Job Search Advice: Friend Version, Tip 1

I’m out of town this week (Liz will take care of you if you need help, just go to the Contact form)…. here’s a series of five things I’d tell a friend if he/she just started a job search.

Tip 1, Day 1: Take a breath, relax, pull yourself together.

The job search is scary, and can be hard on many levels.  You might feel like the loser in your neigborhood, and people won’t know how to treat you.  You’ll question your value after you go through enough rejections.

This is not a time to allow yourself to become demoralized.

It’s also not a time to vent to everyone, or even to your very closest friends and family.  This is the time to be strong, confident, and move forward with a plan.  Even when you don’t believe in yourself (and there will be plenty of times for self-doubt), believe in your system that you follow in your job search.

Allowing yourself to wallow in pity too long, or to communicate why everything sucks and it’s all just so unfair, or even have to explain to everyone why you are looking, will only sap energy from your job search.  People won’t be ready to trust you with an introduction to their contacts until they know you have pulled yourself together.

So focus on that.