Has your Career become a victim of the big freeze?
As we thought Spring had sprung, as signs of life were breaking through the ground we were plunged back into the deep freeze. As thoughts turn to a white Easter- has the big freeze set in on your job search?
Are you busy doing nothing?
The phenomenon of appearing busy has never been greater, social media bombards us with messages from our friends and colleagues about how great things are Feeling like we are always doing something has never been so important, or made us feel so important. When did you last take the time to evaluate how productive your job search efforts were?
Breaking the busy cycle- get more from your job search
As always at this time of year Gatewood Consulting has an influx of career customers – January saw the recruiter promise of, more jobs, life in the job market, new budgets and the thaw of negativity. By mid February many of the job seekers have made no progress. One new client stated, “Up until now I have spent six or seven hours per day trawling the internet.” He felt like he was being busy. There as a sense of satisfaction for doing something, in fact anything was better than having no tasks to complete. He never paused to evaluate what his results were.
Do you have a Job Search Plan?
The vast majority of my clients have secured and experienced major career successes, many have held influential roles. A large number of them will admit that they have been “career focussed” for much of their working lives. Some of these very same people have approached their job search without a plan or strategy in place. What were they trying to achieve? How could they get there?
Default Job Searching
Are you clueless in terms of putting a job search plan together? Very few of us have ever been taught how to manage our career and the roller coaster ride of the job search, those who are “in the know” have often invested in themselves. One of my clients has a daughter embarking on the world of work for the first time. Even today young people are not being armed with the information they need to put a great CV together and tackle a competitive market. Securing a new position, no matter what your age, is about having a careful plan and taking action.
Step away from the P.C 
If you are whiling away hours in front of a PC, trawling through job boards- chances are you are not producing results. If you are sending round robin emails to people you have worked with asking “ do you know of any jobs going?” Ask yourself why you are not getting responses. Are you finding yourself checking emails constantly? In reality it is likely that you are only adding to your frustrations. How can you get more energy in to your job search?
Give your activities the Green house effect
Stop wasting time on unproductive job search activities, you are simply allowing your motivation to suffer a severe case of frost bite. Without a large blast of positivity or at least a glimmer of hope, frustration will drive you to wonder, “What is the point? You will either allow yourself to become distracted away from the job search or allow yourself to settle back in to the career rut, if you are still employed.
Formulate a plan- then Act!
- Evaluate where you are getting the best results from
- Decide if these activities need further evaluation or have they fallen fallow?
- Dig over old ground – Is your CV really cutting the mustard?
- Keep tending your garden- always be ready to attend interviews, know your key selling points and be able to talk about them.
- Stay positive about the results you are getting!
- Take time out to enjoy the world around you. Once you are back in that coveted challenging role, you want to be sure you have not left a long list of things you wish you had done.
Book a one to one career consultation now to ensure that you are getting the results you deserve. BOOK NOW