The Path of Least Resistance

Whenever a job-hunting effort goes nowhere, the individual has opted to take the crowded path of least resistance. Humans are notorious for developing routines—the majority of which are nonproductive. Some routines are downright self-destructive.

Job searches are not something we perform daily. For most, they rarely occur. When job searches do become necessary, they are not by design, but rather an unscheduled inconvenience.

As one’s routines become disrupted, previous habits takeover. The common ones include procrastination, overreaction, rationalization (or excuse making), and passive-aggression (or going through the motions of job-hunting for appearance sake). When you move toward the extremes, you encounter sociopathic behaviors. These can include hostile arrogance, pathological lying, manipulation, impulsiveness, and living a parasitic (or unmotivated) lifestyle.

Once a routine disruption occurs, there is a natural tendency, if not an overwhelming desire to have things return to normal. (We’ll define ‘normal’ as any prior routines—without passing judgment on whether those routines were good, bad or otherwise.) Any time humans encounter a disruption in their daily routines, a biological reaction occurs.

This chemical reaction manifests itself in various forms. You might feel depressed, irritable, frustrated, anxiety ridden, exhausted, belligerent, combative or physically ill. If you lose your job, you often encounter the five stages of the grief.

When the above occurs, a job search reduces itself to one of three options: (1) a new norm emerges, (2) you react to the symptoms, or (3) you initiate a proactive course correction.

By way of analogy, imagine seeking employment as being similar to hypertension. There are three ways to deal with it. You can choose to live with it, in which case your quality of life deteriorates. You can opt to treat the symptoms with drugs, in which case you usually encounter side effects hazardous to your health. Or, you may attempt to cure it through eating properly, which requires drastic changes in routines. 

Now let us view our three options from a job hunting perspective:

Option 1 – Passively allowing a new norm to be established: At first blush, this may appear to be a viable option, but it is not. A passive job search is not sustainable, yet many unemployed job seekers are predisposed to resigning their fate. Thus, by passive acceptance—be that long-term unemployment, or underemployment, this becomes the newly established norm.

Option 2 – Treating the job search symptoms: This condition exists whenever you attempt to reestablish whatever you had before. To accomplish that, you treat the symptoms. You might resort to applying for anything and everything in a frenzied effort to regain that feeling of normalcy. The downside is that this approach—sometimes referred to as the shotgun, wheel spinning or kneejerk approach—tends to produce minimal-to-poor results. Nonetheless, it just works often enough to qualify for the dumb-luck award.

Option 3 – Curing the problem: If you are up to the challenge, this is the option to choose. Eliminate obstacles. Correct the situation via a change in your job hunting habits. Fix whatever needs to be changed, be that a well-focused résumé, an upscale wardrobe, improved interviewing skills, quality job references, a systematic job-research strategy, and better eating habits to look healthier than your competition.

To paraphrase Matthew (7:13), take the narrow path for it lead to one’s salvation. Avoid taking the easy path, for that road is wide and crowded.

____

Copyrighted © 2012 by Robert James.