Posted under Branding, Career Management, Career Planning, Job Search on October 6th, 2008
There is no avoiding stress in the search for a new job, perhaps because much of what you’re dealing with is unknown or outside your control. However, there are ways to reduce anxiety that go beyond the traditional calls to manage your career intelligently and energetically.
The stressors I’m referring to are subtle, pervasive…and defeatable. Because they are part of the ea of pernicious folklore surrounding the job search. I’ll describe them and ways to get them under control in the paragraphs which follow.
The worst offender is the requirement to “sell yourself!” We have not sold people in this country since September 22, 1862, 53,340 days ago, when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. The whole idea is degrading and thus a ready source of stress.
The real truth is this: you have skills; employers have needs. The goal is to match the two in a collaborative way. You’ve been doing this your entire career.
Each time you’ve made a contribution, it’s came about by working with others. You discussed a problem, explored solutions, made progress. That sounds like an interview. “Selling” yourself sounds like indentured servitude. No wonder that misplaced metaphor keeps us up at night.
People hate to be sold, but they love to buy. It’s a positive thing when you focus on helping a company and subdue the image of scratching for a pay check. How much better to have the interviewer take credit for seeing and capturing your potential for her organization.
A close runner up the roster of stressors is the “elevator speech.” Some studies say fear of speaking can outweigh fear of death! To make matters worse, we conjure up a thoroughly repugnant image: asking you to corner some hapless hiring decision maker in an elevator (of all places!) and make him the unwilling audience as you lecture him.
Your brand, on the other hand, can be positive. Think how you talk about your children and grandchildren to your friends. Think how you root for your favorite sports team. When those things happen, you live the value you’re talking about. Surely, you have at least as much value as your kids or your team.
My suggestions cannot take away the butterflies in your stomach during a job search. But I hope my words have felled a few paper giants and built your confidence.
Posted by Don Orlando
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