Do you feel like your life is a constant rush of activity?
Many people nowadays feel worn out. It’s not simply that there’s too much to do. It’s the fact we have too many different types of things to do. This inability to concentrate on one thing at a time means we lose our sense of focus and that calming sense of completion.
Related: 4 Ways To Balance Your Job Search
It’s not helped by technology. Are you guilty of frittering away excessive amounts of time on social media and of dealing with work emails at home on a regular basis? All this activity is exhausting. It’s easy to forget that energy is a precious and limited resource.
Energy exhaustion manifests itself in different ways. Do you recognize any of these signs in yourself?
Feeling overwhelmed by the simplest of requests.
A tendency to overreact to constructive criticism.
Constantly feeling exhausted even though you’re getting enough sleep.
Regularly becoming irritable and impatient with yourself and everyone else.
Lacking focus and losing the ability to come up with new ideas.
You need to set boundaries.
One way of dealing with this is by setting boundaries around the different parts of your life. Boundaries help you concentrate fully on a single activity and stop you from being distracted by the guilt that comes from thinking, whatever you’re doing at the time, that you should be doing something else.
Understanding the impact that various activities have on your energy levels is a useful part of creating your boundaries. And that means consciously working out where you are spending your energy and observing the effect.
What exhausts you – and what energizes you?
Are there any activities that leave you feeling drained or any situations in work you find particularly exhausting? You also need to recognize the things that help re-energize you. What do you like to do that leaves you feeling calmer and happy – maybe meditation, exercise, reading or going out for a meal with friends? Whenever you feel good about yourself in work or personal situations, take a moment to consider what it is you are doing that is making you feel uplifted.
Use what you have discovered.
Unfortunately you can’t avoid all the activities that leave you feeling worn out. But what you can do is use the information to make sure you are as prepared as possible to deal with situations. You will have a good idea by now of what is draining you – so try to balance it with an activity that will energize you.
For example, you may be dealing with several complex work tasks, a couple of which you’re really struggling with. You find yourself staring at the computer screen with disorganized thoughts and worries running through your mind about all the various tasks you have to complete. You’re not making significant progress on any of them.
Try promising yourself you will focus 100% on one task for an hour or so. Once you’ve done that, you take a five minute break to do something that gives you some energy back (like having a cup of tea or texting a friend). You are then recharged, calmer and better able to carry on with either that task or a new task (again, setting a boundary to make sure you completely focus on it for a set time).
Set boundaries to create better quality family time too.
Whether you work from home or an office, make sure you set a daily cut-off time for business activities. It can vary depending on the volume of work each day but make sure you have one and that it is sensible. Identify time for other important things in your life – like family – and clearly allocate, either in your head or in your diary, when you are going to give them the time they need.
Setting boundaries means you must resist the temptation to check your work phone or email during family time. If that really is a problem, give yourself a five minute period when you are allowed to catch up on anything that is genuinely urgent. Think about the message you are sending out otherwise your time together is continually being interrupted.
Everyone re-energizes in different ways so the good news is that setting boundaries provides the perfect justification for earmarking some time to collapse on the sofa in front of the TV too. Just try to have a couple of slightly healthier re-energizing activities built in as well!
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The leaves are changing, the kids are back in school, and that familiar chill is in the air. You think it's the perfect time to look for a job, and it is! But are your job search fears preventing you from making that leap?
It's not uncommon to feel lost when embarking on your job search journey. After all, school teaches us everything except how to get a job. What should you put on your resume? What questions should you ask in an interview? How can you stand out in the hiring process when there's so much competition?
Are you feeling spooked yet?
Believe it or not, there's no need to be afraid of the job search process! You can land your dream job with the right tools and strategy. You can find a job that won't give you nightmares. Here are three spooky secrets every job seeker should know as they look for a job this fall.
1. An Effective Job Search Starts With An Interview Bucket List
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Despite your fears, you've decided to take the plunge and look for a new job. You might be asking yourself, "Where do I start?" The answer is simple: start by creating an interview bucket list.
An interview bucket list is a list of 10-20 companies you'd love to work for. Are you passionate about a company's products or services? Do you feel connected to its mission? Can you relate to its values and beliefs as an organization? If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, that company probably belongs on your interview bucket list.
Once you create an interview bucket list, you'll be able to conduct a targeted job search, one with direction and a foundation upon which everything else will be built. An interview bucket list helps you focus your job search and networking strategies on the right opportunities, making it easier to get your foot in the door at one of your dream companies.
2. Your Job Application Needs To Disrupt Hiring Managers
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In order to stand out in the hiring process, you need to disrupt recruiters and hiring managers. You accomplish this by doing two things: optimizing your resume and writing a disruptive cover letter.
A well-optimized resume includes keywords from the job description. This ensures your resume gets past the ATS and into the hands of the hiring manager. Once it's in front of the hiring manager, it needs to grab and keep their attention. Quantifying your work experience—adding numbers to your bullet points—will make you stand out from other applicants. Hiring managers will want to know more about you and your accomplishments, and that's how you land a phone interview.
Before that, though, a hiring manager will read your cover letter. To disrupt them, you need to write a disruptive cover letter (obviously!). A disruptive cover letter gives you the opportunity to tell a story about why you feel connected to the company you're applying for. It's that storytelling aspect that will stand out to hiring managers and compel them to pick up the phone and give you a call.
3. Employers Hire You Based On 3 Things
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You can't get hired unless you know what employers are assessing you on in the interview process. While your skills and expertise matter, companies actually hire for three things: personality, aptitude, and experience (in that order).
Most job seekers don't realize how important it is to demonstrate their personality, aptitude, and experience in an interview. You could have the right experience for a job, but if the hiring manager doesn't think your personality is a good fit for the company culture, you probably won't get a job offer.
Make sure you demonstrate your soft skills and learn how to answer behavioral interview questions to prove you're the best candidate for the job you're applying for, not just the most qualified.
Want To Learn More Job Search Secrets?
As you look for a job this fall, it might be helpful to know some more spooky secrets so you can get over your job search fears and finally take control of your career.
We know the job search process can be scary. However, it's important to get clear on what you want to do next and focus on conducting a strategic job search, or what we refer to at Work It DAILY as job shopping. This is the only way to effectively market yourself to employers. If they can't see exactly where and how you add value, then that's going to decrease your chances of landing the job.
The competition is fierce, and there are a lot of factors that are out of your control. But the one factor you can control is your job search strategy, the tools and tactics you use to land a job.
If you want to learn the secrets to conducting a strategic job search, sign up for our Job Search Bootcamp, a two-hour, on-demand video workshop that comes with a free workbook.
In this video workshop, you'll learn:
How to use backchanneling to get directly to hiring managers.
The secret to using a connection story to stand out against the competition.
How social media can be your secret weapon to get job interviews.
The resume format that is getting job seekers more job interviews.
