The creative act of finding a job
If you don't know who you are it's hard to find a reason to hire you.
Job hunting sucks. It’s a brutal slog especially when you’ve lost a job you loved and are at the end of your unemployment benefits.
Historically, this is the case. While we tend to shy away from using the term DEPRESSION to describe the economy and the era, and I’m not an economist anyway, job hunting can absolutely leave one in a clinical or situational depression.
I have a theory though that the age of technology has made this worse. If no other reason than the plethora of lies being purported by “job search experts.” And we (okay I) have gotten lazy in my critical thinking because of the ease of a quick search in the gigantic G machine. Type in a question and wait to see what comes up. Read the first few headlines, click on one that’s particularly intriguing (click bait!) and take it as the truth. Despite my insistence that one should always follow the citations, research the author/s and at the very least figure out who is paying for the statistics and facts, I forget to do it if in a hurry.
Job hunters are in a hurry.
By the time they come to me to work one-to-one they’ve been on the market, doing it themselves for an average of 3 months. (Where did that statistic come from? My own handwritten notes from each intake meeting with new clients.) Over that period they’ve hit easy apply, they’ve scanned job boards, and they’ve done some rudimentary tweaking of their resume. They’ve half-heartedly written cover letters, overthought their answers on the ATS automated questions and sent cold messages on LinkedIn that looked like a recruiter. To no avail.
They’re irritated and certain that the world is out to get them. And that the reason no one has called them after applying is because the company is full of discriminatory idiots.
My job is to help them out of that hole and into a job search that works for them. I’m a different kind of career coach. Of course I start with an overview of work history and a look at the actual jobs you’ve been applying to (most often the reason there’s no call is because there’s a disconnect between the job posting and the experience of the applicant) and then I move into a deeper look at what you really want in your life.
I’m not a great fit for a person who doesn’t like to understand their own motivation, and I’m happy to refer to others in those cases.
Instead when you work with me, you’ll get a little bit coach, a little bit mama bear, some cheerleader and a whole lot of soul searching guide. Alignment is what I work toward and it’s a creative process. Until you know what you want and why you want it (from food, to mates, to jobs) you’ll feel like whatever you get is not enough and is unsatisfactory. You’ll find problems at the new job and wonder why you even worked so hard to get hired.
This does not make you a bad person. It simply means you approached your job search in a very linear, black and white way and avoided any level of curiosity regarding your motivations, your values and your heart.
Job hunting is a process and in the current economy it takes longer to find a new role than it did in 2021. This gives you an opportunity to be creative in approaching the process. It’s important to understand what makes you unique - yes, even as an accountant or an operations manager. What makes your heart sing when it comes to work, when do you feel like it’s not work? What parts of your past roles lit you up and what parts made you want to head in for a root canal rather than head to the office?
Sometimes you’re so close to you that you can’t see the dots that connect the through-line to your excellence at work - to your magic. There are magicians in every industry at every level at every role - and they stand out and are more easily employed than we mere mortals who are simply looking for a job.
The point, if I have one, is that there is only one you. Being the best version of yourself FIRST can lead you through the job hunt more effectively. After you dive deep, connect your dots, understand your gifts and talents that are effortless, then you can build your resume and work history on top of that.
As always, you do you. If you want help, I have openings in September. Schedule here.
Are you getting value out of these letters each week? Nearly 6 months in and I hope I’m making a positive impact for you and your job hunt. I also understand that not everyone has a budget to pay for one-to-one coaching, so my intention is to keep this letter coming, weekly, for free.
The monthly paid subscribers who make this possible are to thank here. Do you want to join them? Even $5.00 a month adds up and buys me time to serve you. Monthly subscribers also get an opportunity to weigh-in on topics that are top of mind to be researched and shared here and in my social feeds.
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Til next week, thank you for being here, and don’t lose sight of what makes your heart happy.
Peggie