The Ups and Downs of The Job Hunt
Oh, the dreaded job hunt.
It’s a process that we all have experienced at one time or another, but it’s particularly daunting when you’ve lost your job and you have to start from scratch. Spending hours hours crafting the perfect cover letter, tweaking your resume with the perfect amount of “professional buzzwords” and contacting references who you hope will speak kindly on your behalf – just to receive a short email that reads the following:
“Hi Chasity,
Thank you for applying to the Communications Manager at “X” Company. For this position, we had a very competitive pool and we’ve had to make some hard decisions. Unfortunately, this means we won’t be able to offer you a position at this time.”
In the words of DJ Khaled, “Another one.”
That was the third rejection email I had received in a week. I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours I worked on crafting the perfect email, updating my resume and completing the pre-interview project and to get a three sentence email? HOW SWAY?!
Being unemployed (or FUNemployed as I would often call it) for the most part, isn’t the most fun thing in the world. It can be frustrating, repetitive tiring and sometimes boring – but the more rejection that comes your way, the more resilient you become. It allows for you to build a tougher skin, become more aware of your talents and gifts and really zero in on identifying your purpose. (Which is a major key to success.)
So after all of the tears, endless glasses of wine and complaining to your friends, there comes a time when you must put on your big girl panties, hold your head high and show the world that you are a boss. During my job hunt a few months ago, I realized that I had to become very strategic about what I wanted in a new position. I knew that there were a number of things I was good at, but did I want to do those things forever? Or did I want to pursue and opportunity that would allow for me to grow professionally, challenge myself personally and experience a new field of work?
(Just so you know, I chose the latter.)
There’s a beautiful thing known as risk that I took when I accepted my new position last October. Now that it’s a few months later, I’m so happy that I did and I’ve pushed myself to become a better young professional. And trust — once you do get that new job, it will take time to get adjusted to your new surroundings and work that you will be doing, but it will never be something you can’t handle. Be patient with yourself, and give yourself time to get back into the swing of things. Change requires us to stretch ourselves and go beyond what is normally required of us, but in the end we will become greater individuals.
When it comes to the job hunt, you will get a few doors slammed in your face along the way, but you know what? A “no” will eventually become a “yes” – so don’t give up!
