Now What?® Coaching
from Laura Berman Fortgang
Here are some things to keep in mind as you approach your job hunt. We especially like Tip #1: to consciously create a job-search strategy and Tip #7: to focus on monthly goals that are doable. If you have other tips from your own experience, we’d love to hear them.
“10 job-search tips for 2012.”
To beat the odds in this job market, it takes thinking outside of the box, innovating past conventional job search methods and being open to every lead and inkling.
Read this Twitter story for some ideas that you may not have thought of implementing to your career transition. (job or own business alike)
“How to Tweet Your Way to a New Job.”
By Ginny Kravitz, Deputy Editor
72 Thank-You Notes
After months of networking and doing all the right things that a professional does when laid off from a 30-year career, Genevieve hit a low
point. During two painfully quiet weeks waiting for the phone to ring, all she felt was discouraged. Then it happened. In a matter of a few days, six invitations for interviews streamed in along with a solid job offer. Marveling at how things could change so quickly, Genevieve was grateful to see the seeds she had planted finally sprouting.
The very first thing she did after accepting an offer was make a list of people to thank. That list had 72 names on it — that’s 72 people who helped her in some way during her job search. As she set to work writing thank-you notes, Genevieve told me she had “writer’s cramp for a great reason”.
Picturing Genevieve writing all those notes got me thinking about my own list of 11 people who —just within these past two weeks— have helped me in some way with a current project I’m working on. Considering that this list would be longer if the snapshot was of a month vs. two weeks, I’d say I’m not shy about asking for help!
Opening Up To Accepting Help
Rebecca, who completed the Now What?® program earlier this year, recently called to tell me how happy she is with the direction she is
pursuing and that after going through a period of uncertainty, she has recently made great progress. I asked her what had made the difference in creating this new momentum and without hesitation she answered: “Opening up to accepting help. Accepting that we can’t do it all. You work it out by letting go. Piece by piece, you learn to let go of many things. Opportunities show up. Things fall into place once you start moving.”
My niece Mary Grace, now a sophomore at Villanova University, wrote about this issue in one of her college application essays. Acknowledging that she previously viewed needing help to be an admission of inferiority, Mary Grace states, “Now I consider the art of asking for help not as a sign of weakness, but of self-assurance, maturity, and courage. So at the risk of appearing imperfect, I ask for help anyway.”
Who Can Help You With That?
Rebecca cites opening up to accepting help as the breakthrough from uncertainty to momentum. Mary Grace now considers asking for help an “art”. How good are you at asking for help? If your answer is “not so good,” make it a point to get better.
This Week’s Call to Action:
Within the last 30 days, who has given you some kind of help? Whether it was in large or small ways, appreciate the value of what was offered and apply it well.
Name three people who can help you with a current problem or endeavor. Reach out to them now.
“…I eventually realized that learning comes at least as much
through exposure to and interaction with others’ gifts and knowledge
as it does through individual effort.”
— Mary Grace Mangano
by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang
Finding yourself losing your satisfaction with your work or feeling like you just can’t motivate yourself the way you used to? Maybe you
are even losing steam on a job search. Whatever the scenario, knowing why you are doing something and having a compelling reason to do so (besides a pay check) is a huge factor in succeeding at what you want to do.
Many people don’t realize it, but their loss of interest or mojo may have everything to do with what had motivated them in the past to get them to where they are now. What I mean is that we can actually outgrow our motivation! For example, if you were motivated to not be poor like your parents and now you have plenty of money but are losing interest in your work, it may very well be because you are not running on a motivator that means anything to you today. You already reached where the old motivation got you to! It’s time for a new drive!
On the other hand, there are situations where people are sooooo driven, that they ruin their relationships or the quality of their lives in tireless pursuit. Neither way seems to be how we are supposed to be living. The ideal, as years of listening to people tells me, is to have passion and a sensible balance (although not always consistent or perfect).
To find new motivation that is both healthy and up to date think about the following questions:
What vow did you make a long time ago that may now need updating?
(i.e. I’ll never be poor like my parents or I won’t be stuck like my mother/father was or I won’t be a teenage pregnancy statistic)
What needs must be met for you to be happy at work?
What issue calls you or galls you to the point where it motivates you to take action?
What image for the future compels you to want to make it happen?
When you are running on new fuel that matches who you are today and that means something to you, you will find it so much easier to take action even in the face of adversity.
Get into DRIVE and go!!!!
We love the idea of spring cleaning your career and these suggestions apply whether you’re in active job search mode or just want to be proactive.
Here are the strategies that nine women used to obtain the jobs they wanted. Take a look and see which ones spark an idea for you. If you were to select a few approaches to pursue which would they be? To inject some new energy into your campaign, try adding a strategy that you haven’t used before. Since there is no silver bullet, a combination approach is your best bet.