It starts with a feeling of low energy. A bit like that end-of-week procrastination we all get, but this time it’s tinged with something else you can’t yet define. You’ve been on top of the merry-go-round of interviews, applications, telephone calls, coffees and networking, and have taken it all in your stride, but lately, something is not quite right. The bills need to be paid that’s for sure, and of course you have come to terms with those feelings of guilt that somehow you should have fallen into a job immediately (despite all job statistics suggesting otherwise). Your thoughts are filled with the job search; they swirl around at night as you lie quietly in bed, mentally rewriting your cover letter, re-thinking a chance meeting with a former colleague, and recalling the embarrassment of saying “I’m on a break right now” to the shop assistant completing your mobile phone application.

If you are commencing your job search right now maybe you’ve experienced some of these feelings. If so, then the following advice can help to alleviate stress and provide you with a brighter, more optimistic outlook.

If you are distressed, exhausted, listless or you feel depressed and are experiencing dark thoughts, then it is time to talk to someone who can help. There are support mechanisms for you. Click here right now and don’t delay. 

Despite job search being something people do every day, it does take an emotional toil on your health, your sense of self, your family and your motivation, even when you are looking from the comfort of a pay-packet. Some people describe the time searching for a job as some of the most stressful days of their lives and say they have never worked so hard.

It would be trite to advise that if you whistle a happy tune and put a spring in your step that you won’t experience stress. But, if you are just starting out on the job search, you can start observing the following routines and advice now to try to lessen the emotional impact.

• There is no need to panic. In Australia, the unemployment rate of 5.3% (late 2011) is lower than most countries. That means that 94.7% of eligible workers have jobs. There IS a job out there for you.
• Keep your frustration levels at bay. A job search takes time. And the higher the level of position, the longer the search.
• Never put all your eggs in one basket by relying solely on one opportunity. If it doesn’t come off, then you will need to start again.
• Think and act fast when faced with an opportunity. If you see what you want, don’t let the chance pass you by. Make sure you are prepared with your resume and other materials.
• You can achieve what you think you can. Visualise your success in the job search and picture yourself at your dream job. The Job Loss Recovery Program can help you. 
• It is normal to feel uncertain about changing jobs, but remember that all growth takes place outside your comfort zone.
• Having trouble getting motivated? Try bribing yourself. For example, tell yourself that if you make three follow-up calls, you can enjoy a reward for 20 minutes afterwards. (The reward depends on you!)
• There’s a belief that “Your income will average that of the five people you hang around with the most.” Want to make a change? Change who you connect with.
• Luck will not determine your success in your job search. Instead, it takes hard work, time, and persistence.
• Find out what successful people in your industry do differently and model them. Are there courses or skills or training you should have? Take the first step!
• Life is all about making choices. Make choices each day that will lead you closer to your dream job.
• Ask yourself: “Why am I having trouble finding a job?” Be completely honest as you list as many reasons as you can. Then work on those areas.
• Don’t get stuck in the past. Being unfairly treated in your last job was terrible, but don’t let it define you. Didn’t get the interview for a job you really wanted? That’s a door closing, but look for the window that isn’t. Your next job is in front of you, not behind you.
• In the job search, there are often no truly “right” or “wrong” decisions. There are only choices we make and live with.
• Ask yourself, “What do I need to do to get my dream job?” Make a list, and then start working through those action items.
• Celebrate your successes in your job search even if you haven’t secured a job yet! If your resume is getting you interviews that is a successful step forward regardless of the outcome.
• Don’t overlook your own stories when trying to learn how to succeed in a job search. Look to your own history for clues on how to be successful in this job search.
• Ask yourself at the end of the day, “What one item on my to-do list made the most difference in the achievement of my goal?”
• Listen to uplifting music while you’re working on your job search activities. It can help lighten your mood.
• If you’re stuck and just can’t push through, take a break. That might mean taking an afternoon off, or it might mean securing a temporary job.
• Get out in the fresh air. Go for walks to clear your mind. Keeping fit and healthy is important.
• Create a vision board for your job. Cut photos, words, and other images from magazines and online and put them on a posterboard you can look at daily. Or use a site like www.Pinterest.com or www.Evernote.com.
• Write your goal on a large piece of paper. Describe your ideal job and ideal salary. Keep it in front of you.

I know the process of job search is hard.

