My Job Search Is Driving Me Crazy!
My husband made this cappuccino for me in September 2020. I don't recall what he was aiming to create, but what I got instead was a perfect reflection of the utter frustration I was feeling that hour/day/week trying to get my book Surviving the Job Search formatted correctly for Amazon. Total, absolute soul sucking frustration was a constant emotion over several months of unsuccessful attempts and the poor being in my coffee kind of reminded me of Edvard Munch's painting The Scream.
A job search can also put you in that same scream state. Your resume is solid, your LinkedIn Profile matches your resume, you've put in the time submitting resumes, but you still haven't landed employment.
In late 2021, I talked with "Bob", who'd interviewed with 36 companies and had a grand total of 104 interviews before he landed a job. The roller coast of emotions he went through was mentally and psychologically brutal. What got him through to employment, however, was just continuing to hammer away with those resume submissions. Did he have days when he felt utterly beaten and just gave up? Oh, for sure he did. He’d take a moment to bury his head in his hands, then he got right back on the horse and submitted more resumes. The key to his success was never letting his emotions bleed over into the job search.
Whatever happens, do what “Bob” did and just keep moving forward. On your darkest days, just breathe and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Patience and perseverance are better than gold, and they will carry you forward. Never, ever give up. Just keep going, and you will step out into the sunshine and into a great new job when you least expect it.
Stories from the trenches...
I checked in with a candidate after his first week on the job and asked if his week has been kind of like drinking from a fire hydrant. He said, “Yes, lots of meetings…and I swear they’re speaking Greek.”
I checked in with him the following week and asked if he’d learned how to speak Greet yet.
He replied, "I think I accidentally learned German."
