How To Find A New Job

In this article I want to explore the effects of being laid off and what you can do to counteract the negative impact it might have on both your state of mind and on your day to day living.

Being laid off due to your company’s economic difficulties can have a huge impact on you personally. Initially you will be reeling from the shock and then you will progress to worry about how you are going to cope financially, how you will find another job and what this means for your future careers plans.
 
First of all do try not to panic. Although this seems like a devastating blow right now, there are examples of many people who in the long-term, have turned being laid off into a very positive situation. In the first few days try to get a handle on your immediate cost-of-living and see if there are any areas which, at least in the short term, you can cut back on. This will help you feel more in control, if you know exactly how much you need to budget.
 
Overall the shock of the lay-off may have left you doubting yourself and perhaps losing confidence in your abilities. What is important to remember here is that the being laid-off is nothing personal. It is not about you and your skill set, but about what economic cutbacks your company needed to make. However hard it is, try to focus on what skills you have that you can bring to a new role, update your resume and start your job hunt with a positive frame of mind.
 
Whatever the state of the economic climate, the truth is there are jobs available and those who arm themselves with the right tools, i.e. a freshly updated resume and knowledge of the best places to look for vacancies, are already ahead of the game. Add to that a positive and confident mindset and you are already on the path to success.

Rejection in the workplace can come in many guises. You may be rejected at interview stage by a potential employer, you might feel like your current boss isn’t listening to you and that your ideas and thoughts aren’t being taken seriously, you might have been turned down for promotion or you might be being given the cold-shoulder by your co-workers.

Any one of these scenarios can really make you lose confidence in yourself and start to doubt your own abilities. In short your self-esteem starts to suffer.

However, it is important to remember that failure forms an integral part of the path to success for everyone. Take J K Rowling for example, she was turned down by numerous publishers before her first manuscript was accepted by Bloomsbury. Basically she was a single mother living on welfare, fitting in writing around caring for her young child. I’m sure she felt each one of those rejections very keenly but she didn’t let it deter her, on the contrary she kept plugging away until she achieved success, and what a success it was.

Dealing with rejection is only as negative as you let it be. As difficult as rejection is sometimes it can actually be a catalyst for change.

Here are 3 Steps to Turning a Rejection into a Positive Outcome:

·         First-off try and avoid taking the rejection personally. Rejection is seldom aimed at someone in particular, it is oftentimes just a chain of circumstances that reach a particular conclusion - and it is rarely all about you.

·         If you have been or are being rejected, ask the person why. Why didn’t you get that job or promotion, why are you being cold-shouldered by colleagues. Sometimes people will just be very shocked that have asked and may not even realize what they are doing. Other times you may hear the answers you need to make sure it doesn’t happen again going forwards.

·         Resist trying to change history. Sometimes things happen, you can’t change what has gone before, but you can make sure that your reaction to is brings about a more positive outcome.

In the current economic conditions it can be difficult not to become downhearted about your next step career wise, especially if you have been made redundant or are really struggling financially.

It is easy for people to say to you ‘don’t get nervous’ when you are going for an interview, but when your very future can be riding on getting that job, then the stakes are very much more heightened.

However, as has been proven time and time again, a positive mental attitude is all important in success. Just as athletes these days spend as much time mentally focusing on winning, as they do on lacing up their trainers and pumping iron, so you shouldn’t dismiss your own state of mind when it comes to searching for a job.

What’s more there are practical steps that you can take in order to enhance your positive thinking. The first of these is preparation and this is going to be key to your success. Preparation is important in all the stages of the job application process, from making sure you have a well put together resume to how much you know about the company and what will be expected of you at interview.

The more time you spend in research, the better equipped you are going to be in preparing your letter of application and resume, but also in your performance at interview. Employers do not expect you to know everything about their company, but they do expect you to have least found out a little via internet research on what the company does, its aims, its position in the market and its competitors. This will give you much more confidence when the interviewer then asks you what you can bring to the company and you can tailor it to fit with your own skill-set.