Here’s the challenge: Are the things you’re doing to find a job the right things? Are your activities producing results, or are you doing things you’ve always done and getting little in return?
It’s not that you set out to develop job-search habits that don’t work. Often, these habits develop over time, until they’re barriers, not productive tools.
Experts agree that habits can be formed as little as 21 days, and the more repetition there is, the stronger the habit becomes until a pattern is established with little thought. Once a routine becomes a habit, it can be challenging to identify.
Habits really can make or break your job-hunting efforts. Some habits are easier to identify than others, but you probably need to examine what could be blocking your success, if you aren’t make the results you had hoped.
Job search habits can be deceptive
Think about what happens to a job seeker who has stayed behind a computer screen for weeks searching for posted jobs. That’s a habit. The result of this habit probably will produce some forward motion, if they rely on this habit continually, they probably will get frustrated waiting for the ideal job to be posted.
The habit in question is not searching for a job online; it’s the amount of time devoted to one job-search method. Applying for positions online is a vital part of a job search — it’s only when you start examine how much time you are spending on one search method that you see the habit.
Habits are powerful, and we often discount the role they play in daily life.
Here are some habits job candidates have said kept them from moving ahead with their search. They may help you identify areas that might be affecting your own search.
1. Thinking like a Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger wasn’t really alone, even he had a buddy. Trying to job search on your own is a long process.
2. Focusing on what others think. In reality, most people are not thinking about your career or what happened. Spending time trying to guess what others might be thinking is a lost cause. You may not want to know what they are thinking!
3. Obsessing about your job search. If you wake up thinking about your job search and go to bed thinking about your job search, you may be obsessing.
4. Avoiding risk-taking by guessing about the end results before you began implementing a new job-search activity.
5. Staying in a place of grief about your job loss rather than working your way through the process of letting go and moving ahead.
6. Being negative. Negativity is contagious, and negative company thrives on negativity. If you hear yourself putting up barriers every time someone offers an idea or suggestion, stop.
7. Not establishing a routine. Without a daily routine, it’s easy to lose track of time and feel unproductive. “(During my job search) I set my alarm each day at 6:30 a.m., I got up and dressed for work. This helped me with keep a structure, and kept me focused on my daily goals” said a job seeker who recently landed a job.
8. Living in “tomorrowsville”. Procrastination goes something like this, “I will call them tomorrow and just wait, because I had planned to the grocery store, finish organizing the garage ..” You get the idea.
9. Striving to be perfect. This can be counterproductive. It can result in feeling that your resume always needs to be stronger, for example. Yes, you need a strong resume, but after the tenth revision it’s probably not the resume that is standing in your way.
10. Letting fear be in the driver’s seat. Fear is one of strongest habits known to job seekers. It can dominate an entire job search and keep you from some of the best opportunities.
If you can identify with some of these habits, it might time to re-examine your job search and change habits that are not helping you land the job of your dreams.
The good news about habits — if they aren’t working for you, you can break them and replace them with habits that are more productive.
