My Faith Is Deep, So Why Is My Job Search Taking So Long?

The pains taking process of job search drags on. You're networking, submitting resumes, improving your writing skills with all those crafty cover letters, attending seminars & webinars, and you're visiting every conceivable body or organization that offers a potentially helpful program. Elevator speeches are rehearsed, changed and put to test. You keep gathering every "out of the box" tool that you can find, in hopes that one of them will give you that very edge that will allow you to stand out from the hundreds that are applying for the same job. Phone interviews and face to face interviews take place,to no avail.

The road is long, the times are difficult, and perhaps ones patience, at times, is put to test. So, why does our Maker, allow our search to drag on so long?

Stop, for a moment, to reflect about what you have done since you first began your search. First out, be thankful for what you do have. Then, give some thought to the following questions;

What have you learned?
Have you taken the opportunity to pursue your passion?
How many new people have you met?
How many of the folks that you've met, have you been able to help?
You'll never know for certain, but how many lives have you touched?
(Always keep in mind that, when interacting with people, sometimes a smile or an uplifting gesture at the right time to someone in need will be remembered for life. Often without you knowing it.)
What is really important in life?
Has your faith strengthened?

I could go on, but I think you understand that you have probably changed for the better through the job search process. I hope that you will take the time to reflect on these questions and others that may come to mind.

As I close, I leave today's blog with this thought;

SOMETIMES THE JOURNEY IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE DESTINATION.

A simple letter of gratitude that we should all write for this experience in life, should go something like this:

Dear GOD, Thank You!

Inspiration

The Job Seekers reading this blog have certainly experienced the ride on the emotional roller coaster that job search provides. You're up when you finally talk to someone on the phone about the applied or interested position, you set up an interview and are pumped afterward, feeling that it went real well. Then after the fist, second or up to the fifth interview, you learn that you didn't get that position. You then are at the low of lows and have to drag yourself back up, getting back with networking, researching and trying to get that next interview.

There are plenty of roller coaster ups and down in between. There are even a few cork screws and upside down moves. But, somehow, we manage to press forward. Persistence and pride! We all know that we have a good bit to offer. So, we trudge on, looking for inspiration a perhaps a friendly face along the way.

As I seek prayerful guidance in my search, I've gathered a few inspirational blurbs along the way, and have them posted at my work desk. I was asked to post them here to share, by an individual that I met through networking.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - That's why we recommend it daily." author unknown

DAILY UPS & DOWNS
"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors." African proverb

COURAGE TO DRIVE ON
"I'm not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship." Louisa May Alcott

STRENGTH TO STRIVE FOR SUCCESS
"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." author unknown

ADVERSITY & REJECTION
"I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas A. Edison

A Reel Resume Tweet

So, you want to keep paced with today's world of job search? Do you want recruiters to find you quickly?

Well then, it's time to tweet.

Go to Tweetmyjob.com and create a profile. You should then be able to upload your resume.

You can retweet every 24 hours to stay at the top.

Oh, you want to know when that ideal targeted job, in that area you want to relocate is first posted? Create a Job Channel. Once that job is posted, it will be sent to your cell phone immediately. (text charges with your carrier apply)

How tweet it is!

Reading List Collection

Over the past few months, I've had quite a few recommend reads. Some are recent and some date back a few years. But, they all have something to offer. There are books that are subject specific, while others provide either directional or general information.

Most of these books are available at your local public library, and most, if not all, are available through websites like Amazon Books.

I hope you find this list useful.

~Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! by Robert H. Schuller
~Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton
~Flawless Execution: Use the Techniques and Systems of America's Fighter Pilots to perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World by James D. Murphy
~What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Boles
~Resumes That Knock em Dead by Martin Yate
~Atlanta Jobs by Steve Hines
~The Atlanta Job Bank published by ADAMS
~Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
~Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema
~E Myths Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
~48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller
~The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur by Jim Horan
~The 4 Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris
~Words That Sell by Richard Bayan
~Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
~Who's Got Your Back? by Keith Ferrazzi
~The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production-- Toyota's Secret Weapon in the Global Car Wars That Is Now Revolutionizing World Industry by James P. Womack
~Lean Thinking by James P. Womack & Daniel T. Jones

Tweet, Tweet. Now We're Supposed to Twitter?

