What's My Job-Hunting Style? |
The way we approach the job-hunting process and our attitude towards what happens is critical to our success.
Yet we rarely stop to think about how we’re job-hunting. We’re usually too busy just getting on with it.
So how are you approaching job-hunting?
Can you identify with any of the characters below?
Simone enjoyed thinking about the type of job she wanted to have. She spent lots of time planning and researching her chosen industry and its major employers.
But whenever she spotted an ad that appealed to her, she seemed to miss the deadline. She just couldn’t work out why.
Ben found it easy to get excited about the new opportunities he came across, whilst reading the job section of magazines. He would regularly get called to interview, having to find a way to take a day off work to attend. But he would return home that evening crestfallen, with his confidence shattered.
When he got home, he would realise that the job wasn’t really what he wanted, even though the ad had made it look good. He guessed that had shown during the interview. People usually said they could read his emotions like a book. He had wasted another day’s vacation and might even have to cancel his holiday, if things continued like this. He was starting to lie awake at night, worrying about whether he’d ever find the right job.
Danny knew it was important to meet the application deadline. He applied for about 10 jobs a week and spent most of his evenings sitting at his computer, addressing cover letters and printing out extra copies of his CV.
Sometimes he would get interviews, but he didn’t get any job offers. He couldn’t understand why. So, whenever the “thanks but no thanks” letter arrived, he would put the experience behind him and return to his computer, to send off some more applications.
The way we approach a project can be described as consisting of three elements:
All three elements are important and, if we are struggling to achieve something, it can often be because these elements have got out of balance.
|
Description |
Job-hunting symptoms |
Too much |
Too little |
Thinking |
Planning, theory, ideas |
Simone
Lots of time spent planning and researching, but never actually getting your CV finished and not having time to apply for roles. |
Can lead to applications that haven’t been thought through, making it hard to prove you’re a suitable candidate. |
Feeling |
Emotions, subjective judgements, personal awareness |
Ben
Too much time spent here can show up as worrying and lack of confidence. It can cause a lack of objective evaluation and a non-business-like CV. |
Can mean you make decisions that are so logical and rational, that you forget the “human” aspect of working. You might pick a job that “looks good on paper”, but won’t make you happy. |
Doing |
Actions, behaviours, tasks |
Danny
An overload in “Doing” can result in blanket applications, doing the same thing over and over, not learning from unsuccessful applications and wasting time, money and effort. |
Not enough “doing” results in missed deadlines and lots of nice ideas, but little progress. You’re unlikely to get the job you want. |
If we are concentrating too much on one of these elements, neglecting the others, then the project is less likely to succeed.
So how does this impact your job-hunting?
|
Exercise 1 : Mercedes Model
How are you approaching your job hunting process?
Could it be that you’re spending too much time in one of the three elements? It doesn’t have to be a perfect three-way split. But if it’s too far out of balance, it can lead to problems.
- Draw the approximate proportions of your “Thinking”, “Feeling” and “Doing” as segments of a circle.
Click here for a blank form
- What would you need to change, to get more balance?
- How might those changes impact your job-hunting success?
This example might be Danny’s response to the exercise.
What would you need to change, to get more balance?
I guess I’m a bit busy with the old jumping in before I think stuff through. Then, when I don’t get the job, I lose my rag and get really down.
Maybe if I spend more time thinking, I’ll actually get a chance to review how things went, rather than just bottling it all up and taking it out on the recruitment guy or my girlfriend. Oh, and I’d probably learn from my mistakes...
How might those changes impact your job-hunting success?
I’d learn from my mistakes and actually increase my chances of getting the next job, if I get knocked back. If I spent more time preparing, I’d have a better idea of what they’re looking for and be able to demonstrate it more easily.
Think about the balance. You don’t have to have an even split between thinking, feeling and doing, but it’s important to have a balance of each of the segments, appropriate to the task.
Often just by focusing on the 3-way split, we can uncover solutions to problems and find it easier to make decisions. Take a moment to look at how you’re choosing which jobs to apply for. Are you making choices based on thinking? Or emotions? Or are you just doing it?
|
Next: Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
How to work out whether you really want to leave. |
|
| |
Are you finding this free e-course useful?
InterviewStuff is run on a volunteer basis and took many thousands of hours to create - and plenty of time to keep up-to-date.
If you'd like to make a small donation to say thank you, that would be lovely!
|
| |
