Are you sabotaging your own job search? Are these the lies you tell yourself? If so, you need to stop it right now.
Sometimes we are our own worst enemies and we sabotage our lives in many ways. Our careers and job searches are often examples of this. We get in our own ways and we tell ourselves lies that hold us back and keep us from reaching our goals. Well, if you can’t trust yourself not to lie to yourself, who can you trust? So, let’s try to change that.
These are these lies that are stopping you from getting a job and moving your career forward.
There are no jobs out there/no one is hiring
There are a lot of jobs out there. Probably millions of jobs. It just takes a lot of time to get one. This sucks, but there’s nothing you can do about it, so it’s probably best to acknowledge it as truth and move on. The job search takes time and effort and should, itself, be treated like a full-time job. Keep looking. Ask your friends and network for referrals. Be creative. Also, you might need to adjust your criteria and go for a job that is different from what you thought you were looking for. But there are jobs out there.
It’s not a good time to look for a job
Yeah. We’re in a pandemic and the economy is kind of terrible. True. But people say this even when we’re not in a pandemic – that it’s not a good time on the job market. Or you might mean that it’s not a good time in in your life. Regardless, it is always a good time and it is never a good time. If you need a job, it’s a good time. If you want a change, it’s a good time. There will never be an ideal time.
It’s not me, it’s them
I recently met a food blogger who told me she didn’t get a lot of traffic on her blog because people just aren’t interested in healthy food. I wanted to ask her if she was totally insane and deluded, because healthy food blogs are immensely popular. People love them. But I didn’t ask this, because I didn’t want to correct her. I don’t know why her blog isn’t getting traffic but lots of blogs are. The market is saturated and there is a lot of competition, but lack of interest certainly isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s luck. Maybe it’s packaging or marketing savvy. I don’t know. But if what you have to offer isn’t selling, the problem is likely something you have the power to change and that doesn’t lie with other people.
I don’t have time
I bet that if you did an audit of where and how you’re spending your time, you’d realize you actually have a ton of it that could be better spent. Do you spend a lot of time binge watching Netflix, or scrolling social media? BOOM. There’s your time. You don’t have to throw yourself headlong into things if you’re busy with work and family. Start with small steps, like updating your LinkedIn and resume, reconnecting with contacts in your network, and sharpening some skills. You have time. I promise.
It’s not fair
This isn’t so much a lie as something you just have to get over. The job search is not “fair,” it’s true. Hiring managers are biased, and they discriminate against people for all kinds of stupid reasons, which include, but are not limited to, age, appearance, social class, and current employment status. It’s all about who you know and people leave you hanging with no response even after rounds of interviews, and it’s exhausting and demoralizing and NOT FAIR. When I get to thinking this way, I remind myself of the advantages I have, like simply being born in Canada, a developed country and one of the safest in the world, which puts me ahead of huge numbers of people. This pulls me out of my pity party. It might help you to find where you have been given an advantage and focus on that for a minute.
I’m not good enough and nobody is going to hire me
I can’t guarantee that someone is going to hire you but I think it’s unlikely that nobody is going to hire you. If you aren’t succeeding, you might try doing things differently. Someone, somewhere once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So, do something else. Upskill, read, revamp, repackage, ask friends and family for help. But don’t lie to yourself and say that you’re not good enough.
You’re awesome, and there is a company out there that would be privileged to have you.
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