{"id":83032,"date":"2014-10-20T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=83032"},"modified":"2014-10-20T12:12:05","modified_gmt":"2014-10-20T17:12:05","slug":"how-to-tread-the-waters-of-uncertain-job-prospects-to-stay-afloat-and-keep-your-head-above-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=83032","title":{"rendered":"How to Tread the Waters of Uncertain Job Prospects to Stay Afloat and Keep Your Head Above Water."},"content":{"rendered":"

by Josh Rimmer, Senior Editor, INALJ Missouri<\/a>, Maine<\/a>, Michigan<\/a>, Minnesota<\/a>, Mississippi<\/a>, Kentucky<\/a>, Louisiana<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

How to Tread the Waters of Uncertain Job Prospects to Stay Afloat and Keep Your Head Above Water.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"JoshRimmer_INALJWV\"<\/a>No matter the amount of articles written about job hunting, or the amount you have personally read.\u00a0The job hunt affects all of us differently, as we all have different social, economic, and personal issues\u00a0to deal with on the hunt. Our emotions can run high with a new job \u201chit\u201d, an upcoming interview. Or\u00a0run low during a \u201cjob drought\u201d, when hours spent completing job applications seem futile after failing\u00a0to produce employer\u2019s interest. I won\u2019t lie, spending 45 minutes completing an application \u2013mainly\u00a0work history- and to have nothing transpire is an incredibly disappointing feeling, and it is okay to feel\u00a0dejected.<\/p>\n

As Naomi touched in her article \u201cSometimes You Can\u2019t Stay Positive on the Job Hunt, and That is OK too!<\/a>\u201d These feelings are okay, and normal, as you are putting the effort in to make a transformative change\u00a0that will significantly impact your professional career. However, when bitterness, negativity and apathy\u00a0start to enter the conversation. It may be time to step back, reevaluate your attitude\/outlook and stop\u00a0job searching momentarily. Although, that may be easier said than done, as bills and other \u201cmouths\u201d\u00a0come into the equation.<\/p>\n

As I have chartered the waters over the past year, I have experienced the highs of multiple hits in a\u00a0month (5) to a prolonged job search drought (6 months). It stinks vacillating from one end to the other,\u00a0and it can be mentally draining on your psyche. While my pearls of wisdom may be no different than\u00a0suggestions shared in other articles, or from what you may have read; nevertheless, they may be able to\u00a0help you in trying times.<\/p>\n

1) Press Pause on the Job Search \u2013 You can still look of course, but I would suggest giving up the\u00a0hunt for awhile. I gave up the job hunt for a month to give more time to my personal life. I\u00a0traveled, went to concerts with new people & friends, and did things I enjoyed. Whatever gives\u00a0you comfort and enjoyment, do it! Take at least 2-3 weeks for yourself. A fresh mental outlook\u00a0can do wonders as you will feel rejuvenated and will be able to reexamine things with a fresh\u00a0perspective.<\/p>\n

2) Reevaluate Old Cover Letters \u2013 The point of the exercise is not to beat yourself up here, but look\u00a0for little mistakes. As someone who is looking for work in Technical Services, for the longest\u00a0time I had a little blurb in my cover letters about performing outreach. Now while my intentions\u00a0are true about libraries and outreach, it does seem oddly placed in a cover letter directed\u00a0towards a position as an acquisition assistant. Look for incongruences in your cover letter, as\u00a0they may be there; make corrections and move forward.<\/p>\n

3) Seek Outside Council \u2013 I try to save old job ads, maybe you do too. Try to have others outside\u00a0of the profession examine your cover letter, resume and the old job ads during your hiatus. Too\u00a0much jargon; are you too vague? Did you go buzzwords galore hoping the HR software would\u00a0flag your cover letter? Find within your social circle, honest people who you can trust to give you\u00a0critical feedback. You want individuals like the little child from the Emperor\u2019s New Clothes. If\u00a0you\u2019re a member of the NMRT check out their resume & cover letter service.<\/p>\n

4) Reflect, Be Honest, and Change Approach \u2013 Many of you have been involved, or associated with\u00a0libraries a good portion of your life. You have experience and skills that trump my educational\u00a0experience. As someone late to the library game \u2013always loved libraries mind you- I realized\u00a0that even with volunteering digitally and physically for a year, I still lacked a lot of experience\u00a0that is outlined on an \u201centry level\u201d position. Besides finding another volunteer opportunity to\u00a0expand my skillset, maybe shooting for a paraprofessional job in the meantime would be more\u00a0suitable for my professional development and situation. The quicker you can realize your faults\u00a0and shortcomings, professionally speaking, the quicker you will be to devise a plan of attack and\u00a0strengthen your weaknesses. DON\u2019T FEEL BAD, OR GET DOWN! Be honest with yourself, make a\u00a0change for the better, and your outlook will improve. It certainly has in my situation.<\/p>\n

At times, job searching can be overwhelming but don\u2019t get discouraged and give up. I\u2019ve understood\u00a0from the get-go the process takes times, albeit I didn\u2019t think I would be iterating these remarks at this\u00a0point, or still job hunting for that matter. Don\u2019t compare yourself to others, or former classmates, as\u00a0they embark on a new professional opportunity. Focus on you, on developing your skills, and be open to\u00a0new opportunities, and you will stay afloat throughout the process, I promise you. Best wishes to those\u00a0in your continued search and those soon to beginning your search.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Josh Rimmer, Senior Editor, INALJ Missouri, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana How to Tread the Waters of Uncertain Job Prospects to Stay Afloat and Keep Your Head Above Water. No matter the amount of articles written about job hunting, or the amount you have personally read.\u00a0The job hunt affects all of us differently,…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":74696,"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":[146,69,3592,3596,3594,3605,3638,3643,3661,3640,3860,266,5961,5879,111],"class_list":["post-83032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-advice","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-kentucky","tag-inalj-louisiana","tag-inalj-maine","tag-inalj-michigan","tag-inalj-minnesota","tag-inalj-mississippi","tag-inalj-missouri","tag-job-hunt","tag-job-search","tag-job-search-tips","tag-josh-rimmer","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/joshrimmer.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-lBe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83032","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}