People ranging from your mum to the supervisor at work and the friend-of-a-friend who is a manager will give advice that ranges from outdated and absurd, to the cutting edge. I also know it is confusing. The fact is, you can show your resume to ten different people and you will receive ten different pieces of advice—much of it contradictory.

The reason for this is obvious.

Humans are involved! Yes humans. You know, people with frailties, flaws, different preferences, likes/dislikes, rules and personal biases. Job search consultants, coaches, resume writers and hiring authorities can be your pesky neighbour, your hot-tempered brother-in-law, and the guy at work you never liked.

The fact is, no one person has all the answers and a guaranteed, rolled-gold, three-step solution that will get you a job instantly. Like the fairytale, you will have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince, and it’s not necessarily going to be easy or fun. You’re going to be confused at times, frustrated and angry. You’re going to have to wade through the volumes of advice and decide who speaks your truth; a person with the type of approach that resonates with who you are and how you like to operate.

Then you need to look at that advice and see where it is coming from and whether it is worth taking. Aggressive career professionals will pop up now and again, tell you how everyone else is wrong and how they spend time fixing up the errors of other professionals. They come into the industry with a swagger, brash self-confidence, a six-week old Twitter account, a five-article blog and blanket assurances of your complete success. No-one has all the answers because the job hunt is a “people” business. Nobody can provide the definitive assurance that your experience, presentation, resume, or personal style with be an instant hit with John Smith: Company Director, Melanie Brown: Recruiter and Lois Johnson: Human Resources Officer.

As a job seeker you need to look past the cool website and guaranteed rolled gold solutions to job search success. Your choice is entirely your own of course, but here are a few things to think about.

1. There is a lot to be said for experience and knowledge. While nobody can claim to know it all, professionals with industry longevity, a commitment to ongoing professional development, and a verifiable track record of satisfied clients over a prolonged period, are obviously doing something right. When you’re looking for someone to coach you or represent your strengths and skills, look at all of those things. While certifications may not be everyone’s cup of tea, belonging to a professional association that requires its members to remain current and relevant is going to be a better bet than someone making a whole lot of noise with no supporting foundation. Would you use a surgeon who wasn’t accountable to a professional body or spurned new developments? What about an accountant or a lawyer?
2. Are you looking for bargain-base professionals to help you? Consider this. Why would someone devote thousands of dollars in association fees, certifications, training and more, and then willingly accept the same hourly rate as a part-time store clerk? Does this ring warning bells for you? Someone willing to cheapen services to such an extent may well be revealing their true value to you through their pricing.
3. Are you being realistic? Can you look at yourself and your skills and, with complete insight and honesty, confidently say that you are qualified for the job you have just applied for or missed out on? Many jobseekers are encumbered with the burden of blinkers and insufficient personal insight. You really do need to be qualified for the job. It’s not always the recruiter who doesn’t get it, or the resume that’s not selling you properly, or the coach who’s a downer.

We’re all human. Wanting it all, and offering it all, fails to serve anyone’s interests if neither can deliver.

Most of you have probably caught American Idol on TV. At the least, you will likely know that it’s a talent competition that week-after-week eliminates competitors until the eventual winner remains.

During the hectic rounds of auditions, where thousands of hopefuls arrive at stadiums to have their shot at celebrity and riches, there will always be someone who, when standing before the judges, fails spectacularly. They’re unprepared, they have forgotten the words to the song, or they have not selected a song to suit their style. Maybe they’ve arrived looking like they just took a break from jogging.

Inevitably, upon being told “No”, you’ll hear them beg, “Oh please, please let me get through the auditions!” they sob. “I’ll do better, I swear. I’ll make you proud of me, let me show you what I can do. I’ll do so much better next time!”

In most cases for those people, that ship has sailed. They had one chance, they weren’t prepared and it’s gone.

Today, I was speaking with a chap called Darren. He’d asked me to look at his resume and give my thoughts. After speaking to him for a while and hearing the passion and the experience that exuded from every pore, I couldn’t align the person on the paper with the man to whom I was speaking.

• The man on the paper looked like he was lazy with the constant use of abbreviations and ampersands making him look like he was trying to save himself the effort of typing or like text messages, was restricted to a certain number of characters.  Darren could never be called lazy.
• The man on paper seemed evasive referring to actions he’d taken but not following through with the results. Darren was able to proudly rattle off multiple results as he talked on the phone; achievements that were nowhere to be found in his resume!
• The man on paper was somewhat dull. The same phrases like “Developed and implemented” or “Established” or “Responsible for” had been used multiple times, bullet point after bullet point. Darren spoke articulately.

