Positive thinking is a must for your job search—a positive person is more confident and gets hired faster. Negative thinking erodes our confidence, holds us back from doing the things we should be doing, and makes us miserable in the meantime.
We are following the points from great article by Mark Tyrrell on How to Stop Negative Thinking in 7 Simple Steps and applying them to your job search to help you stay positive.
See How to Stop Negative Thinking and Stay Positive in Your Job Search – Part 1
See How to Stop Negative Thinking and Stay Positive in Your Job Search – Part 2
See How to Stop Negative Thinking and Stay Positive in Your Job Search – Part 3
Mark says that the 4th step to staying positive is ‘Stop mind-reading.’ Mind-reading causes us to assign motives (usually negative ones) to other people’s behavior before we have any hint about the real reason.
This is a classic job search problem. If a hiring manager hasn’t called you back, you may automatically assume that he or she doesn’t like you. Or, if you contact a hiring manager about a job and don’t receive a reply, you may assume that he or she is annoyed with you for reaching out. The reality is much more likely to be that the hiring manager just got sidetracked with work. Remember that while they’re trying to hire someone for this new position, they are also meeting deadlines, dealing with problems, and managing the other people who work for them. Make sure you stop to think about all the possibilities they haven’t called that have nothing to do with you.
There are 3 things you can do to stop or combat negative mind-reading in your job search:
- In any given situation, think of all the reasons for it that have nothing to do with you. If the hiring manager hasn’t called back after your interview, assume that they got sidetracked by work—and then help them out by picking up the phone and calling them to follow up. If you are contacting hiring managers to get an interview, and haven’t heard a response, don’t assume that they didn’t like your resume—assume that they may not need someone yet, wait a bit, and contact them again.
- Expect something wonderful to happen. When you expect good things out of a situation, you approach it smiling, with confidence and enthusiasm. Not only will you feel better, your positivity will radiate and be attractive to hiring managers.
- Create so many opportunities that you don’t have time to obsess over them, and it doesn’t hurt to lose one. Most people job search by finding one good opportunity and focusing on it until they win it or lose it. There’s a lot of time to think built into that, and if you don’t move forward, it’s easy to feel rejected and defeated.
Instead, contact hundreds of hiring managers. Send your resume in for lots of jobs. Go to every interview you get asked to (not only is this good practice, I’ve seen job seekers offered a different (often better) job once the hiring manager meets them and realizes what they’re capable of.
This way, if one company doesn’t call you back, you won’t care so much because you’ve got 100 more you’re waiting to hear from. If one interview doesn’t work out, you’ve got 3 more next week. Having more opportunities in the pipeline will take the sting out of any rejection, and limit your mind-reading time because you’re busy preparing for the next thing. Always consider what you could have done better, but then don’t beat yourself up about it, because you can’t change it now. Just do better next time.
Stay focused on your opportunities, and make sure you have a lot. Expect something wonderful to happen in this job search, and remember that it will—you WILL end up with a job.