Twitter is a powerful social networking tool that helps you to brand yourself and grow a community of followers with “tweets” of 140 characters or less. Just as with any professional or social network, everything you do on Twitter can have a positive or negative impact on you, your brand and your reputation. Here are 20 tips for optimizing your personal brand on Twitter:

Brand Your Image
1. Name - When signing up for Twitter, make sure to choose your real name as your username. Don’t choose a cutesy or unprofessional name for your Twitter profile. If you have a business that you would rather use as your username, just make sure to include your real name in your profile account information so that other people can link you to your business and contributions.
2. Location - Identify your actual geographic location, such as “New York, NY” or “Chicago, IL,” rather than “Worldwide,” “Everywhere” or “Universe.” This makes you appear more transparent and approachable and helps you connect more effectively with potential followers.
3. Picture - Put your face to your name and/or business name with a real photo of yourself. Not only will a real photo make you come across more genuine and real, but using the same photo on all of your profiles helps others recognize you across networks.
4. Bio - Plug your one-or-two-word personal brand here and include your personal highlights and achievements in the form of a mini resume. This is a simple, yet effective way to brand and easily identify yourself to visitors on your profile.
5. Link - Connect people viewing your profile to your personal blog, website, LinkedIn profile or even your VisualCV, anything that provides them more information about you.
6. Background - Create an attractive background that is consistent with the format, colors and logo from your personal or business blog/website. Include additional information about yourself or your business and links to your others sites and profiles. Use sites like Twitbacks, Twitpaper and Twitterimage to help you develop your own custom background.
Brand Your Contributions
7. Tweets - Provide value in your tweets by pointing others to interesting articles, news and tools in your industry or field. Referring your followers to quality and relevant information will help you establish your personal brand, position yourself as an expert and resource and gain a strong following.
8. Updates - Track specific keywords using Google Alerts and Trackle in articles and news from across the web to share with your followers on Twitter and to build your brand and reputation.
9. Hashtags - Search for relevant hashtags or keywords using the Twitter search bar or Hashdictionary that you can include in your posts to make your tweets more searchable. You can also use them to keep track of other relevant tweets of interest on Twitter.
10. Syndicate - Automatically post your blog posts via RSS as tweets to your Twitter account using Twitterfeed. This saves you time and effort and helps to keep your account active.
11. Automate - Schedule tweets to post automatically at set times in the future using Tweetlater. This also saves you time and effort and helps to keep your account active.
12. Privacy - Don’t protect your updates under your account settings or you will limit the growth of your following and the expansion of your brand presence.
13. Share - Allow readers of your blog to share and retweet your content and your expertise at the touch of a button on their own across their Twitter networks using Tweetmeme.
14. Influence - Use Twitter Grader to see where you rank in terms of influence on Twitter. You can also use it to identify new contacts with whom you should be networking.
Brand Your Community
15. Network - Follow your own network of current contacts and ask them to follow you. This is a great way to lay the foundation of your Twitter community. Use Twellow, a comprehensive Twitter directory of over a million Twitter users, to identify new contacts in your industry or field to follow and with whom to network.
16. Connect - Use the @ symbol to direct certain tweets to specific contacts for more networking. Use Tweetbeep to get alerts through email when your name appears on Twitter.
17. Answer - Search relevant keywords in Twitter’s search engine to find questions in your area of expertise or interest and network by offering your insight and answers. This will really help you establish yourself as a go-to expert in your field and will help build your brand.
18. Manage - As you become more active on Twitter, consider downloading a desktop control center for all Twitter activity, such a TweetDeck. It will allow you to manage all of your brand building efforts and networking from one easy-to-use application.
Brand Your Presence

19. Online - Promote your Twitter account by linking others to it via your websites and blogs, your newsletters and announcements, your guest posts on others’ blogs, your professional networks and even your email signature.

20. Offline - Also promote it offline via your business card, any presentations or workshops you might offer, word-of-mouth and more.

Author:

Chris Perry, MBA is a Gen Y brand and marketing "generator," a career search and personal branding expert and the founder of Career Rocketeer.