As a student or a graduate of any age, one piece of advice anyone would give you in your job search is to have good ‘time-management’. That’s like a dude being dumped by his girl and his best mate saying ‘never mind, there are many more fish in the pond’. It means nothing more than words.
I don’t want this to be a post about dating, I don’t do dating advice (I failed miserably in dating, it’s my soft spot 😛 ) Anyway, but you know when you get dumped, and you get over the boring memories and shit, you think: that’s it, I am going to work hard on myself, be smart, and get the best girl in town. 10 months down the line you probably don’t achieve that, but hey, you gave it a go!
Why don’t you do that in your job search? When someone tells me “I am 100% focused on my job search” I cringe. Guys, you need to give more than 100% in your job search.
In fact, let me be honest – take time-management and throw it out of the window when it comes to the job search. OK, some are just born with a gift of being so smart, companies chase them. But if you’re not one of them, like me, let me tell you I was a crazy guy looking for an internship.
76 – Number of internships I applied for.
1 – Number of internships that I finally managed to grab.
But those applications didn’t happen on their own. I was sitting at my desk applying for internships during the later half of my second year at university. I used to ask my mates to go ahead and enjoy themselves, whilst I stayed behind doing an internship application that had come to my notice late.
And you don’t always have to kill fun. I used to enjoy myself but then come back and do an application or research for an internship.
I had one goal and you should too – unless you get a job or internship, you are not giving everything in your job search.
Some might argue it’s hard. But think about it – is there anything you’ve achieved without giving your everything? Do you not want to tell all those people who say graduates are not good enough, to stop bullshitting?
You know, there is a part of your job search that is not about how you write your answers, whether you follow the STAR method, understand the job recruiting* software or not, or even if you are a graduate with 2.2 degree. It is about your passion, about your work rate, about your effort to fight all odds and get that damn job on offer.
You are the master of your own destiny, don’t hold yourself back by terms like time-management, go give it your 150%. Some may call you crazy; there will be days when you are tired and knackered, when you are down, when the first email you read in the morning is a job rejection and the last email is about how you didn’t pass the psychometric assessment. At those times, remember this:
1. I was one of 5 out of 120 that got an internship in my course
2. When I graduated, I had two job offers simply based on an interview
3. My internship gave me the cash to enjoy my final year without debt
4. I now write this blog and pass on my experience
5. I am satisfied with my effort and happy I was crazy enough to do 76 applications
And all 5 of them could be you in a year or two.
So don’t give up, get up, apply and give it all you have. You will do it!
 photo credit: david_a_lea via photopin cc
*disclaimer – this is a text link ad. Find more about advertising on Career Geek
