How To Maintain A Positive Mindset When Looking For a New Job
Leading from within, enables others to do the same. Leadership therefore becomes the shining light to help others on their path to wholeness, great teamwork and positive results. I help leaders develop self- mastery, helping them to become confident in their own inner guidance. I collaborate with leadership experts, managers and HR professionals to help them get their own message and unique services and products to a wide audience. FCIPD Qualified with a BA Hons in Life Long Learning, Diploma and Certifcate in Coaching. Resident Guest HR Columnist for Barclays Connector. Connect with Christina https://linktr.ee/christinalattimer
So, your current job has come to an end. Whether you’ve been let go or you know it’s time to move on, it can be a disorienting experience if you haven’t yet secured a new position. Feelings of fear and uncertainty can arise in any situation. If you’ve been let go, you might feel bruised and disappointed. However, in this article, I want to guide you through some techniques to maintain a positive mindset while searching for a new job.
The Journey from fear to expectation
You might be thoroughly excited about this new path. If so, congratulations; it’s always a bonus when you can maintain that positivity immediately. However, for many people, the prospect of having to find a new job can be just fear-filled and daunting. You can develop a positive mindset when searching for a new job. Here, I set out on the journey from fear to expectation.
Acknowledge what you are feeling
If you are feeling apprehensive, fearful, or uncertain, then don’t try to distract yourself from your emotions. Allow your feelings to come up and sit with them. When you suppress feelings of fear or sadness, they stay there. They become trapped in your body, and often unconsciously, they affect everything you do. Sometimes, it can be scary to let those feelings come up. However, you must know they will pass. They are not permanent fixtures. Allowing them to come up is a form of releasing them.
Discover The Thoughts Under the Feelings and Change Them
You may be feeling fear or sadness for several reasons. Your feelings are a direct consequence of the story you are telling yourself. I worked with a client who had lost his job 12 months before our collaboration, and he was still angry and hurt by being let go in such an abrupt manner.
When we started examining the narrative that was fueling his anger, he realised he could look at things from a different perspective. As soon as he discovered this, his whole attitude changed. He decided not to tell himself that he had been overlooked and discarded any longer. I asked him if he thought he might be able to see that the loss of the job might open up opportunities to do something else. He then began to discuss his dream job. Within 3 or 4 months, he wrote to me, glowing, having secured a position, and, yes, it was his dream job.
Reframe your story and reclaim your power
When your job comes to an end, you must keep the transferable skills and abilities at the forefront of your mind. You must record your achievements and ensure that you remember all the good you have accomplished. It is also an opportunity to bring your existing journey to life and tell the story of your experience in a new way. Highlight any challenges and achievements you are proud of. In this way, you keep your self-worth at the forefront of your mind. This enables you to explore new opportunities with the confidence that comes from the value you can bring. Not whether you are good enough. Because you are good enough.
If you have difficulties positively reframing your experience and story, enlist people who are close to you or know how you work to ask them to tell you positive ways you have worked.
If you are feeling apprehensive, fearful, or uncertain, then don’t try to distract yourself from your emotions.
CHRISTINA LATTIMER
Recognizing transferable skills helps you into a positive mindset
You have developed a range of skills in previous jobs or experiences, and you need to acknowledge these and give yourself credit for all you have achieved. Recognise your strengths and how you have made a positive difference. Then, select the skills that are generic, such as communication skills, leadership skills, or your ability to find solutions, for example. In this way, you are able to relate your skills to different jobs which you may not have experienced, but you have the underlying skills to learn a new discipline.
When considering new opportunities, identify the essential criteria and match your skills, giving examples of how you have met that criteria. Don’t miss any out; make sure you have demonstrated the skills underlying each one. This makes it easier for the hiring manager to understand you have the skills needed to do the job.
But deeper than this, when you meet that criterion, it helps you develop the “can do” mindset, which in turn gives you the confidence to apply for jobs that might be outside your comfort zone. It may also identify those jobs for which it isn’t worth applying for, so you are not expending unnecessary time on those for which you are just not a fit.
Set out and visualise the role you truly want
When you deal with your negative emotions and pivot them to a more positive story, then list the attributes you want in a job. It might be you want to make a difference. You might want to work with a particular type of team. What will the culture look like? The list doesn’t have to be specific in terms of the role, but you do have to identify what will create a job you enjoy. Once you have your list, you can then evaluate opportunities to see if they are a good fit for you.
This means you won’t settle for just any job in the long term, even if you may have to settle for something financially viable in the short term that doesn’t quite fit. But if that’s the case, you will be motivated to keep looking and move on when you recognise your ideal job.
Affirmations can help you keep focused and clear. They can help you maintain a positive mindset when looking for a new job. You have to write what comes into your own mind because those affirmations are more powerful, but you might want to remind yourself, for example, “I am attracting a role that means I can use my skills and strengths and inspires me.” Contradict any doubts because doubt gets in the way of your progress. Turn your affirmation into the belief that your ideal opportunity will come.
Replace hopelessness with expectancy
Initially, you feel fear and uncertainty, which can lead to a sense of hopelessness. However, if you follow the steps in this article, your mindset pivots toward expectancy. So you can turn from “I’m scared about my future and what’s available” to “the right thing is coming along, and I will know it when I see it”. That shift is potent. And yes, you can make that shift. The shift might not come all at once, but if you persevere, it will come, and the right job will come along with it.
Keep moving forward; taking small, consistent steps will help you maintain a positive mindset when looking for a new job. You can do this.
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