate job searching, feeling embarrassed with their friends which you can conquer as I outlined, and imposing on strangers which, again, is no bigger an imposition than stopping a stranger on the street. If they want to talk to you further then it's their choice. They're grown-ups. They can say no if they want.
What do I do if I'm not getting any responses from my resumes or applications?
If you're getting fewer than 20 rejections, or 20 email responses, that's normal. But if you apply to 20 jobs and you get nothing, you've probably chosen the wrong target or you're approaching it the wrong way. Ask yourself, before you change your target, say you're trying to become a furniture marketer, and you haven't gotten anywhere, before you switch to some other field, ask for, nay beg, for feedback. Tell them, when you get a rejection, I'm not looking for you to change your mind but I am really eager to get a job in a furniture industry, and I haven't gotten a good response. Is it my qualifications, is it my approach, can you give me feedback? Sometimes you won't get any feedback. The law very often penalizes employers who give feedback, but sometimes you might find a nice person who will give you feedback. I recommend you do that first. But let's say you're doing great, your resume's great, your cover letter's great, your pitch is great, and you still get nothing, it usually means the field is contracting or you're just not skilled enough. Then you either change your target to something where the job market is better or you go and get better qualifications.
How do I "bounce back" when I don't get a job I really wanted?
You really do have to get over it. Quickly. The longer you wallow, the harder it's gonna be to get out of it. It's like a pit. And when you get that rejection, any human is viscerally gonna feel angry, depressed, whatever it is. But every additional moment of wallowing spirals you down deeper into the pit and it's much harder to get you out of the pit. So at the risk of seeming insensitive, the actual best advice I can give you is tough love. Get over it fast. Then say, "Okay, what is the next positive step I can take? That's only one job. There's gonna be a better job for me. I'm gonna move on." You've got to do it, as simplistic as it sounds, that is the answer.
When should I stop my job search?
You should stop your job search day one, when you actually started working. What can happen is you may have even got a job offer, but often things fall through. Either the money doesn't come through or you end up doing negotiations. The battlefield of job seeking is littered with people who were sure they had this job and then it fell through. Another reason to keep looking until you have actually closed the negotiation and signed the deal, is that you will be more confident in negotiations. The more options you have, the more you're going to be able to look that employer in the eye and say, "I really feel I deserve more money than that" or, "I deserve to be able to get to work at home one day a week" or, "I really would like you to pay for the training." If you only have that one job offer, you are going to be scared to death, because if you don't get it, you have nothing. If you have a lot of irons in the fire you're going to exude that critical confidence. You don't stop searching for a job until day one on the job.