As a licensed
educator who specialized in abnormal behaviors, I can speak with a measure of
credibility on this topic. What an individual thinks, he or she will eventually say. What the individual says to others inevitably manifests itself
into reality.
You won’t wake
up tomorrow morning and suddenly start acting differently than you did today (unless by chance you wake up as a U.S.
Marine on Parris Island). Before any miraculous behavioral change
transpires, you give it thought. Then you talk about it with whomever you trust.
After you have thought and talked about it, only then will your behaviors manifest themselves.
When this process occurs spontaneously, perhaps erratically or impulsively,
that is when you encounter trouble. (Society
tends to institutionalize those who gravitate toward behavioral extremes.)
What does this
have to do with John and Suzy Q Jobseeker? For starters, everything —especially
one’s mindset and the self-image they choose to embrace.
Chances run high
that everything you perform (or fail to)
commences with giving the topic mental deliberation or worrisome thought. When
your efforts go no further than this, you postpone taking decisive action. (The individual usually resorts to occupying
time with makeshift and busy work.)
Thus, in a job
search, when the potential jobseeker’s mindset concludes that it would be a
waste of time, money and effort—no proactive job search occurs.
This mindset
accounts for why large segments of older individuals avoid entering the job
market. They literally talk themselves out of it beforehand. By the time they
reach that decision, they have formulated rational arguments and plausible
explanations.
A classic
example of this occurs when individuals think they are too old to seek
employment. The individuals will invariably refer to themselves as old. Eventually, they begin acting old. The process went from thinking they
were old, to referring to themselves as old,
and then turning that mindset into their new reality.
At the opposite
end of this, we have to proactive jobseekers. Their mindset is positive. They
talk optimistically, and inevitably exhibit can-do behaviors. For them, a job
search amounts to being laser focused with a detailed strategy. Moreover, they
invest their time and assets in what they like doing.
On the other
hand, if you already think you are too old to enter the job market, you are—regardless
of age. That said, imagine someone telling Warren Buffett he’s too old to be
working. There is a good chance he would pick up a baseball bat and chase the
individual out of his workspace.