When you are in school or just starting out, a lot of people will offer up their opinions about what you should do with your life. When you share your showbiz aspirations, everyone becomes an entertainment career expert. But there are four categories of people who you should not take advice from:
PEOPLE WHO HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN DASHING YOUR ENTERTAINMENT CAREER DREAMS
This could include your parents, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your best friend, or anyone else with a strong attachment to you. They don’t want to risk losing you by having you go off in a new direction, whether it involves imminently (or ever) relocating to another city or not. This also includes people who fear the presumed instability and potential heartbreak of an entertainment career. This is mostly an area your parents specialize in, as they don’t want to have to support you financially or pick up the pieces of your broken heart if things to not work out. (More on entertainment career stability and your parent’s concerns here.)
PEOPLE WHO HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN FEEDING YOUR ENTERTAINMENT CAREER DREAMS
This includes friends who are relocating far from home and want someone to join them on their adventure, but primarily refers to people who want you to pay them for helping you in some way with your entertainment career. Your friend’s motives are easily seen (his car is practically already packed!) and taken with a grain of salt. But if someone is trying to sell you something, whether it sounds (or is) legitimate or not, no matter what they say, assume their encouragement is financially motivated. Get a second (and third) opinion from someone who is not in one of these categories.
PEOPLE WHO HAVE TRIED AND FAILED TO REALIZE THEIR OWN ENTERTAINMENT CAREER DREAMS
Your older brother who moved out to L.A. to act and came back a year later (or five years later) without one credit to show for it. Your mother’s friend who was a singer with a struggling rock band for a number of years until she “settled down to raise a family.” The neighbor who wrote four screenplays and couldn’t get an agent. Yes, you hear these stories as soon as you mention that you want to try working in entertainment. These people will try to convince you it’s just too hard. “Don’t bother,” they’ll say.
PEOPLE WHO HAD ENTERTAINMENT DREAMS BUT NEVER PURSUED THEM
Anyone who ever performed in a school play or had a garage band probably had entertainment dreams at some point. Don’t worry about them. This category refers to people who took it further, such as writing screenplays they never showed anyone or drove to the local “American Idol” auditions and never went in. They most likely won’t tell you about these secret pursuits, so be wary of anyone who seems exceedingly attached to whether you go for your entertainment dream career or not. They might say, “Are you crazy? Those things never work out for people like us! Right?” Or, conversely, “You gotta go for it before it’s too late! Right?”
The problem with career advice from members of these four categories is it’s more about them than it is about you.
Your protective father is thinking about how he devastated he is when you face disappointment. Your brother might be afraid you will show him up if you pursue an entertainment career and actually succeed. Your friend who did a drive by at the “American Idol” auditions is thinking about why she can’t muster up the courage to get out of the car when you are talking about making a movie or applying for a job at a production company or moving all the way to L.A. to work at a talent agency.
Make sure when someone tells you what they think you should do that it’s truly about you. There are lots of options for working in entertainment. There are countless ways to start and succeed at an entertainment career, each with their own degrees of difficulty, some with built-in safety nets. The people who are considering your best interest will ask about your plans in detail and offer as much guidance as they feel comfortable offering. They will help you explore possibilities and strategize and they will be supportive no matter what you end up deciding to do.
Woman with hands over ears image from Shutterstock
Bigstock
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
BigstockMake 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
BigstockAre 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.
Let's start with resumes!
Every resume should be tailored to the position in order for it to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually less work than submitting the same resume over and over again and never hearing back.
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
BigstockYour 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!
Need more help with your job search?
Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!
This article was originally published at an earlier date.
Read moreShow less