Nothing is permanent in this world, especially in your career. Change happens constantly, and it's up to us on how to deal and adapt with these changes in our environment. Unfortunately, there are instances that we don't respond positively to these changes. This is especially true when our pride and attitude gets the best of us, and we lose our jobs because of unfortunate circumstances.
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It's not pretty when a bad work experience blots an otherwise spotless resume. These bad work experiences can haunt us when we're out there looking for a new job, and this can bring down our self-confidence. Whether you lose your job, resigned because of a nasty boss, backstabbing co-workers, or get chucked out because of uncontrollable events, there are ways to deal with the life in-between. It's summarized in four R's: rant, relax, recover, and restart.
1. Rant
Everyone who's ever lost a job may find themselves angry, sad, and anxious over what happened. If you lose your job because you did something wrong, were wrongly judged upon, or all of these, feel free to rant. Allow yourself to get really angry at your boss, co-worker, or any reason that made you lose your job. That said, it's important to find healthy ways to get your pent-up emotions off your chest: write about it, talk to someone about it, cry, shout, or eat a pint of ice cream. Do anything that will help you feel more in control of your emotions and less angry about the said situation.
There's no right or wrong way to feel about your situation. The only thing that will be wrong is if you allow this experience to dampen your enthusiasm for work. If you go around looking for a job and still feel angry about your past work experience, it can sabotage your efforts. You don't want to be talking about your past work experience to a potential employer and badmouthing your previous boss, do you?
2. Relax
After dealing with your negative feelings about losing your job, relax and take a step back. Try to see the situation in a positive light. What are the lessons you can learn from this experience? Maybe you need to improve how you deal with higher-ups, upgrade your work skills, or interact better with people.
If your idea of relaxing is to take a break for a short while before finding work again, then feel free to do so. Go on some soul-searching road trip, begin a new hobby, or just enjoy doing nothing. You'll know by yourself if you're ready to join the workforce once again.
3. Recover
Take care of yourself on your way to recovery. Don't rush yourself to feel better instantly. We all have periods when we feel down, but there comes a time that we will feel ready to take on the world again. Your feelings may shift among numbness, anger, sadness, and desolation. The important thing with emotional recovery from a bad job is that you help yourself. Don't beat yourself up. Take the things that you can change from the things you have no control over.
4. Restart
If you feel relieved after going through all the previous R's, give it a go and open yourself to all life has to offer. Not just with a new job, but with everything else. Who knows, your new job might be just the thing you're looking for in your career. Take your bad work experience as a learning experience, and use it as an advantage.
People are different from each other and deal with things in different ways. Handling your past bad work experience through positive means can help you recover and get back on track with a wiser perspective.
May you get the best the next time you go job hunting, minus the negative pent-up feelings.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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