Comments on: For Those Recently Laid Off, Scared, and Looking for Employment

By: Brad Isaac

Brad Isaac — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 00:56:26 +0000

Thanks.

By: philosophizer

philosophizer — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 03:24:10 +0000

Brad, I’m glad she did – I’ll make sure to put more of the pix from my bunny visit up!

By: Brad Isaac

Brad Isaac — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:06:02 +0000

B. I like the way you think. Your “prequalifying” statement is great. Let’s not prequalify ourselves out of opportunities.

Donna, I hope you will keep us updated. Good luck on your search

Philosophizer, great to hear your resume sending paid off! If you love it, there is probably something in the work that will make you prosperous…keep your eyes peeled. P.S. My daughter liked the bunnies on your site

By: philosophizer

philosophizer — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 04:23:50 +0000

Excellent advice. I just wanted to plug the idea of sending out resumes – I found that, rather than looking for the ‘right’ jobs to send to, just sending them to any company that caught my eye, even if I thought I wasn’t qualified, helped me immensely. (I applied to be a church secretary for a religion I’m not a part of, lab tech when I didn’t finish my science degree, housekeeping when the closest I get to pro cleaning was running a janitorial office, etc.) When I started applying for all sorts of crazy jobs, expecting them to ignore me, I got over the perfection issue, because it didn’t matter.

Interestingly enough, this approach got me my current job; I have business and French degrees, plan to go to library school, and specialize as a copy editor, but sent my stuff in to an IT startup (5 people in the company) to break out of the afraid-to-send rut, just because I like to mess with computers, and ended up loving it! Who knows if I’ll make it my career (I’m only 24), but I got a great opportunity just by throwing resumes at the wall and seeing if anything stuck, as it were.

So, good luck, and I hope this helps someone, and Brad, keep up the good work.

By: donna young

donna young — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 03:36:27 +0000

Thank you very much for all the information, encouragement and counsel. Your suggestions have given me a new point of view toward accomplishing my goal of finding a job. I will update you as I soon as I have something to report.
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By: B. Riley

B. Riley — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 03:14:46 +0000

Brad’s advice is spot on! I would like to expand on one point. This is something I think happens to job seekers of all ages. What Brad says about focusing on the goal at hand is so true, and you should pursue your job hunt that way.

For example, right now, your goal is merely to get a bite as a result of the job hunting tasks that Brad talked about.

Once you get that nibble, your goal is to get an interview.

When you get the interview, your ONLY goal should be to get an offer.

Once you get the offer, then your goal should be to negotiate it properly and have them accept.

Too often people go about the hunt like Brad said, keeping the end outcome at the forefront of their minds. This causes us to mentally trick ourselves out of opportunity.

I’ve known people who will not even send in a resume because they somehow magically glean from an ad that “this company isn’t going to pay well”, or that “there’s probably a good old boy network there, and it will be a bad place to work”.

This prequalifying kills you. Your goal is not to get a job with these people, or to work yourself to retirement with them. Your only goal is to get an interview. Once you have that, you’re in control. Then you go for the offer if you want it. Step by step.

Good luck on your search. Report back and let us know how it works out for you!