Everything you plan to accomplish in life comes down to your
priorities. The better you are ability to set priorities, the better your odds
on accomplishing the things you want done. At the risk of belaboring the
obvious, not all jobseekers subscribe to this viewpoint. This accounts for the
decisive differences in how job searches are conducted.
For more than a score of years, I
have observed how individuals perform the job-search process. The gambit spans
the phenomenally successful to the dismal failures. The middle majority muddle
through this process with varying degrees of results.
The common factor was how each
jobseeker commenced the job-search process. The highly successful moved boldly,
decisively and swiftly. They established clear priorities, had an action-plan
strategy and put those plans into action—sans excuses.
The rest pursued a different
course.
Changing
employment requires certain tasks to be performed. Those who elect to gloss
over those tasks do so at their peril. It requires no stretch of imagination to
see why those on top of their game leave the disoriented jobseekers out maneuvered.
There exists a
decisive difference between those who successfully perform, and wishful masses.
Jobseekers who lack a specific career focus tend to proceed aimlessly. As they
encounter obstacles, they begin manufacturing excuses, hoping to shift blame to
some unforeseen cause.
Knowing in
advance how one plans to conduct a job search is similar to having a detailed treasure
map that leads to one’s destination. Having an employment action plan need not
be complicated. This can be as easy as creating a list of potential employers
and actively monitoring their websites for openings and keeping their LinkedIn
page updated.
Old habits,
however, die-hard. It is easier to take shortcuts or pursue whatever course
imposes least restrictions. New job-hunting routines require time and effort.
Those who allocate little either, easily skip into panic mode when their old
routines become disrupted.
Jobseekers often
times delude themselves into believing they can transcend the interviewing
process. Some entertain notions they well have a metamorphous when called up to
rise to the occasion. The national statistics do not support these self-induced
beliefs. Most interview poorly. Those who conduct interviewers regularly become
shopworn to shoddy ho-hum sessions.
When we focus on
the extremes (success versus failure),
the dichotomy of similarities become glaringly obvious. The decisive factors dictating
the results came down to the individual’s mindset, actions and habits. At a
five-to-one ratio, the better organized, prepared and energetic outperformed
the unfocused, clutter-minded and lethargic.
For the job
search to be successful, one has to plan for success. That—in and of itself—has to be a priority. Leaving things to
happenstance and fate is not a strategy plan—at best, it is wishful thinking or
perhaps an unfocused mindset.
Most dread the
employment process. It is human nature to fear the unknown. More people are
controlled by self-imposed fears than by facts. For those who fall into his
category, their real enemy lies within.
Best advice is to copy success. Set changing employment as a top priority,
develop a strategic plan of action, practice
interviewing, and put the plan into motion. Make course adjustments as you
proceed. -- Copyrighted (c) 2014 by Robert James.