SpearHEADED Job Search

      Since most women are not “Professional Job Seekers,” emotions tend to run high when things are not going as planned in a job search. Getting laid off, looking for a job month after month, staying in a job where there is no growth or where they feel attacked, is extremely discouraging. For a woman, these emotions can be fuel to a fire of fear that is burning in her soul.

      Most women say, “If I can get in the door, I always get the offer.” Unfortunately, that is not happening in this market. Women have a tendency to look at themselves first and ask “What am I doing wrong?” or “Is something wrong with me?” The pain they can feel in this current job market is causing a shake up in the very core of their being and have allowed “the little voices” to take over their mind.

1. The nurturing side comes out of a woman and she says to herself, “You are doing the best you can right now.”

2. Women feel defeated and stop looking for a new position or just dabble in their job search, “because it’s not the best time to look for a job right now.”

3. Women put themselves on automatic pilot, like they do for a lot of things in their life, and just “keep on going.”

4. A woman’s ego comes to her defense and she says, “No wonder no one is calling. The economy is terrible. No one is hiring.” This gives her all the reasons in the world, other than looking at what she is currently doing, in order to move ahead in her job search.

       For a single woman, putting her head in the sand, can mean financial disaster, since they are usually the only breadwinner in the household. The fear of being alone and not knowing what to do can feel like a “death threat.” For women that are married, with or without children, it can reign havoc in their homes, finances and in their relationships. For all women, it can have long term effects on future jobs and career marketability.

       The bottom line is: Women are strong, resilient, have great intuition and really can “make things happen.” If a woman faced her fears and treated her job search like a business project, she would be able to see that the rules have changed and that she needs to do something different to reach her goal of a new job.