Darren and his resume were speaking about two different people.

It was then, that he sounded somewhat desperate as he said to me:

“If recruiters just called me in and spoke with me, I’d tell them everything! I can show them, I can tell them what I can do. All I need is the chance to get before them!”

The second those words were out, I had a mental picture of those pleading American Idol hopefuls. Darren was no different.

He had his chance to get seen and he’d blown it. His resume was his big chance.

Your resume is the very first opportunity you have to get seen. It is every bit as important as those people standing in front of the judges on American Idol. They want to see the total package so they can envisage that person as a star performer. So do job search recruiters and employers. Your resume is the first thing people see about you.

If it’s not your true self, if it is not showcasing your achievements or reflecting every single value proposition you have, then why plead for a second chance when you’ve been so cavalier about your first?

Losing a job brings about the same emotions as the death of a loved one. The Job Loss Recovery Program using guided visualisation produces outstanding results. All you need is an audio tape, a comfy chair and the will to imagine. As I’m now certified in administering this tool, I thought I’d provide you with a quick video guide to what it is all about!

If you are interested you can purchase:

Job Loss Recovery Audio CD: Buy from 2CO

Job Loss Recovery Audio Mp3 Digital Downloads: Buy from 2CO

Job Loss Recovery Program Guide:  Buy from 2CO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbrg0XJAzOA

Every so often, a new batch of job seekers are born.

Wet behind the ears and new to the game, their eyes are wide with anticipation, hope and a thirst for knowledge.

They need some resources and of course I’ll oblige.

Some of these resources cost money, some don’t. Sometimes the things that do cost, are such a return on investment as to be well worth the fee you pay.

Let’s start with one of those:

• Professional Resume Writers. Okay yes, I would say that wouldn’t I? However all jokes aside, even if I stand back and look at the situation objectively, I still agree with myself. Just between you and me, after 20 years of looking at people’s D-I-Y resumes I’m honestly surprised anyone gets a job! Seriously, the lack of effort and attention that goes into these things by most people is staggering. It seems that near-enough-is-good enough is the philosophy for a whole lot of people out there. Of course, I tend to see them when they’ve been unemployed or experienced a ridiculously long job search and have arrived at the point where they think they need to do something… anything to get noticed. Amazingly the same people get interviews virtually straight away when they submit a good, professional, well thought-out resume. Who would have thought? This is not a cost folks, this is an investment in your career. (By the way, five-to-ten hours of work goes into a professional resume. Don’t think you’re going to pay $50 for that amount of talent and personalised attention).

• Interview coaching. An actor rehearses before a big performance, a politician rehearses her speech; heck even a best man at a wedding usually gives it a run through or six before the big day. What makes you think you can be highly successful with answers off the top of your head in a pressure situation? Ever wondered how to frame an unfortunate job where you had been sacked? Ever wanted to negotiate your salary but ended up passively accepting less than you wanted? Ever wished you had coped better during a panel interview where four or five people fired questions at you?  Thought so. Does interview coaching cost money? Of course it does! That’s because coaches have valuable talents that you do not. Is it worth it? Again, if you’d experienced and heard some of the things people say or do at interviews, you’d realise why they are a tool used by hiring authorities to cull people from the shortlisting process. Costs range depending on the experience of your coach, but around $150-$180 would be a reasonable investment in securing you many thousands-of-dollars a year if you get the job.

• Linkedin. A free service and one that will help you enormously. Linkedin has been around for years now, but it is really only in the last couple of years that Australians have been starting to get their profiles up there in any great numbers. Now that there are many more people of relevance to you here in Australia, you’ll see that there are miles of opportunities awaiting intuitive and smart job seekers. It is not just a matter of uploading your experience and skills online. Did you know that you can search companies in Australia for recent hires? Did you know that you can find names of executives and management teams within certain companies? Wouldn’t that be interesting to reach out to someone in a company where you’d like to work? You may even catch up with past colleagues who endorse you or think of you for a job they’ve heard about. The research has been done and it is there for you to use and leverage to your heart’s content. You can get professionals to develop your Linkedin profile, or you can do it if you know how to market yourself correctly.

