What is Stopping You from Finding Work?

What are your thoughts?

The first thing to do and perhaps the most important is to stop for a moment and observe your mind . Our thoughts affect our life in every aspect and if we are not aware of what we are thinking about, we may not be aware at all of unconscious “hostile” attitudes  towards our job search.

For example, we may have experienced certain negative experiences that have generated in us an aversion to work. Something very profound that we are probably not even aware of.

So try to ask yourself questions and see what emerges in your mind. Without filters, without judging what comes out. Just take note.

• What do you think about work, about dedicating your time to work?
• What does your family think about work?
• What do you think of recruiters?
• What do you think of non-profit organizations?

Apparently trivial questions, but if any negative thought should emerge to one of these questions, it is better that you let it come out because it could be very useful to get to know it. You don’t have to change anything but know it’s there.

Second step. Ask for help

If we didn’t need the others, we probably would have been born on a desert island or an uninhabited planet.

When you are unable to find work, a series of closed attitudes may arise that can further worsen the situation. Maybe we feel strong external pressures, coming from all sides (family, friends, partners, former classmates, etc.), and we don’t know what to do.

It is precisely in these moments that instead of closing it could be decisive to seek external help . Where can you look for this help?

• People like you who made it. Try to figure out if someone who was in your situation has found a solution that might be right for you and analyze their path to success.
• Books on the topic . Has anyone written anything that might help?
• Specific courses Are there any courses that could help you? Maybe it can be used to reinforce some of your weaknesses or to give you new momentum.
• Coach. If you don’t know, there are career coaching paths that are designed to help those who need personalized support.

3. Focus only on what you want

Here is the fulcrum of everything and it is a really important part.

As we always say, you can’t think of finding work by sending random applications if you don’t really know what you want. It makes no sense to look for work generically, because in addition to being a big waste of time and energy, you may find a job but it is highly likely that it will not be suitable for you. And from there it could trigger a series of frustrations and disappointments that will only make your mood worse.

If, on the other hand, thanks to that famous work on oneself we were talking about, you can focus on the work you want, then everything will be easier.

You have to start from what you like to do, from your passions, from what you find simple. From your attitudes. Put them first. Only then does it review the skills you have acquired over time, without forgetting that the skills are always updatable, so if you are missing some you can always learn it.

Try not to be overwhelmed by fears : fear of running out of money, fear of wasting time, fear of not being appreciated by family and friends or fear of being excluded from society. It is also these mental projections . Instead, prioritize finding your right focus and then you’ll see that things will settle down on their own.

4. Specialization

As mentioned in the previous point, to increase your chances of finding work you will need to specialize in something that makes you more interesting and “useful” in the eyes of a recruiter. I realize that the word useful sounds bad, but don’t you think that HR managers open vacancies with the express purpose of solving a problem they have in the organization’s staff (replacement or new role)? So they will try to fit the right person in the right place : someone who does that specific job in the best way. That’s it.

Working in the third sector is truly an extraordinary choice: I find the decision to devote one’s time to activities that have as their ultimate goal the support of the weakest, the sick, children, the elderly but also the environment, animals, culture and common goods.

Maybe you are driven by an inner fire towards one of these missions, but remember that to enter you will still have to meet the technical requirements that are indispensable for each single position. So if you have chosen what your specialization will be, thanks to self-analysis, you just have to become that professional. And if you are short of skills, all you have to do is fill that gap, acquiring the skills you lack ( read books , sign up for courses, volunteer, participate in events).

To understand what the necessary skills are, all you have to do is search for job advertisements for that particular position and analyze specific requests. Scan the whole web, from job sites like Job4good to the sites of the organizations that interest you. You must have a clear idea of ​​what the figure is looking for. If you already have some of those skills, try to value them well, to specify how you acquired those skills, how you know how to use them in practice and what results you have achieved thanks to your competence. The more precise you are, the more value you will acquire in the eyes of the recruiter.

Lightness

If you have read this far it means that you have the right motivation but remember one very important thing: try to keep a smile on your face and in your heart (inside).

The advice is to maintain a certain serenity in the search for work, and if by chance you find yourself in a difficult moment try to recover positivity. Look for a bit of lightness, getting rid if possible of a bit of mental weight that unnecessarily burdens everything. By reprogramming your goals and focusing on what you really want, you will undoubtedly find greater confidence and new strength in your quest.

Personal Branding

I add this little piece to invite you to think about your personal branding. We often talk about personal branding but we have the impression that many of you consider it an activity too distant from itself, too abstract, something that can only interest people already known or only those who have many things to say.

FALSE

Personal branding is a concept that touches everyone , even if rationally many do not understand it. You’re already branding yourself somehow, but maybe you’re doing it like shit . Doing personal branding is nothing more than doing a conscious work of self-communication. And everyone is already doing it, if only for the fact of having a profile on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook or even more simply from the result that appears when a search is made with your name on Google. STOP, that’s all.

So my question is: how are you communicating online? What can I find today if I do a thorough research on you? Are you sure you know what risks you are facing in not having a proper strategy on the web?

Here we would have to write entire books on the subject but please do not underestimate this aspect because it is essential in your job search, in attracting hiring opportunities or clients for your business as a consultant.

And I conclude

Well, after you have done everything that is written in this article, you can safely write to me and tell me if your life has remained the same as before or if it has totally changed , as I believe.

I am sure that one of the doors that you had previously found closed has now opened, and I am sure that this could only have happened because you really got involved and changed the way you approach your job search. This is the best way to achieve real change , as the many people before you have shown us and made it.

Thanks for reading to the end.