Monday, October 15, 2012

It Ain't Over...Till it's Over.

Looking for a job is hard work.  I give a lot of advice with how to deal with not having a daily social outlet or financial security; and how to find strength to keep moving.  Some days even I have to re-read my own advice on how to stay motivated.  I'm tired.  I just want to give up. 

Maybe you're tired too?  After several months of unemployment you may be tempted to put all your energy into ONE job opportunity and hope for the best.  After all, you're great, and really qualified, and the interview went well.  Do you really need to keep looking?

Tip of The Day
It ain't over, till you have a job offer.

A friend of mine is also struggling with unemployment right now.  She's a mom of 3 busy boys (the very definition of tired!) and a recent college grad.  Recently, I emailed her a couple of job postings I saw that listed her qualifications.  When I saw these jobs, I immediately thought of her.  They were PERFECT for her.

A couple of days ago I asked her about a recent job interview. She had just found out that she didn't get the job and was pretty upset.  I asked her about the job postings I had sent to her.  She said "I didn't apply for them, I was so sure I would get that other job." 

When she went to re-trace her steps to apply for those jobs they were, you guessed it....the jobs were closed.  They were no longer accepting applications.

I'm going to over-state the obvious here to make a point...

In order to get a job you have to get an interview.

In order to get an interview you have to apply for the job.

In order to apply for the job you have to find a job posting.

In order to find a job posting you have to LOOK...HARD...EVERY DAY!
 
It's OK to pause for a moment and celebrate a good interview.  It's OK to post on facebook that "It looks like I'll be back to work very soon!"  But, no matter how tempting it is, you cannot stop looking until you have a job offer.  You might miss out of something great if you put all your hope on just one job opportunity.

A few weeks ago I had 3 job interviews.  Every one of them went well and all of the interviewers said I would be passed to the next interview level, the following week.  What happened?  The following week all THREE of the jobs were put on hold.  They're not hiring...right now. 

Oh Crap!

The good news is that once they are hiring again (if they do) they'll presumably call me.

The bad news is that I cannot sit around and wait for the phone to ring.   I have no choice but to keep looking until I get an offer.

Hopefully, I'll be a really, really, really great one to boot!