Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Mojo a key part of job search

Liz Ryan, For the Camera

Dear Liz,
I lost my job in October. I have great experience, but I'm not getting a lot of interviews. I go through the motions and send out resumes every day, but I've pretty much lost my confidence, although I had just gotten promoted when our division folded.
My recent job interviews have been stressful. I don't feel like I'm convincing when I'm so unsure of myself. What do you recommend?

Dear Gene,

When you have a mojo deficit, you can't conduct a full-out, enthusiastic job search. Your energy is down, you don't feel great about yourself and you aren't doing your best thinking.

That's why it's critical to begin rebuilding your mojo before you blast off any more resumes. Your appeals won't make a hiring manager's heart beat faster if you don't feel powerful as you write them.

No one could blame you for being tired and demoralized. The problem certainly isn't you! Not only is the job market tough, but the recruiting process itself is completely broken. It's dysfunctional.

It isn't that hiring managers are rejecting your resume; for the most part, they're not even seeing it. I don't want you conducting your job search through the Black Hole, or groveling and climbing over piles of broken glass in the process.

Doing those things depletes your mojo like crazy. When your power starts to return, you'll research employers and reach out to their decision-makers with pithy, thoughtful overtures that talk about what's most relevant to those managers, namely, the business pain behind the job ad.

You'll have better results that way. But let's get your mojo back in action, first.

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