Taking Time Out For Nature

When most of working life is dedicated to staring at screens, and a lot of leisure time is also spent staring at screens (e.g., television, movies, video games, digital book readers, web surfing), it is important to unplug and not stare at screens. This is harder in the winter months, as sometimes the weather is a barrier, but it is still important to go outside. Even if you are not in the best physical shape, breathing fresh air can do wonders to improve your mood and give your brain a rest.

Having been at this job search for full-time work for several months, I find that whenever I am stuck on something, taking a walk around my HOA's campus helps. Breathing fresh air, not looking at my phone, and taking in the beauty that is Colorado helps immensely when I need to sort out a problem. All the things that have been bugging me can get tangled up if I sit still and stew for too long, and stretching out my legs is one of the best ways I've found to untangle the mess and organize my brain.

It's important not to get lost in your own head, because that will lead to so much unnecessary stress, and unnecessary stress can make you sick. Being sick while also on a job hunt 1) is no fun, and 2) makes for additional stress because there are things you still have to accomplish, and 3) can make for awkward interviews, because literally nobody wants to sound sick when they're on a phone interview, nor do they want to look sick for an in-person interview. A nice walk will help you get exercise, relieve stress, and will overall improve your health, as long as you wear weather appropriate clothing.

So take some time today to take a walk; even if it's just in your back yard, or a short jaunt to your mailbox, your brain and body will thank you. I will be taking one as soon as I get this posted, because it is a sunny, beautiful day here, and I want to be out in it.

-A.M.W.

The Importance Of Career Consultants

Following up from my last blog about keywords, I went to the Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development Center in Fort Collins. I had been able to contact a Career Consultant there, whom I had sat down with before, and had the good fortune that somebody had cancelled an appointment with her that I was more than happy to take on. 

My Consultant has been and continues to be friendly, helpful, patient and an example of what more people need when looking for a job. She was able to go over recent job listings I had applied to and helped me better identify keywords. She then went through the couple different resumes I have when I submit to a lot of different places for the same job title, and suggested style upgrades and where to place keywords. She even read through a cover letter that I had sent and showed me what was fine and what needed work. She did this all in one hour, and she was explaining the why and how of this the entire time so I fully understood why it mattered.

So now I have a better understanding of where I need to work on my resumes and cover letters, and I've been working on the upgrades. I have a better grasp of how to identify keywords (because it turned out I wasn't as good at that as I thought), and how to better integrate them into my resumes and cover letters, which I am also working on.

Would I have been able to look all this up online and figure it out myself? Maybe. Would I have been able to look all this up online and figure it out myself in one hour? Absolutely not.

Career Consultants are working with people every day from every walk of life to do one thing: help those people get better chance at getting employed where they want to be employed. They know the trends of resumes for certain career types, and know about resources that are at their fingertips but would take you an entire day of careful googling to find. They also can make suggestions that, in your stressed state of trying to find work, would not readily come to you.

If you have gone to Career Consultants before at you county office, make sure to thank them for all their hard work. If you haven't gone there, and you are looking for a career change, or just need some help with your resume, or your cover letter, or your interview tactics, I encourage you to make an appointment. They are there to help.

The Anxiety of Radio Silence and The Keyword Game

Being in the job market is stressful. There are companies to research, job listings to comb through, applications to fill out, people to contact for follow-ups or more information about the company, emails to set up interviews, phone interviews, in-person interviews, and thank you notes to fill out. Along with that, there are resumes for various positions in the career track of interest to tweak, cover letters to write, and practice for interviews which may or may not ever happen.

The worst is, after all that work, all that effort, to be met with radio silence. Apply with your best foot forward, with what you think is your strongest resume and cover letter, send the follow-up inquiry a couple days later, and yet...nothing. No response. The anxiety of what wasn’t good enough swiftly follows if you can’t shake it off and go to the next job.

I keep thinking of search engine optimization in relation to job application systems, fueled by keywords, which HR departments use to “help” them whittle down which resumes they actually look through to determine who gets an interview. As far as I understand it, have all the specific keywords HR has programmed in for that particular job, and the resume is sent to the department for consideration. Don’t have enough keywords, and your resume could be categorized as unfit for the position and HR doesn’t even see it.

I have filled out hundreds of job applications so far, and I’ve had over a dozen interviews, either in person or via phone. Some of these interviews went well (though not well enough to be hired), some interviews did not, but I was happy for the experience they gave me all the same. The anxiety I can’t shake, the thing that makes me wonder, late at night as I research yet another company, is this: if it wasn’t for the keyword system that HR departments have adopted, how many more interviews would I have been offered? Followed immediately by: if it wasn’t for this system, would I have gotten a job already?

Then the last, most pressing question: if that is the game HR managers are playing via keyword system, what is the best way to game that system to my advantage? After all, if I’m going to have to play by these rules, then I should figure out a way to consistently win and acquire an interview. The ultimate win state is to acquire an interview that lands me full-time employment.

Let the games begin.

-A.M.W.

Dress for Success

‘Dress for the job you want’ is a motto that, via fashion and business changes throughout the years, has become significantly more fraught than the last time I was looking for work. There are plenty of places that still do full professional dress as their standard for everyday wear. There are also a significant amount of places that fully lean into business casual for everyday wear, so nice slacks or dark jeans with a polo shirt or blouse is acceptable.

Of course, interview outfits have rarely changed, even if the in-fashion style changes from year to year. I made an effort to acquire up-to-fashion-date interview clothes recently. I found a retailer, Torrid, that carries the most comfortable business slacks I have ever worn. As a bonus, they have varying leg-length sizes so I could get the short inseam version and finally stop having to worry about scuffing my leg cuffs if I don’t wear heels to an interview or meeting. It helps that Torrid has multiple colors too, so depending on how dedicated one is to color coordination between items, there is plenty to choose from both in-store and online. 

At this point I feel I need to say that this blog is not sponsored by Torrid. I named them because I appreciate the fact that they finally created a suit pant that I don’t mind wearing all day because they stay comfortable. In addition, their selection for plus-sized women really is amazing, and keeps up with current fashion trends, which I also deeply appreciate.

In a perfect world, I wouldn't have to worry this much about fashion in order to be perceived as a good candidate for a job when I'm at an interview. Unfortunately, the world we live in is far from perfect, and to that end I have had to critically assess my clothing choices, both past and present, for the past several months. I feel decidedly more confident in my clothing choices as they are now, and my closet is more organized than it has been in years.

So, here is to the New Year, to new job interviews, and to new jobs. I hope that everybody has exactly what they need to get what they want accomplished in 2020!

-A.M.W.