Now you know I am not going to blow smoke up your behind and tell you what you want to hear. I have too much respect for you to do that. You get enough of that from politicians and other groups intent on turning America into a giant wasteland of dependent people trying to get into your pocket as they seek out the unearned. Did I just say that? I guess so. Nope, we are going to tell you just like it is so you can adjust your game plan, or get a game plan. The first thing you need to do before proceeding is to turn off your attitude and set aside your personal biases. Turn off your fight mechanism and turn down your rationalizing skills. We do not blame or make excuses around here. If that is what you are looking for to make yourself feel good, please hit the back arrow up top and have a nice day. Here, we are interested in a little more out of life than subsisting and mediocrity.
Think about it. Nobody is better off by you being unemployed. You, your family, businesses, and everyone benefits by people earning a paycheck. You are a crucial cog in a properly functioning society. You are immeasurably valuable and you are needed. While you may have convinced yourself otherwise, often due to the negative conditioning to which we are bombarded with 24/7, there are opportunities available. I am in the business of putting people to work, and not because of the website you are on. There are literally hundreds of thousands of open jobs. I see them everyday, and they are certainly not always on job sites. I can show you five companies right now that combined have over 3200 quality openings, and I am not talking about minimum wage jobs.
Before proceeding, get it out of your head that you or anyone else is unemployed because of a lack of jobs. It is just not the case. You need to never say out loud or have the thought again that "there just aren't any jobs", or "nobody's hiring". It is just not the case. There are 140 million Americans currently employed, tens of millions of companies in the U.S., and there are hundreds of thousands of open jobs that companies are eager to fill. If you are not familiar with it already, do a search on the abundance mentality.
There are other reasons why job searches are not successful, but if you worked on these, I do not think it is possible to stay unemployed.
1. No focus and a lack of effort. You wake up, wish you could go back to bed, turn on the news, read Internet headlines for a while, make some comments on bitterhuffypost.com, take the dog out, get side tracked on something else, and then for an hour or two look around at a job site wondering why XYZ company you applied to hasn't called, even though your experience doesn't really match what they are asking for. That is not a focused effort. A real effort is getting up, exercising, reading something positive and useful for a half hour, eating a proper breakfast, and then putting in a strong 10 hour day of researching and applying to companies, getting better prepared, and moving closer to your goal.
2. Presentation material. You have convinced yourself that what you are sending out to potential customers (employers) is good enough or does not really matter that much. Big mistake. The best resume, even if they have less relevant experience than you, is the one getting noticed and set aside. You are marketing yourself with inferior sales material. Every aspect of the job search lifecycle (prospecting, approaching, presenting, closing, and following up) needs to be worked on and improved. You are never done improving. You can measure a person's success or failure in any endeavor, or life, by their willingness and effort to prepare. Think about that for a moment.
3. Personal presentation. Nobody would say I am a beauty king, but I do not think anyone would say I do not look sharp, fit, and polished when you meet me for a business meeting. Like it or not, you are judged by your appearance. You do not need to be handsome or beautiful, but you need to present yourself as well as possible. Your Grandma was correct. Always look your best. Perception is reality.
4. Interviewing skills. Interviewing is not about answering some specific question accurately. Interviewing is about being a good listener, asking good questions, and building rapport with the hiring manager. If you want to really upgrade your interview skills, do not practice answering interview questions, but learn to have extremely good interpersonal communication skills. There are many books on the topic. This will get you hired faster than answering "tell me about yourself" well.
5. You don't dig. You need to dig and then dig some more. When you are done digging, you need to keep on digging. Digging does involve utilizing job sites for company research, but know that of the tens of millions of companies (potential employers) in America, there surely are not tens of millions of companies utilizing job sites. Find alterative ways to locate companies in your area. Drive around a business park near you and write down company names. Look at relevant industry org sites. Look at local BBB sites. The internet has given you a gift in terms of job searching. Take full advantage of it. Set aside at least two hours per day to dig for employers outside of job boards. The more you do it, the better you will get, and the more companies you will find who are not on job sites.
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