Where are all the Jobs?: The Heat Is On – So Get Yourself Cooking

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Heat Is On – So Get Yourself Cooking | Career Rocketeer

The Heat Is On – So Get Yourself Cooking

Posted: 25 Apr 2011 03:30 AM PDT

Gas prices are rising as is the temperature index throughout most of North America, and these are two excuses job hunters may use to slack off on their job search. If this describes you, you need an attitude adjustment.
It seemed like just a few short months ago that the economy was turning around and the jobs outlook was not so bleak. But in view of recent global occurrences the gas companies are once again gouging us to death to churn profits for the few as the rest of us suffer in silence and the short term outlook today is not as bright as it was back in February.
Again the news may not be great for the masses, but each job seeker's mindset must be to concern themselves with fulfilling their personal objective and find one job out of the thousands that ARE available.
I admit the objective may be harder to achieve today. So rather than adopt a pessimistic outlook and either give up or put in less time to your job search I suggest you work smarter.
What goes unsaid is that under these circumstances an undetermined number of job seekers do give up so your competition is actually dwindling and you need to take advantage of this.
What I suggest is you look at what you have done so far and if it is not working change your approach. If your resume is not getting results then ask someone like me to critique it for you and see if this is the problem. If you have spent all your time just collecting network connections on Linked-In and other relationship management and social networks stop collecting them and use your time to reach out to the ones you already have. If you have not contacted at least 25% of your contacts in the last 60 days do so immediately and set a goal to try and reach out to them all. Networking is not comparable to baseball cards where you collect and trade them and store them away in a box. Networking is an active pursuit that should occupy at least 50% of your allotted job search time.
If you have trouble with interviews and communication problems work on your elevator speech and get a coach; and for many of you who think you can't afford one let me be the next person to tell many of you who have been out of work for more than the 36 week national average that you can not afford not to have a coach.
The thing you need to keep in mind is that a positive attitude goes a long way. So whatever you do stay focused and positive in whatever you do. Just keep telling yourself every morning, "today is going to be my lucky day. I am going to make something positive happen today."

Author:
Perry Newman, CPC CSMS is a nationally recognized executive resume writer, career coach, AIPC certified recruiter and SMMU certified social media strategist known for his ability to help his clients get results. You can view his sample resumes at http://www.perrynewman.com, and email him your resume at perry@perrynewman.com for FREE resume critique.