Finish The Race

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"It's not important that you come in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in the race, it's important that you finish the race."

Are you surviving the stress of looking for a job in a recession?  The other night I watched the second half of an interesting show on PBS Frontline.  The show was about a salon in New York and how the recession is affecting each person, from the salon owner to all of her clients.  It was a thoughtful and serious reflection of each person's view and their strategies on how they are coping in these hard times.

I do all the similar traditional job hunting strategies as some of these individuals on the program were doing.  After sharing thoughts about the show with my "Sam" (Significant amazing man), we've come to the conclusion that to run this job race today, you have to look at other alternatives to the traditional job hunt.  It's necessary in order to succeed in getting hired by a company. 

Social networking is a huge tool that facilitates the job hunt today.  Yet you need to become pretty savvy to use it.  Most younger generations are comfortable with social networks.  Yet people who are more mature in age are slower to embrace and utilize this medium to its advantage.

This is where I need to kick in my dose of optimism, faith, and hard work.  Yes, I am a bit slow using Facebook and Twitter, but I am using it more and more, especially since I started the 31DBBB (31 Days to Build a Better Blog) by ProBlogger challenge.  And I realize, that it's not so scary to understand once I began to get the hang of it.  The sites usually have a Help area for FAQ, but you may also search a topic from the Internet.  You'll find lots of great articles from pretty smart people who are experts in social networking.  There's no excuse not to back away from social media.

On Good Morning America the other day, a woman used Twitter to connect to a representative at a company she wanted to work for, and was later finally offered a position through her connection.  It took persistence on her part, but it paid off in the end by her becoming hired with the company.

I now get tweets, on my Twitter account, from job boards that I choose to follow.  My career counselor also "retweets" job openings to me from job boards he follows.  These are postings in real time, which means you can get a jump on applying for a position ahead of others.  I also set up email alerts, and stay in touch with former colleagues whenever possible.

I hope this encourages you to try this method out.  Overcome your mental obstacles and tell yourself, "This will only benefit myself, and also give me the confidence I need to succeed."  Of course, continue with your traditional job searches but add a new twist to it.  You might find it more enjoyable, and you get to learn a new skill on top of it.  

How are you staying in the game to find a job?  Feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear your strategies.  Stay strong!

Related article:  Quitting is Not An Option