…gratitude
i have been doing this since 1973…i have seen and experienced just about every aspect of an individuals job search as can be imagined…
one of the spiritual practices that makes searching for a job easier is to practice gratitude…
so, you say..”look, tony…i got fired…lost my job…haven’t had an interview in four weeks…just got rejected…and you want me to be GRATEFUL..are you nuts…what do i have to be grateful for?”
well, just the chance to wake up every morning and start looking for a job…for one thing…
just this week two of my candidates were diagnosed with different types of cancer..and another just got home from a colon cancer operation..finding a job isn’t quite as important as it might seem
begin each day being grateful…simply thank God you are alive and are capable of dealing with the challenges in front of you…
this habit won’t keep unfortunate things from happening to you…it won’t really help you get an interview or keep you from being turned down for the job you thought you were going to get…but it will help you put those issues in perspective…
be grateful…even if it isn’t easy
…as long as we are talking ‘spiritual’
as long as we are on this subject let me share with you a practical way of “giving”…and the wonderful return
it has to do with being as kind, patient, understanding and even forgiving to and with people you encounter in your job search that could irritate you and down right make you mad, angry and frustrated..
these are the people, hiring authorities, interviewing authorities…anyone you encounter in the job search, that are rude, or tell you what they think at the moment that turns out to not be the truth…(lie!) .
you know that you are vulnerable..looking for a job is very emotional and difficult…you are senstive to what people tell you and how they treat you…and often, it just isn’t nice..
welllllll…forgive them…get over it…they are spiritual beings acting human….they are so wrapped up in themselves, they don’t know they are running you over…
since you are sensative, you take it personally…it isn’t personal…soooooo, forgive them, pray for them..be even kinder to them…let them know you appreciate their sitaution if you get the chance..
the big payoff…it will make you feel better
…so what do you pray for
so you read the last topic and you say, “so what do i pray for?”….good question
since 1973, i have had candidates that let me know that they prayed …i didn’t take a pole…and i don’t ask everyone about it…but it comes up from time to time…
here is what i learned…the people that seem to get the most out of “praying”..don’t pray for a better job..they pray that they get God’s help in doing a thorough job search…that they get God’s help in interviewing well…and after that, they pray that “thy will be done”..
this kind of prayer really seems to work…praying for the ablility do deal with what ever happens…not praying for a particular outcome, but the strength and courage to accept and deal with what ever happens…
….extra help by praying
i have been hearing from people all over the country about how difficult it is to deal with the economy, being laid off and having to find a new job…
it doesn’t do any good to say that this recession isn’t as bad as past ones or that it will be over soon…when we are faced with immediate challenges, the past or the future don’t help pay tuition or the mortgage or buy groceries..
one stategy that does really help is to pray…now don’t go off on me about this…i know it works…it may not change the way things are, but it does change the way you feel about how things are…
i have hundreds of stories from people telling me how their prayer life got them through the toughest times in their job search…
it works…you do have to believe…but it works..
..working for friends
..heard from a candidate of mine over the weekend…”well, you told me so..” he began
frankly, i had forgtotten what i did tell him…it was six months ago and i have slept since then…he remnded me that, when he told me he as going to go to work for a good friend of his, in that friend’s small company, i shared with him that it rarely works out…that you loose a friend and usually the job in a relatively short period of time…
and that is exactly what happened..it was even more difficult because my candidate thought that his friend was sidestepping the law on certain issues…i.e. payroll taxes…
apparently it got ugly and my candidate is looking for a job again and did loose, what he thought, was a good friend….
i guess anything is possible, but really think twice about going to work for friends..even “distant” ones…if you have to feed your family and that is the only job you can find, you may not have much choice…but ask yourself before you do, “how easy will it be to quit?”.. “what happens if they fire me?” …”am i willing to loose ‘friendship’ over this?”
…should you be the first, second, third or last interview
we are often asked: “if there are multiple candidates, should i be the first, second or last interview?”..tough question
here is our experience…if there are only three or four candidates and they are all being interviewed on the same day, it really doesn’t matter much if you are first, last or in the middle…
now if there are more than that, like six or seven on the same day..or the inteveiws are spread out over a few days, it is best to be dead last…if you can’t be last…be first…
if you are first, you “set the bar”…and you had better be good!…over the next day or two after the interview, email or call and remind the hiring authority who you are and how good you are by reinforcing what he or she said they wanted….
if the interviewing process is carried out over a long period of time…like days or weeks…try to be last…it takes advantage of the “law of recency”…people remeber best what they saw last…
so often, hiring authorities leave the decision to hire someone to the very last moment…lets face it, hiring is an emtionally difficult thing to do and since it is uncomfortable, it gets left to the last moment…soooo, if you are the last candidate interviewed, you have a better chance…
now it only ammounts to a 15% or 20% better chance of being hired, so don’t let it go to your head…however, you need all the advantages you can get
