Five Shiny Nuggets of Careers Gold

MSCC Job Hunt Special - PART ONE!

BEFORE WE START!

I know we’ve barely finished with Halloween, but the mince pies are in the shops already and that must mean it’s almost time for the MSCC careers advent calendar!

I have done these for 5 years now, and last year was the best ever - mainly because it was full of suggestions from you - so this year I want you to help me make it EVEN BETTER!

I would love for you to share one thing that has helped you in your so-called career. It could be a piece of advice, a tool or technique, a person, a book, a quote, a song, a practice, a lesson you learned…

Whatever you like.  So long as it’s legal I want to know about it. 

And I need 24 of them so get thinking! Please share your suggestions below👇

And now, onto the main event!

How are you doing? 

Those of you who follow me on Linkedin or Instagram might know this already, but in the last couple of weeks I have sold my home of 13 years, had an offer accepted on a house by the sea in Folkestone, and had confirmation that I am still free of cancer after 4 years. 

IT has been ALOT!

October was incredibly full on and I have loved the sense of possibility and freedom it has brought with it, but at the same time I am very much ready for a calmer, more steady pace in November, so I will be hunkering down with my cats and some craft projects. 

This is part one of a two part newsletter special!

While I am hiding under my blanket, a lot of you are navigating the particular careers quagmire that is the dreaded job hunt, so I decided to share some tips on how to make it less shit and stressful because it is a really tough market right now, and I know a lot of you are feeling it.

It’s not impossible - have faith, there are jobs out there and actual people are getting them - but competition is high and budgets are low so you need to be prepared to put the work in and weather inevitable disappointments along the way, even more so than usual.  

Some of you might have seen this post the other week about the process someone adopted (by choice) to stand out for a role she really wanted at Microsoft.  It’s a lot🫣, and we can’t rely on being able to do this for every job we apply for even if we wanted to (and there is a whole ranty newsletter I will save for later about what some companies feel it is ok to ask for in a recruitment process right now!) -  but there is a lot that we can do to make sure we’re not leaving anything to chance.

So get ready to scale up your scaffolding, nurture your networks, connect with your community and make sure your materials are working hard for you - CV, cover letters, Linkedin profile - it’s time to make them all sing in this two part job hunt special!!!

If you are struggling to stay upbeat through protracted recruitment processes, ghost roles, being ghosted by recruiters and concerned friends and family beginning every conversation with ‘how’s the job hunt going?’, which quickly becomes almost as offensive as ‘so, when are you planning on having children?’, this is for you.

Enjoy!

PJ

🙋🏻‍♀️ Work With Me

If you are feeling stuck in your job hunt and could do with some support, hit me up and say hi!

1️⃣ Make a commitment to yourself, write it down and keep it somewhere visible to help you stay focused, motivated and consistent.  Be specific about the role, sector or salary you are seeking, and the timeframe you are targeting. Remind yourself of the difference a new job will make to your life - if you are looking for more money, what does the higher salary represent to you?  If you are seeking less stress, what will you do with the extra energy?  Sick of the same old projects, focus on how it feels to learn something new.

2️⃣ Build the scaffolding that will hold you steady so you don’t get tempted to jack it in and stick with what you know even if it’s long past it’s sell by date, or take the first job you’re offered even if it has so many red flags you could use it as bunting.

💡 Identify what Squiggly Careers call your career comfort blankets - the people who are a source of support, who help you see your strengths and own your experience and make plans with them.

🧘🏻‍♀️ Make time for activities that energise you.  All work and no play will leave you feeling frayed and frustrated.

🏖️ Mix up your work spaces.  Spend time working in spaces where you feel expansive and energised and more positive about the process.

🥂 Don’t make it a zero sum game.  How will you celebrate small successes and mark meaningful milestones along the way? 

Know the difference between a nice to have and a non-negotiable.  Don’t make your criteria so specific that nothing makes it through your filters. 

4️⃣ Focus on consistency rather than motivation

Motivation is a fickle mistress. She comes and she goes, she ebbs and she flows. She is NOT to be relied upon when it comes to job hunting. Instead, create a system you can maintain, that has the right balance of structure and flexibility for your specific situation and your nature.

Work out how much time per week you have available to dedicate to your job hunt.

Decide where you will make space for it, and block out time accordingly in your calendar.

Don’t give yourself the dog ends of your energy. If you do your best work in the morning, can you do an hour before you do anything else? If you hit your focus peak in the evening (Hi! - me too 👋🏻) then that’s the time to dedicate to this.

Be specific about what you will do in each slot. ‘Work on job hunt’ is too broad. The lack of specificity can make it harder to get started, and prevents you from accessing the dopamine hits of micro achievement.

At the start of each week, think about what you want to achieve, break that down into tasks and allocate the tasks across your sessions. The wonderful Graham Allcott has great suggestions on attention mapping and task matching in his book How to be a productivity ninja 🥷🏻

An accountability buddy can come in super handy here, to share your progress with, stop you beating yourself up when you hit an inevitable bump in the road, and celebrate each week’s wins.

5️⃣ Create your own confidence conditions Instead of thinking 'I need to be confident to take action', start with 'I need to take action to be confident'.   What actions can you start to take right away so you aren't waiting until you feel confident to take your first step?

This could include…..

⭐ Asking for strengths based, or positive feedback from colleagues, managers, mentors and others in your network.  This could be direct or via Linkedin - both have their benefits. A quick Whatsapp message to a few people will give you a boost, while a more formal LI recommendation will show potential employers or colleagues what it’s like to work with you.

⭐ Reflect on the last 12/18 months. What have you worked on? What have you achieved? What has gone well, what are you proud of?  As well as giving you a confidence boost, you are collecting evidence for applications and interviews to come.

⭐ Identify your transferable talents vs your specific skills

⭐ Identify the people who can help you over the coming months and think about how to reconnect and nurture those relationships so they are strong for you when you need them.

⭐ Think about the new capabilities you might need to develop as you go through this process. The things that feel uncomfortable or exposing so you don't do them. You might need to start with a smaller, more accessible version of some of them, or build yourself some really heavy duty scaffolding to hold yourself steady.

⭐ Ask yourself what you will do if it takes longer than you hope? We don’t like to think the unthinkable in case it happens, but if it takes 6 months longer than you’d like to find a new job are you happy to maintain the status quo? What other options might you be willing or able to explore?

I really hope you’ve found these suggestions helpful.  If you are job hunting and could do with a boost, hit reply and say Hi! I would love to hear from you.

In next month’s newsletter, you will get 5 more tips focusing on the process and materials - CV, cover letter, linkedin, interview prep and working your connections, and the usual format will be back (with some tweaks) in the for the 2024 finale in December.

Don’t forget to share your advent calendar suggestions before you go!

I want to hear one thing that has helped you in your so-called career that might help someone else in 2025.

Take care, PJ 💖

💌 KEEP IN TOUCH 💌

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