Our company just started a ritual to have a Fun Friday Wrap Up every week. The whole company gets together for a few minutes to talk about the successes of the week and exciting things to look forward to for the next week. It’s a great time for us to really take a deep breath and rejuvenate ourselves for the next week. During this week’s wrap up it got me thinking… people in the search should do the same thing at the end of their week. So let me explain:
1. Celebrate the successes: It is very easy to get discouraged during a job search, especially in this economic climate. Make sure that you really take time to evaluate the good things that happened during the week. Even if there were negative things that happened during the week, somehow turn them into a positive. For example, if you didn’t get a job offer after a final interview, write down your learnings and feedback from that process…it can only make you a better interviewee.
Here are some sample questions to ask yourself each week during your "celebrate the successes" time:
What good leads did I find this week? What good things happened from the leads I generated? How did I positively influence my network? How did my network positively influence me?
2. Look forward to next week: Set a game plan for everything that you want to accomplish in your search next week. If you go into the week prepared, you will be much more focused and productive, which will definitely show through in your conversations and interviews with potential employers.
Here are some sample questions to ask yourself each week during your "look forward to next week" time: What exciting things are you going to make happen? What new "adventures" can you try or old ones that you can master? What interviews do you have scheduled? Are there any companies that you can target for an informational interview only?
3. Take a deep breath: Make sure to take a little bit of time to step away from the career search process and do something for yourself. Just like any "job", you are going to get overwhelmed and burned out if you are spending time on it 24/7. If you are majorly stressed out and discouraged, that is going to definitely show through in your conversations and interactions with potential employers. You don’t want your first interaction with a potential employer (or lead) to be a negative one!
So start this week with implementing a Fun Friday!