• WintheView. You’ve not heard of it have you? That’s okay, but if you’re a manager, senior manager or executive, you should. Put simply, WinTheView allows you to develop a strong and compelling business case for your services stating what you offer and why the company should hire you. The finished presentation can be printed, bound and presented either prior to interview to set the agenda for the discussion, during the interview, or after the interview to leave a lasting impression. WinTheView is subscription-based and for around $100 you can create as many presentations as you like for as many different jobs as you like, for three months. WinTheView isn’t for everyone, but the people it helps can find it career changing. You can read more here or purchase from me here.

• Meditation and Guided Visualisation. If you think I’ve gone all crystal ball and hippie on you, well, I have in a way, but it is based in science. If you have had a bad experience with job loss or redundancy—-bitterness, anger and resentment are burdens that will negatively affect your job search and have serious repercussions on your health and well-being. Research has shown that people who have lost their jobs carry around unresolved negative feelings for two or more years. The Job Loss Recovery Program by Dr Lynn Joseph here is a scientifically tested protocol for relieving stress, providing emotional closure and setting you on the path to clearly envisage and pursue success in the next phase of your life and career. It’s inexpensive and if you really commit to the process (which includes getting comfortable, doing nothing, closing your eyes and actively day dreaming for 20 minutes, three times a week) it can be good for your career, your health and your soul. Don’t knock it until you try it. Buy the Audio Buy the Ebook

• Twitter. It’s free and it’s a pot of gold for career and job search advice. Join up and get searching. Look for hashtags #jobseekers. (Remember your manners and wait to make friends before you start bombarding the experts for free advice). Here’s a list I’ve created of resume writers and coaches to save you time and another one I’ve made here of resume writers, coaches, recruiters and career pros.

• Metadata Removal. No-one really thinks about the properties section on a resume created in Microsoft Word. Half the population wouldn’t even know what their resume looks like if they neglect to remove tracked changes from their resume documents. However, if you want to ensure your privacy about who wrote your document, on what machine, at what company and shield yourself from the reader reviewing comments by everyone who has looked at your resume document prior to submission, you’ll realise the importance of removing this personal data (or metadata) from your resume. This site does it for free. Please use it.
  

• Text-only Resumes (sometimes called ASCII resumes). Probably most people in Australia will never need or want a text-only resume. But if you ever want to paste your resume in an email or use it to fill in a online form to upload your resume, text-only resumes can come in very handy. (Sometimes uploads from Word resumes can delete text especially if it is in a table or text box). ASCII resumes can be a tad tricky if you’re not all that familiar with word processors so this site is a beauty. You do need to create a free account with them, but they do not spam. Once you’re logged in, go to “Text Article Formatter”. (And, if you want to find out the details you can find them here).

* * *

Overwhelmed? Let’s stop here and pick up the subject again soon. In the meantime, why don’t you review the ideas and tips from my pals at the Career Collective below? Or look for the hashtag #CareerCollective on Twitter.

If your industry does not participate online, you can lead the way, @Keppie_Careers

6 Ideas to Put In Your Toolbox, @WorkWithIllness,

Your Best Job Search Resource? You!, @WalterAkana

In a Job Search, Knowledge is Power, @barbarasafani

Jump Start Your Job Search Now!, @resumeservice

Favourite Resources for Jobseekers, @GayleHoward

The Best Job Search Tool Ever, @careersherpa

Find What You Do Best, Know Your Stuff, and Connect, @chandlee

27 Recommended Blogs for Entry-Level Job Seekers, @heatherhuhman

Invaluable Resources for Job Search Success, @heathermundell

Favorite Social-Media Resources for Job-seekers, @KatCareerGal

Canadian Resources for Job Seekers, @EliteResumes @MartinBuckland

A Self-Empowering Job Search Resource, @KCCareerCoach

Covering your bases: 5 ultra-useful online career resources, @LaurieBerenson

Favorite resources for Job seekers, @DawnBugni

Top 3 Resources for Job Seekers to Position Themselves as Experts and Increase their Visibility, @expatcoachmegan

Time as a Career Resource: How “Not” to Squander It, @ValueIntoWords

Favorite Internet Resources for Jobseekers, @ErinKennedyCPRW

The Facts Behind Why LinkUp Is the Most Revolutionary Job Search Engine Available to Job Seekers, @GLHoffman