You’ve put in application after application and have set up accounts on recruiting portals that you didn’t even know existed. You’re losing steam and starting to think you may never actually find a job. What are you supposed to do now?
1) Believe that something will … Make something open up for yourself
As time continues, don’t be afraid to tweak your job expectations toward what positions are available in the current job market. Simply being a bit more open-minded could be the difference between being employed or not. Maybe you can’t get hired directly as a plant manager yet, but with a bit of experience on the plant floor a rung or two down from manager, you can improve your chances of landing the job you want in the near future. By being proactive in tailoring yourself to available jobs, you’re going to keep a more positive outlook about your potential job prospects.
2) Go full-time
Treat the job search like your full-time job. Get up around the same time every day and set up a schedule for yourself. I knew a kid in college who did this with his schooling and brought his GPA up two whole points during his sophomore year (rough first year, you know how it goes…). It was a completely foreign concept to me, but it worked for him, and being regimented about the job search can make or break your experience.
To fill your time, keep putting in applications both in-person and online, trying to contact hiring managers and building your network of family and friends that are on the lookout for jobs in your field. Perfect your resume down to the last “t.” Knowing someone who knows something about a job is always the best way in, but the next best way in is with your spectacular resume.
Also, don’t be afraid to learn a new skill to include on your now-perfect resume — a foreign language, HTML, copy editing, anything. Extra points for tailoring the skill you learn to the field you’re looking to get into.
Just keep doing constructive things that break up the monotony of having to copy and paste your resume into a differently formatted box. AGAIN.
3) Workout
You don’t have an actual 9-5 yet, so this isn’t going to kill you. You’ll need the stress relief and it will be an excellent base of fitness for when you are sitting for eight hours every day in a swivel chair. And we all know that working out chemically enhances our life outlook, right? Probably more than watching Netflix does (although I have yet to read a thorough study on this).
4) Remember why you wanted that job in the first place
What interested you in your job field? Likely the same thing that still does. Don’t forget that.
Every single person looking for a job goes through the stage of “Nothing’s happening, what am I doing with my life?” For some people, it’s a few weeks. For others, it’s a year or two. If you have to get a part-time job to cover yourself until you get your dream job, so be it.
It’s cliche, and I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s true: Any way you look at it, you’re going to make it through and be better off once you’re on the other side of the job search.
5) Relax
If you’re putting your best into the job search, you’re doing the best you possibly can. This kind of stuff doesn’t just happen overnight, despite all of the people who keep telling you that “something will open up for you, you deserve it.”
You do deserve it, and it will happen in time — so don’t freak out on your aunt for telling you that every time you see her.
TL;DR: Be open-minded, job search every day, perfect your resume, learn new skills, workout, remember why you want this job and let the process work itself out.
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