It’s Monday.  The beginning of a new week.

For some, rolling out of bed is energizing—excited about work, meeting goals, and getting good stuff done.  Others face the day/week with a bit more disgruntled attitude.  “Another day of the same old, same old.”

Job seekers, your attitude and the choices you make this morning will influence your job search success.

You have two options:

1. “I’m going to plan my work and work my plan.  I will make connections that get me closer to finding the right job.”
2. “No one’s hiring; it doesn’t matter what I do.  There just aren’t jobs out there. Why bother.”

Looking for a new job certainly brings its share of discouragement and frustration.  No doubt about that.  And…employers are hiring.  People are finding jobs.  Now is not the time to quit.

Your attitude, the choices you make on how you will spend today, will either get you closer to the new job, or they will move you further away from greater economic stability.

Even if you’re frustrated and discouraged, choose to do one thing today that will make a positive impact on your job search.  Just one thing.  And then tomorrow morning, get up and choose to do one more thing.  These “one things” will build on each other.

It’s a new day.  Choose to do one thing today that will make you feel good about yourself.  Just one thing. It will make a difference.

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There are two things you can control during your job search: your emotions and your strategy.

In the last postings, we looked at ways to keep your head in the game when the rules don’t seem fair, and how to move through the highs and lows of looking for a job.

Now let’s consider a few strategic moves that are most likely to get you that interview.

1. Create your strategy.  This requires putting your plan on paper.  It’s easy to keep ideas in our head.  But it’s difficult to put those thoughts into action without first writing them down.  Putting those ideas on paper gives them clarity and power.  You may find My Weekly Plan for Success to be a helpful tool in creating your strategy.

 2. Review your strategy.  If you aren’t getting call-backs or interviews, then do something different.  How are you spending your time?  Be honest.  Are you really spending 4-5 hours each day setting appointments and talking to people?  Or are those 4-5 hours spent leaving messages and updating your database?  If your strategy isn’t working, create a new strategy.

3.  Review your resume.  To get the interview, you need to be noticed.  Two ways to do this: through a networking connection or a really sharp resume.  So take another look at your resume.  I know.  I can hear your moans.  You are SOOO over your resume, right?  Then ask someone else to look at it.  Ideally, a professional.  Someone with expertise—an HR professional, recruiter, industry expert.  Get a fresh perspective.  (A good question to ask: is your resume documenting your work history or selling your accomplishments?)

 You may have seen Career Builders’ blog, TheWorkBuzz.com.  Check it out for some more helpful ideas on making sure your resume stands out.

Your emotions and your strategy.  Two critical components of your job search.  And two things you can control.

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Do you remember riding the roller coaster at the fair when you were younger?  The faster, the better.  And if you felt like throwing up when it was all over, you knew you’d gotten your money’s worth.  It just didn’t get any better than that, right? 

The ride usually began with a slow, bumpy, upward crawl at a 90 degree angle (I called it the “death march”).  You didn’t question whether the rickety wooden planks would keep your car on the tracks.  You just kept waiting for the inevitable sudden drop in altitude.  And then you felt it.  The plunge left your heart and stomach at the top of the loop while your body pitched forward.  As a symbol of your bravery you raised your arms in the air and celebrated being alive.  The twists, the turns, the spirals, the ups, the downs. 

Half the time you wondered if you were going to die, and the rest of the time you believed you were going to die! 

Your emotions during this job-search transition are going to feel the same way.  You should expect to experience anger, shock, disappointment, resentment, and acceptance.  It is normal to go through “the blues,” depression, high energy, low energy, and anxiety.  So what do you do about these ups and downs?  You move up and down!  And eventually you find the way that works for you to regain some of your equilibrium. 

A word of advice?  Deal with your emotions.  Stuffing them won’t get you anywhere.  Ignoring them will either a) make you physically sick with stress-related illnesses, or b) cause you to “lose it” at the wrong time with the wrong person (like during an interview).  Your responsibility is to identify what’s going on in your head and your heart, and figure out how to move to a better place.

You may have lost control of your employment when they decided to eliminate your position or send it overseas.  But you have not lost control of how you choose to respond to your situation. 

Emotions are part of being human.  Talk to someone about your ups and downs.  Believe me.  People will admire you for your courage in naming the elephant on the table, and they will ask how they can help get that elephant out of the living room.

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For most job seekers, the numbers just don’t make sense.

The ratio of resumes sent to interviews received looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa…just before it hits the ground.

The bad news?  This is typical.

The good news?  This is typical.

So what do you do?  You focus on what you can control: your emotions and your strategy.

First things first.  Remember that you choose how you think about your situation.  Your thinking influences your emotions; your emotions influence your behavior.  So it all starts in your head.

Here are three suggestions for keeping your mind in the game when the rules don’t seem fair:

1. Focus on your activities, not their responses.  Set your weekly goals for networking contacts, follow-ups, research activities, informational interviews, etc.  Remember that the more people you have a strategic conversation with, the closer you get to your next job.

 2. Fill your mind with positive thinking.  This works.  If you choose to focus on your discouragement, the hurt, and your frustration, your energy will decrease, you won’t be sharp in conversations or when writing cover letters, and you will find yourself getting lazy.  (These do not contribute to finding a job!)  Read good books, pray, meditate, create affirmations that keep your thinking focused, etc. 

 3. Give yourself one more hour to sit in your pain, and then move on.  Sixty minutes.  No more.  Make the choice.  Identify your hurts and frustrations—vent with a trusted friend, make a list in a notebook, and then discard of the thinking/emotions that are holding you back.  Start over.

The Wall Street Journal has been following out-of-work professionals as they move through their transition.  You may see yourself in the posting by John Brownrigg—he found a job after 16 months of unemployment.

It’s been several years since James Allen wrote As a Man Thinketh.  This classic best-seller reminds us of the influence our thinking has on our reality.  Millions of readers have found value in this short book’s message; I suggest adding it to your library.

In Part 2, we’ll compare your job search to The Wild Thing at the local amusement park.  And then we’ll take a closer look at a few things you can do to keep control of your strategy.

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