by Gabrielle Spiers, Head Editor, INALJ Montana

Staying Focused during the Job Hunt

I was on LinkedIn not that long ago and I came across this article about job crushes. The article really resonated with me because I have been doing that for a long time. So what is job crush? It is when you imagine yourself in a job before you have been offered the position. For me there are three levels of this:

Level 1 – When I first see the job and read the job description. I think how perfect I would be for the job so I carefully write out my cover letter and tailor my resume to the position. I spend a little time imagining how awesome it would be to have that job. I don’t necessarily do that with every single job I apply for but I never apply for jobs I don’t want. More on that later. At this level when I am rejected I am slightly annoyed.

Level 2 – This is after I make it to the preliminary interview round, usually a phone screen. I get really hopeful because then I think that I really do have a shot at the job. When rejection (or total silence) happens then I am still upset but with rejection I move past it. With total silence I usually just forget about it.

Level 3 – This is the hard one. I make it past the preliminary interview stage and then I really get my hopes up. I’m seeing how great I would be in the position. Then it doesn’t happen and I am upset.

So what do I try (and they key word here is try) and do? I make myself keep an eye out on other jobs. I try not to count on anything and I try not to get too excited about things. I channel my “I really want this job” focus to my interview prep when I get that far and hope my passion and interest help with that. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.