|
Keeping
Your Poise In Difficult Situations
by ResumeEdge.com
The Net's Premier Resume Writing and Editing Service.
Interviewing
requires poise even in ideal situations. When you face
additional psychological obstacles due to difficult
circumstances, staying poised requires perspective. Without
suggesting that you look yourself in the mirror every morning
and say, "you're worth it," there are useful tools for
maintaining a clear and positive sense of direction and
potential. These tools bolster your confidence as you search for
a job. They also provide you a strategy for addressing
vulnerable topics during interviews.
Laid
Off or Fired | Prolonged
Search | Lack
of Experience
Laid
off or fired:
Losing a job disrupts a worker's sense of stability and career
plans. For those people whose work is a source of personal pride
and value, the sudden loss can be disorienting. When Jim was
skimmed from his pharmaceutical company in order to reduce
costs, he suddenly felt disoriented. Despite his understanding
of the financial reasons for eliminating his position, it seemed
to him as if his company had rejected him. Since he had managed
multiple teams and thrived on the ability to influence others,
he felt frustrated by his loss of power and the sense of
significance that it had brought him. Jim knew that he was
staving off a depression only through the encouragement of his
family and friends. He did not feel that he exuded the
confidence he needed to successfully pursue other jobs.
Then Jim refocused. After all, the layoff was not the
culmination of his professional history or the exhaustive
evaluation of his merit. Instead of dwelling on his loss, Jim
made a list of his professional and personal accomplishments.
For example, he had successfully launched a new drug, taking it
from experimental testing through marketing. He had initiated
and developed a new employee mentoring program in his company,
effectively training other mentors to provide guidance to
employees. As a result, the morale of the office and
communication flows improved. After highlighting several other
accomplishments, Jim made a list of the constructive feedback he
received from his team, colleagues, and managers. Several people
had noted his initiative and his organizational abilities,
others had thanked him for his encouragement and accessibility.
Still others saw him as an excellent negotiator. Two of his
managers had commented on his attention to detail in quality
standards. He could see on paper that his colleagues respected
him.
As Jim considered his career at the pharmaceutical company, he
began to gain an appreciation for his experience and
contribution there. In addition to helping him feel better, the
process refined his goals. Jim saw more clearly what kind of
position enabled him to flourish. With a renewed sense of
confidence in his objective achievements and value, Jim launched
himself into the search.
Prolonged
job search:
Jim searched for an extended period. His layoff had occurred
during an economic downturn that dampened the entire industry,
and now he found himself networking, searching job databases,
and dragging himself to job fairs. Discouragement began to seep
into his psyche, and his enthusiasm for his skills and
achievements began to dissolve. Knowing that he had previously
overcome sapped confidence, Jim pulled back from his immediate
emotions to reflect on his overall situation.
Jim identified the facts: he had usable skills and qualities and
had a proven history of adding value to his company. He wanted a
job that would challenge and grow with him, enabling him to
build his career. He knew himself well enough to realize that he
thrived in large companies rather than small ones and in
positions in which he was able to assume significant
responsibility for outcomes and people. He also had specific
salary goals and minimum requirements. He did not want to settle
for any open position. His circumstances would have been
discouraging for anyone, but he needed to find the right fit.
His extended search did not reflect upon his worth as a viable
candidate or person.
Eventually, an attractive company invited Jim for an interview.
Since his resume indicated that he had stopped working at his
previous company five months prior, he anticipated that the
interviewers would question him about this gap in employment. He
carefully prepared an answer, focusing on his desire to find a
job that matches his specific abilities and goals. He could
guarantee his skills, but he could not control the availability
of positions.
Lack
of experience:
Gwen had a formidable obstacle to overcome as well: she had
little professional experience in her area of interest. A recent
graduate from college, Gwen majored in English Literature and
Political Science. Now she wanted to break into the marketing
field. She was confident that she could learn the job quickly
and contribute creative ideas. Her friends envied her ability to
anticipate and ride trends. As a child, she used to make up
commercials and present them to her family in the living room.
She was sure that she had raw, untapped talent on which she
could capitalize. Still, she would have to convince the
Marketing Manager that her inexperience as compared with other
candidates was trivial.
This task seemed impossible-Gwen did not have a portfolio to
share or raw numbers to reveal her success. But she did have
abilities, and she began to focus on describing these. Making a
list of her transferable skills and personal qualities, Gwen
referenced things that she had accomplished in school and
through part-time jobs:
| Transferable Skills |
Personal Qualities |
| Writing |
Creative |
| Editing |
Self-starter |
| Organization |
Team Player |
| Team Leader |
Excellent Communicator |
| Event Planning |
Attentive to Detail |
| Networking |
Perseverant |
| |
Fast Learner |
| |
Dependable |
Reflecting
on the tangible things that Gwen could offer an employer, she
realized that she could excel if given an opportunity. Still,
competitors for positions probably had many of these skills and
qualities as well. But what was she going to do, pretend to act
out a commercial the way she had in her living room dozens of
times? Perhaps the idea was not farfetched. During an interview,
she could request an audition. The employer could test her and
her competitors' abilities by giving them an assignment to
complete. Using this method, she could demonstrate her creative
potential in a tangible way. Instead of dwelling on her history,
Gwen strategically encouraged the employer to dwell on her
future.
|
