Let’s be truthful, looking for work isn’t fun in the best of times let alone now when the economy has tanked and plenty of articles are screaming that many unemployed will never work again. Introverts can be at an even greater disadvantage because we struggle to network and often just wear out from the whole experience. Many unemployed introverts I know are exhausted from job searching which has led to frazzled emotions – anger, frustration, moodiness, melancholy and even depression. There are a number of ways we introverts can be self-defeating, often without even realizing it.
So let’s talk about your typical day job searching. Whether you rise early or late, drink coffee or tea, check job boards, LinkedIn or anything else related to job searching, some time during the day almost everyone reads blogs – particularly career related blogs. Many introverts I know are avid readers, devouring gobs of information over the course of a day. Certainly keeping up on current career issues is important but much of what you are reading is negative – and I do mean NEGATIVE.
Pull up almost any career blog and notice the headlines…… then scan the comments. Defeated people who’ve sent out hundreds of resumes with not one interview, people angry that they are passed over either because they have a degree or don’t have a degree, people confused, people frustrated. Once you’ve started reading it’s often hard to stop and next thing you know you’ve clicked on a story claiming a world depression is coming or how Congress failed to pass further unemployment benefits or……..some other nasty problem.
Now that you’re in a negative mind frame, you focus on what’s wrong in your life. Maybe your resume isn’t what you’d like but you can’t afford to have one written for you so you change it constantly but are never satisfied. Or you don’t really know what job you want, or anyone to help you figure it out so you feel confused and lost. You think about everything that needs to get done around the house but you have no money to do it. And on and on and on…….. the longer you’re unemployed it seems the faster you can start sliding down the slippery slope of negative thinking. And while some days you’re able to remain hopeful, other days quickly degenerate into fear, worry or the worst of all – complete hopelessness.
But there is hope! There is a way to get on and stay on a more even keel. It is a choice – one that you can make to remain positive by being true to who you are as an introvert and to use your introverted nature to your advantage. In my next blog – The Job Search Part 2 - we’ll talk about the first of three most important things you can do to maintain a positive attitude during your job search.
