
Summary – 4 most important mindset for job seekers
I still remember when I first graduated. It was a very difficult time looking for job. You see, I am not from a wealthy family, so I know immediately that I have to work just to finance my job hunting. I started with a job at a department store as a customer service personnel. Seriously one of the best time of my life, a job without that much responsibilityIt is my belief that the most important things during job hunting is not the resume, or your interview skills etc. It is your mindset. You will need to have these mindset in order to survive that period.
1) It’s all you
If you don’t do it, it will never get done. This is particularly important when you have that lazy feeling that you don’t want to do anything for the day.
Yes, it’s really hard work to go through the paper for job advertisement, and to write that cover letter etc. But remember, that thousands of people are looking for the same job, and they are possibly more motivated than you. If you didn’t apply, it will be just the same as you handed them the job on a silver plater.
2) Everyone is a different person
When I was in the job hunting phase, I basically just reprint the cover letter with some slight changes for every advertiser. Doing the same thing 10 to 20 times a day, everyday was very exhausting.
So what I personally did, was to consider that everytime I send the resume, I try to have that feeling of first time applying. Generally, it means that I try to maintain that excitement of sending my first application everytime.
I know it’s hard, but I truly believe that when we have that excitement in writing the cover letter, call the advertiser, they usually can tell that we are excited. Our writing will become more personal, and not just a copy paste from other cover letter (even though we are copy pasting it)
3) It takes time
Let say, We have been job hunting for half a year, sometimes it get frustrating when one of the company we applied for is taking his time to call us for interview.
The truth is, whether we have been job hunting for half a year or a year is not relevant to the company. They will treat each application through the same process. However, there is always this urgent feeling in us that they should speed up their process. And this frustration can have negative effect on your overall job hunting attitude.
Let it go, you do what you can the best you can. That’s actually what we can ONLY do. whether the application is accepted or not, is not for us to decide. So don’t think too much about it. Concentrate on the more important task – how to improve and where else can we apply for?
4) No place for being shy
Some people do have this problem. They are being shy for the wrong reason. Job hunting is a process where you are selling the most important product of all, YOU.
Would you buy a television that is said by the salesman to be nothing special? The same goes to the whole job hunting, you need to market yourself, your skill, and highlight to the company what you can offer to them.
Stop being embarassed or shy. You just can’t go far with that attitude.
– I wonder –
What other mindset do you think should a job seeker have? Or maybe you can share your experience?
—————- Personal Note —————-
I studied Chemical Engineering while I was at the university. Generally, my colleague all aim to work in the petroleum based field, myself included.But not long after I started looking for job that I know I had to accept any offer that came and of course applying for almost any engineering field. I even send out for management trainee post.It took me about 4 months to secure this current job I’m having. And it took a friend of mine more than a year to secure his. As long as you keep working on it patiently and motivatedly, you’re bound to be accepted.
Stay motivated kay!
Related Post
according to my own experience, confidence shown to the interviewer is the most important. do not feel shy to ask any question or maybe present your thought (of course, need to judge the situation and what you say). you do not want to change to just another lousy job.
most of the time, during the interview session, i was the one asking more.
no way of feeling shy or think that’s a way of being humble. that just doesn’t work!!
Hmmm…gotta master this 4 tips. I’m hunting for job at the moment.. this might come in handy!
thanks!
haan – Good point haan, we must know when to be humble and when to promote ourself.
And nothing promote us better than our confidence π
3POINT8 – good luck 3point8, hopefully the tips will help keep you motivated π
Aiyoooo….i terasa…Agagagaga…I dah almost 2 year looking for a job…not a good thing i think…biasa org 1 thn dah dpt but me not yet..Sodeh…sob sob sob…
Need to follow ur 4 tips…tapi nowdays p\dah jarang sgt apply via suat…Mostly internet..i pun apply 90% via internet..
Shy???adoi…that’s my weakness…i leh menggigil 1 badan tau…teringat zaman kolej dulu blajar mcmna nak interview…so sengsorg kena panggil alaΒ² berlakon kena interview…My lecture say i’m ok…tapi kena kurangkan menggigil ye…Agagagaga..
okla, let me tell you something.
I really, really wish to be in Istana Budaya, someday. (this is a secret that my friends never knew) It’s because, well, y’know. my sensei.
Yet, I know how hard one can possibly enter the ‘realm of the palace’. Orang kite kata ‘kena ade kabel’.
So, I am quite unsure about that dream, but I keep on praying for that to happen.
Nevertheless, I will find a job and get good salary and help my parents, if I could not enter the realm, huhu..
It’s sad, but I got to move on, right??
But pray for my dream to come true, ya??
aRa – hm 2 tahun tu lama tu, any idea what else can you improve on? kena selalu cuba ubah cara, kalau satu cara tak kena, mungkin cara lain boleh
for me, I would advise you to apply more via the old ways, snail mail. Not that internet is no good, But you will have to try other methods.
