Staying Motivated During Your Job Search

Searching for a job is something that most of us have done in our lifetime. It’s a task that intimidates a lot of people for some reason. Many people see employment as a one-way street: you working for the employer. This is not the case at all. You are looking for someone to buy the skills you are selling. I’ve helped plenty of people with job preparation and I’ve developed a list of things to help keep people motivated through their job search. 

1. Your Resume 
• If you take your resume to 100 different experts, you will end up with 100 different resumes. People love to drill in your head how professional your resume should look. Before you hire someone to provide you with fancy fonts and headings; make sure the work experience YOU want to highlight is on your resume. After all, when you are in the interview and the interview asks you to explain what’s on your resume you want to be ready. What good is “Lowered AHT in call center to satisfactory operational levels” if you can’t explain what that is? Even if your resume is simple, it's what you want.
2. What You Should Be Paid 
• This is a hard conversation to have with yourself. Who really knows how much they are worth? To make things simple: NEVER APPLY FOR A JOB THIS ISN’T OFFERING THE PAY YOU WANT. Once again you are selling your skills, and you want them to go to the employer with the highest bid. Skilled employees are rare, and companies are willing to pay top dollar for certain talents. You should apply where you believe your skills will earn you top dollar.
3. The Interview
•  People seem to forget that the interview goes both ways. Walk into your interview with confidence because you are going to find out if THIS is the place where you want to sell your skills. For the most part you will be working at the same place you interview. Think about things like how far the commute is with traffic. In the interview you can ask “If hired, will this be the building/office I work in? Will there be a chance to work from home occasionally after training?” I don’t see this as a being cocky, just measuring the relationship that will be employer-employee. After the interview you should know if this the place where you want to work…NOT worrying about if you will get a call back with a job offer.

By all means I am not saying go into any job search process with a cocky attitude. However, be confident in your skills, your experience, and your degrees (if you have any). If you need some type of scale to measure skills, then I have one for you. McDonalds will never run out of people to flip burgers, but there is always a need for doctors in a hospital. Always remain confident in your job search and remember Slow Progress Is Better Than No Progress!