I want to start off with the good news, so you don’t think I’m a ranting and raving type of blogger:
You are worthy of being the next great employee. You will find a great company that will challenge you, help you learn new skills, where you’ll make a difference in the success of your team and your company.
But the Burn Out from a job search is common, and it’s a dangerous place to be in. If you need to vent, do it here (or other anonymous blogs) but don’t do it in your cover letter.
The following information is for the benefit of job seekers in need of a reality check.
Have you become entirely disillusioned and delusional with your search?
Here’s how to tell:
you’re sending your resume to any person who’ll look at it, with generic information in your email cover letter
you’re not spell-checking your resume or your emails, and I don’t mean just running it through Word Spellcheck, I mean having someone else’s eyes give it a once-over
you’re writing once a week to a list of people about how you’re available for work, and have yet AGAIN updated your resume to better reflect your skillset
you’re starting to share way too much information about your personal situation like your cat’s pancreatic cancer preventing you from getting back in touch, or the two weeks of personal time you’ve needed to care for your nephew’s leukemia and subsequently had to put your job search on hold
Here’s how to recover:
First, identifying that you’re in a resume-or-job-search-coma is the first step on the road to recovery! Know that there is hope! But most hiring managers (and they’re your audience) are not looking for excuses or a bad attitude: show them your best side!
Next, take a step back and truly evaluate what your best employment situation involved: coworkers, environment, commute, money, responsibilities, career path, and anything else you can think of.
Make a list of your priorities for your next position. Obviously, everything is a grey area (ie, if you make more money, the commute could probably be farther…)
Take a break! If you’re finding yourself sending resumes to anything that says “marketing” in the title, take some time off to really assess how to approach the situation from a more healthy mental state. If you’re looking for a position where you don’t have experience, you’re going to have to work harder to market yourself in that area, and to position your own assets and skills to an appropriate level. Or, if you’re just hoping to get your foot in the door, include that information in the first communication. (ie cover letter or e-mail)
CM Access is always willing to be a buffer for you, to help you assess your cover letter quality, and your search strategy. And even just to spell check if you ask!
Technorati Tags: Job search burn out, recovery, spellcheck, resumes
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on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 2:34 pm and is filed under CM Access, Search Tips, FYI, Misc.
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October 16th, 2007 at 8:43 am
It is hard to ever take a break I feel, but I run my own Brand when I interview in a sense - I run it as a Business just as I would do work for another professional account. Since it feels like I am working I never skip a beat.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:28 am
[…] As someone who speaks with a lot of job seekers at all levels of their career, and all stages of the search process, I can tell you first-hand that there is a point of burnout and it is detectable by hiring managers and anyone in the hiring process. You must always stay upbeat, confident, and positive about your experiences and past employers. If this means visiting a counselor to reassess where your focus needs to be, then maybe you should! Take some time to re-center, to really get to know yourself. […]
February 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
With me it’s just that I’m tired of writing job-specific cover letters, heck I’m tired period. I’m not good about pumping up my own work–I just do it and let the results be seen. It’s hard to write to someone I don’t know and say “This is why YOU should look hard at me” over and over and in slightly different ways each time. It’s hard enough when I’m full of energy, and lately I don’t even have that, which is a separate issue that I’m working on.