{"id":15130,"date":"2014-06-23T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=15130"},"modified":"2014-06-23T08:58:23","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T13:58:23","slug":"4-attitudes-to-change-on-the-job-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=15130","title":{"rendered":"5 Attitudes to Change on the Job Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Nena Schvaneveldt, former Head Editor, INALJ Utah<\/a>
\n<\/a>previously published 4\/2\/13<\/em><\/p>\n

5 Attitudes to Change on the Job Hunt<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"NenaS\"<\/a>Last month, I wrote about how changing my attitude and viewing my circumstances as choices<\/a> really made me feel a lot less helpless. The line between a good attitude and a bad attitude can be really thin sometimes, but here are some bad attitudes I\u2019ve had to change in myself:<\/p>\n

1. You know what I went through for this? I deserve a job!<\/b><\/p>\n

Entitlement is a huge problem, and I can understand where my own sense of entitlement had come from. School is hard, and I wanted a nice job as a reward for all that hard work. Then there\u2019s paying your dues – but even that makes it sound like once you\u2019ve unjammed the copier a certain number of times, you deserve an office. This can be a hard one to check, but I feel best when I\u2019m focused on working hard to make a difference where I am, even if it\u2019s not where I thought I\u2019d be.<\/p>\n

2. I\u2019ll take anything! Anywhere! Please, just give me a chance!!!<\/b><\/p>\n

Desperation is another understandable reaction to the reality of the job market. It\u2019s understandable, but it comes across in cover letters and interviews. It can also motivate you into finding a job that isn\u2019t a match for your skills and interests, which could be annoying at best, or tormentous at worst. Flexibility is willingness to be open to different locations or different jobs, but make sure that you can make a good case for why you\u2019re applying to a particular job in a particular organization at a particular place. I had to be flexible in my own job search. My coursework focused on youth services and public libraries, but I\u2019m working in an academic library. You know what I\u2019ve found I like about it? Public service. I like being on the front lines. Public service is a lot broader than my initial focus, and I\u2019ve looked at different opportunities because of it. That said, I still have had moments of desperation, but I express them to people I trust in private until I can refocus myself in a positive way.<\/p>\n

3. They didn\u2019t hire me? They\u2019re jerks! And the person that they hired probably sucks!<\/b><\/p>\n

Being rejected sucks, and it\u2019s normal to feel hurt when it happens. Lashing out in anger doesn\u2019t accomplish much beyond initial catharsis. The more information professionals I meet, the more ridiculous it is to believe that jobs I don\u2019t get will be filled by people who shouldn\u2019t be there. Reaching out and kindly thanking the company for the time to meet with you is hard, but what\u2019s the worst that could happen? The company blacklists you for being classy? You never hear back? Taking a chance to build a bridge instead of burning it can pay off – either with a future job offer or a new contact or friend. If it doesn\u2019t, at least you can feel a sense of closure and doing the right thing, even when it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

4. When is it going to be my turn?<\/b><\/p>\n

I think this attitude comes from thinking of the job market and applicants like a deli line where we take numbers and are served in turn. While it would be nice for all of us to get a turn, I am so glad we don\u2019t all get one chance at a job. We\u2019re human, and we will mess up. It\u2019s not fair that certain people seem to get a break sooner or more often than others, but patience will pay off.<\/p>\n

5. I can\u2019t do that – it\u2019s too scary.<\/b><\/p>\n

One of my favorite sayings is \u201clearning is changing what we do\u201d (B.F. Skinner). Change is scary, and learning new skills can be frustrating, time-consuming, and difficult. As I examined my own attitudes, I realized that this one is still holding me back. This year, I\u2019m looking at doing some things that scare me. Maybe I\u2019ll go to a conference, learn a skill that I thought was \u201ctoo hard,\u201d or push myself to network more. I\u2019ll write about it more in upcoming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nena Schvaneveldt, former Head Editor, INALJ Utah previously published 4\/2\/13 5 Attitudes to Change on the Job Hunt Last month, I wrote about how changing my attitude and viewing my circumstances as choices really made me feel a lot less helpless. The line between a good attitude and a bad attitude can be really…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3977,3592,3651,3860,3976],"class_list":["post-15130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-attitude","tag-blog","tag-inalj-utah","tag-job-hunt","tag-nena-schvaneveldt"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-3W2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/NenaS.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}