Top 5 Ways To NOT Find A Job

A few months ago, I landed an awesome new job to supplement my freelance work. Here are some tips that I learned during my search.

The Top 5 Ways to NOT Find a Job

5. Keep your same résumé. Don’t revise it and don’t get help revising it.

Most résumés can almost always be improved. Do you need more active verbs? Do you need to include results? Has terminology in your field changed? A tune-up in your résumé can lead to an increase in your calls for interviews. Have a trusted friend, maybe one who works in H.R., give you some feedback. Or, do a Google search. There’s lot of information online.

4. Look most days, not every day, and only once a day.

You should be looking for a job everyday, or at least every workday, multiple times a day. You should search at 8am, 9am, 10 am and at the end of the day, especially on Mondays and Fridays, when employers are more apt to post.

Now, I do realize that it can get discouraging to look day after day, and even hour after hour, with little or no results. However, you can’t catch a salmon if you ain’t fishin. Start your day with your job search, spend the afternoon doing other things (cleaning, exercising), and then come back to it before 5pm.

3. Be embarrassed that you’re looking for a job and don’t tell your family and friends that you’re searching.

A year ago, one of my friends, John, emailed me and everyone else he knew asking for leads about job openings. His wife said that it was humbling for him to admit to everyone that he was unemployed, but it paid off. One person, whom he had met years before, wrote a one page glowing recommendation for John to his boss. His boss was so impressed with the letter that he hired John, even though the company didn’t have any job openings at the time. John has been there for more than a year, and he recently got a promotion.

2. Stay home. Don’t network.

People are more likely to do business with people they’ve met before. You should be networking at events in your field, your prospective field, and at local chamber of commerce events. You could even network at sports bars. Talk about the Lakers, make some friends, and pass out your business cards. Get creative, and get out there! My former pastor used to say that if you’re unemployed, then you should keep your résumés in your car cause you never know whom you’re gonna meet.

Finally, the top way to not get a job is to:

1. Believe that you wont' find one.

Actions follow beliefs. So, if you’ve given up hope that you will find a job, then you probably won’t. You won’t because you’ll stop looking, or you’ll look halfheartedly and inconsistently. And in this market, that just won’t cut it.

If you’ve been searching for months (or years) with no interviews, a few interviews, or several, but no job offers, you could be tempted to believe that this is how it’ll be until the recession is over. You might be tempted to believe that there just aren’t enough jobs out there—that there are too many lay-offs, no new jobs, and too many job seekers. And while there are obstacles--more obstacles than there have been in recent years--employers are hiring every day. Hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs are posted just on Los Angeles’ Craiglist every day. And there’s Monster, Hot Jobs, Cal Jobs, Job Central, and many more agencies publicizing job openings.

So don’t be discouraged. There is hope. One of my good friends got a new part-time job (to add to her other part-time job) last week. She lost her job last year, and is doing whatever it takes to make it financially. If you’re feeling discouraged, take a moment to pray, meditate, or do something that reminds you that there is reason to hope.

Next week, I’ll share some of the things that I did to land my fabulous new job. Stay tuned!