Any win, no matter how small, makes a baby happy.
You may not have searched for a job for years. You need to learn something from a baby.
If you touch a newborn baby’s cheek, its head turns in that direction. Often the head goes back and forth as the baby tries to find and suck on whatever touched its cheek. A baby old enough to try to grab something reaches for its goal and misses. The baby’s hand goes past the object, then corrects too far the other direction, then again goes past the object. Eventually the baby grasps the object victoriously and smiles. The baby doesn’t cry because he over-corrected five times or only has one toy in his hand. He coos in triumph. It is time to enjoy this feat, not worry about the next challenge.
Job hunting triumphs come often. Getting a job is always the cumulative result of a hundred victories. Those victories should be celebrated over and over in your mind. Yes, you need to notice that you failed to finish the next step, but you shouldn’t focus on a defeat and exclude the victories leading up to that step.
If you send out 100 resumes and get 3 phone calls, you succeeded 103 times! You sent out 100 resumes, a feat many job seekers never equal. You also got 3 calls from your resume. It worked.
You called 10 recruiting shops and 1 invited you in for an interview. 10 calls is a great adventure, and one success in 10 calls is wonderful. Securites salespeople often make 200 calls in a day with absolutely no success. Getting one interview is great. Making 10 calls is a victory.
I had an executive make it to the final list of 3 candidates for a high level job. Another candidate was chosen. All he could see was that for the 7th time in 3 months he had failed to get the job. He could not focus on some delightful facts:
- He was referred to me by his network.
- His resume was very good.
- I thought highly enough of him to recommend him.
- He got the first phone interview.
- An executive flew across the country to interview him.
- He came to the facility he would lead and passed 6 more interviews.
- He made it to the short list of final candidates.
What a monumental chain of victories! This was a phenomenal set of accomplishments. Yet, he couldn’t see his successes when the process was done. All he looked at was that he missed the final cut. He got depressed and self critical. It got so bad that I couldn’t recommend him to another company. He took a job he dislikes with a company he doesn’t respect. That job lets him stop the pain of focusing on his occasional failures. He was not desperate financially. He was desperate to win because he stopped seeing his successes.
Watch a baby closely the next time you have a chance. Notice their absolute delight in grasping a rattle or teething ring. They are thrilled and fling their chubby hands around with the object they won. Nothing could be more glorious. Right now they are focusing on success. They aren’t worried about the next step. They got one thing right.
Take the time to relive your successes every hour of your job search. You will find your attitude soars. You don’t make the cut? Relive every successful step getting there. Include finding out about the job, applying, getting a call, arriving on time, etc. All those are feats showing your prowess. Go ahead relive them in your mind. You deserve it.
Something To Do Today
Get your job journal out. List the 3 jobs you have gotten closest to winning. Even if it was just making a phone call or sending a resume. List all the steps you executed successfully to get to that point. Include all the little ones. Relive those successes. “You done good, little fella.”
Next: Why not go for the CEO job ?
Later: 3 critical words