Pasal interview tu, heheh I know exactly the feeling. pernah sekali sy interview, mmg jadi mcm bodoh sgt. tak tahu nak jawab apa. sampai kena kutuk jugak le oleh interviewer tu.
somehow dia panggil jugak utk interview kali kedua. apa pun, interview ni mcm skill2 kita yg lain, it get better with practice. so apply keje apa pun, just for the sake of practising π
azuwachan – I still remember you’re telling me, how you want to follow your sensei’s foot step π
But now only I know that it involves in you being part of Istana Budaya. Seriously, that’s a very good dream you have.
About needing a cable to pursue your dream, I suggest you not to worry of such thing. Try your best to achieve that dream. It would be a great loss if you just give up your dream just because somebody told you it’s going to be hard, now wouldn’t it?
Of course dreams are hard to pursue. but at least when you try, you know that you are pursuing it. Not many people can say they were doing the same π
Good luck sis! you have my prayer with you
Good one Banji…yeah so true about the shy thing…It will bring u no where. Hmm now I’m trying to gain as much experience as i can here in my current workplace…someday I’d love to work near my house sumwhere in bangi…hmmmm bestnye bestnye… *dah start berangan dah*. hehe y near my own house? cz want to save up a little. hehe sue me for that. hmm, my dreams&resolution for this year, get a nicer job.hehe insya allah. k banji.take care
wahahahahha gud tips bro!
my own experiences, try to be better than anyone else, just go and think like, hey i am overqualified for this job heheh(yup, overconfident is bad but better than not confident at all:D )
doesnt mean that being arrogant or boasty but just go and show the best! simply that way…..(for i-view laa)
alfattah – Try to survive at least 2 years there. If you have a look in the local newspaper, almost all job vacancy require a minimum of 2 years experience. You can even demand for higher pay then
Good luck kay alfattah π
filantera – quite true. being over confident is far more beneficial than no confident at all (interview wise).
You are there to show them why they should hire you, and for that to work, you will need to describe what you can offer them. outshining everyone else. Really hard to do when you are not so sure about yourself
[…] Click here to read 4 important mindsets to survive job hunting. […]
hello im helena.. ive been saved this mail for quite sometimes but just view it now.. reading few of d comments i felt being motivated to be more confident in facing ppl or even talk with ppl around.
based on my experience, when i jst fnised my dip i did apply for a job. then id received a call for n interview. ive to wait for dat call kind of couple of months. if i not mistake
i dont aspect that i will accept to work with d company. bcos d way they tembak me during the interview. for me man really look down at lady la… one of d interviewee who interview me really ask lot of Q… n me also really love to kelontong. finaly during d interiview we end the interview with a bit of laugher i oso dono why… may b bcoz my english, i use to talk with puachukang language but during dat time no la or lo.. but i make sure i use the proper english sentence dat enable them to understand..
so wat i wanna to say here is be confident with wat u do even dou u actually doesnt have any view of d Questions..
I hope u got wat i meant.
another thing dat i wanna 8 here is dont forget to know the company’s bckground b4 d interview or else u’ll surely tembak by d interviewee…
ohhh… one more… of course evry one will feel shaking or mengigil..
no body is perfect man….
helena – hi helena π yet another success story of how confidence is the real key to do well in an interview. Congratulation
Sometimes, the interviewee actually bombarded us with questions after questions just to see how we reacted under pressure. Almost any job can be learnt. And they will expect you to learn. So the real reason for the interview is to know you in person, which is why the mental preparation is the most important
Welcome to the blog helena. hope to see more of your life experience shared here π
elo ban ban can? no la jst kidding. banji anyway. forget to tell u dat ive got an offer to furhter study. not because i dislike dat i have 2 quit frm dat job but because of the opportunity to further study. deep in side my heard im really upset wen i leave d com.
well life most go on. rite??
ohh one more… when i recall back on wat ive summited n view bck my previous comment i do realise that i mistakenly use the word interviewee.. dont u think dat?
haha… it should be interviewer..
anyway dat me…
helena – ban ban can? huhu what’s that? an anime character is it?
I also make the typo, it should be interviewer not interviewee π thanx for correcting.
So now, you’re studying. Can I assume you are doing your bachelor degree? Good for you.. I’m sure when you’ve done with your study, the company will accept you immediately.
Hi,
thanks for the good tips…im currently job hunting in singapore..no3 is quite disturbing….i wonder how to cut the waiting time…..is it good to just mail companies compared using jobstreet/monster? or would they consider that as spamming? I think, being +ve is also a key in finding a job…wish me luck π
cheers
pilotHans – Hi Hans, unfortunately there’s not much we can do with regards to the time taken by the company to review our application. It is recommended for us to follow up on the application if we have been called for an interview. But it must be done as subtle as possible to avoid being an annoyance.
Regarding whether to just snail mail a company or by using jobstreet, personally I prefer applying via email or snailmail. There’s an extra sense of “putting an effort” if you do it in such a way.
Also, in this time of recession, it wouldn’t hurt if we go an extra mile for the application, would you agree?