Time to Shake Up Your Job Search

Today I was getting ready to for work and I thought of something interesting (at least to me). I’m using the same brand of mascara that I’ve used since I was a teenager. Now I know, who cares and all that. Later on as I was driving I thought that mascara along with the old cliché, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Then I thought of something Tony Robbins said that I like better, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” 

That mascara/change thing stuck with me all day, especially when I read an article in the Huffington Post about the discouraged job seeker and how a recent survey conducted by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University found that 1 out of 5 workers laid off in the past five years are still unemployed. That statistic angers me, especially since I know that many of those unemployed come to my job search classes and are very skilled and personable job seekers.  Most have a lot to offer any organization if only given a chance. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if that statistic was even higher considering all the discouraged job seekers and the under employed workers.

Getting back to the mascara (or any activity that you may continue to do just because you’ve always done it that way). Perhaps the long-term unemployed or new job seeker might want to consider a new way to approach the job search. They might want to evaluate why the resumes that they’re using aren't getting them phone calls to come in for interviews.  Or, their resumes might be fine and they are getting interviews but then they aren’t getting call backs. Or, they are submitting resume after resume electronically and not thinking about networking. Or they haven’t created a complete package; social media and personal identity. Or, and this is important, they aren’t doing anything to fill in the gap of unemployment such as volunteering, going to school or training, consulting or owning a business.

I’m not saying that the long-term unemployed aren’t looking or working hard enough to find meaningful work. I know that they are. But like the mascara, it might be the same old same old and time to shake things up a bit. I plan to dump that mascara tomorrow.