I did it! I finally impressed a company enough to convince them to give me a chance. As anyone who keeps up with me at all knows, it was not easy. I've compiled a few things here that I believe made a difference. I do not claim to be an expert in job hunting but I do think that I have learned a few things.
- Work hard. As much as I don't want to admit it, there were times that I was half-assing it. Here is where I can give you a myriad of excuses about how I didn't have time because I was working full time and living at home and trying to adjust and blah blah blah. The truth is I did the things I did to maintain my sanity but I do admit that I could have put more effort in. Just accept that it's going to be a lot of work.
- You're an adult. Act like it. Stop partying all the time. Stop posting drunk pictures. Stop sitting on the internet all day and night. Stop throwing temper tantrums when you don't get what you want. Stop the kufuffin. Stop complaining. Stop thriving on drama. Get your face off of your phone and make eye contact. Employers will look at your resume and know you're young. Do not give them any reason to use that as an excuse to not hire you.
- No one is worth giving up the things you want. People are selfish. Everyday, this is again proven to me. The people who understand that you have other priorities in your life are the ones who are also going to be successful. Do not let drama and other peoples' problems keep you from what you need to do. This was one of my fatal character flaws as I tend to always put other people before myself. You need to care about and for yourself. That being said, there is a difference between doing what you need to do and being selfish. However, it can be a fine line.
- Ask for help. This was also a huge problem for me. I wanted to succeed all my own and not need anyone's help. As I'm sure you've had heard over and over, jobs nowadays are not always found by want ads. Some of the most promising and fulfilling positions are found by networking. Look for groups to join, people to meet, places to me. I joined PRSA and always followed up with people I talked to. I've met some of the coolest people I now know through looking through LinkedIn and making connections with people that are successful in doing what I want to do. For the most part, people love helping and will be very flattered that you thought of them. Make sure you always stay genuine and thank them profusely, however.
- Never close your eyes. There are opportunities to better yourself everywhere. Do not put your life on hold while job searching. Continue to do things you love. There were too many times when people asked me what I was up to and my answer was "job searching." That's not really a response employers want to hear.
I feel like a sentence to sum all of this up would go something like: Be a mature and passionate extrovert. Put yourself out there. You may not land the dream job but that doesn't mean it has to be horrible. Look at it as a stepping stone at the very least. But keep improving yourself.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me. I love talking to people! It's a very growing experience on all ends. Also, as I stated before, I am no job hunting expert. I've done a lot though and have accumulated some good information in my head. For example, there are a few things I did that I noticed starting seeing more results such as attaching a summary of a successful PR campaign with my resume. There are some things that I wanted to try but never did because I wasn't quite sure of the legitimacy or how it would be portrayed. For example, writing all of the words you can think of that pertain to your job search in white on your resume. This stems from the fact that resumes are now screened through computer programs because companies see so many of them. The ones that actually reach a person are the ones that had word matches with what the position was advertising for. But anyway!
Gros Bisous,
Christine
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