What's your jobsearch motivation?

Are you working towards your desired outcome or trying to escape your current situation?
Because the motivation behind why you are applying for jobs can impact upon your level of success.

Towards Orientation
Jobseekers who work towards a specific job target their efforts towards gaining that type of work. They learn everything they can about the industry, the position and the employers, and tailor their resume and cover letters to pique employer interest, and are able to answer employer questions and work around employer concerns.

Away From Orientation
Jobseekers who are just trying to escape their current job or life circumstance, generally apply for anything and every job they see advertised that they think they are capable of, taking a 'hit or miss' type approach to their jobsearch.  Thus, they fire off resumes without any thought to whether the job will be suitable to them, or whether they have the skills and experiences that the employer is looking for.  These jobseekers generally don't conduct any research and are therefore more likely not to be able to answer employer questions and are unable to work around employer concerns.

In my own personal job searching experience, the times I have been successful have been when I have worked towards my set work goals, rather than trying to get away from a current (often unpleasant) circumstance.

When I first started job searching when I was returning to the workforce, I was oriented to getting away from being on government payments and being bored at home now that the kids had grown up. For the first few months of job searching, I was focused on escaping this current circumstance.  But one day - I don't recall the reasons why - I made a conscious decision to start working towards a new circumstance instead of trying to escape my current one... within weeks, I turned frustration and failure into getting positive results.  And you can too!

What to do if you are an Away From Oriented person
If you fall into the Away From orientation, then you need to stop reacting to your current circumstance in order to set a meaningful goal that you can work towards, and then take the appropriate steps and actions to achieve your goal making you a Towards oriented jobseeker.

Smart, happy and motivated jobseeking!

Char Mesan