Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger! (Nietzsche)

Summoning up confidence and courage isn’t impossible, if the Cowardly Lion from Oz can do it, so can you!
Dastardly things can happen when you are looking for a job. One of our clients, attending their first interview after being made redundant 4 months ago, was asked why it had taken so long to get an interview! They felt good up until then! They had not thought about how others would judge them because they had taken a break, they certainly had not thought it would make them look bad!
There is nothing like having doubts imposed on you by others and searching for a job means exposing ourselves to the views, judgements and opinions of others. The news and the media also delight in spreading doom and gloom and work tirelessly to paint the unemployed as some disadvantaged and different group of people. Keeping your individuality and rising above the opinions, judgements and views of others can be a real challenge.
Confidence can be sorely tested if you receive lots of “We’ll keep your details on file” type letters, but this happens, in all walks of life, even to the most successful. The Chicken Soup for the Soul books refer to many successes such as Walt Disney, Margaret Mitchell and Norman Vincent Peale (the father of positive thinking), who all faced rejection, debt and even bankruptcy before their books or ideas were finally successful.
Most people think they need to feel confident in order to go out and get a job, but it actually works the other way round. To do something well you have to practice and that is how you get confident. You just have to “fake it till you make it” and view each interview and speculative phone call as another step on the road to success. Every application you make will generate feedaback, you can assess your approach and note down the feedback you get and this will help you to adapt your approach in future. If what you are doing is not working, try something else!
That’s why we created Job Prospector, Lionel and I have both faced many challenges in our lives and many times when our confidence has been knocked. We’ve learnt that being organised and feeling in control helps us to keep moving forward. Job Prospector gives users an advantage because it helps them to take a proactive approach to their job seeking and it enables them to manage all the information that an active job seeker generates.
You can also try doing something every day towards securing your perfect job, make one application, read a book, learn a new skill, do some research, revisit your C.V make a few speculative phone calls. Whatever you do will move you one step closer.
We wish you luck with your Job search and hope that Job Prospector helps you to keep your confidence high – to find out more visit www.codepro.co.uk