Yes, you need to pay the bills. In that sense, any job is a good job.
My experience is, however, that the more targeted you are in terms of the kind of job you want, the more likely you are to get it. I have seen people desperate for a job finally get one when they decided exactly what they want to do. It may seem counterintuitive, but here’s the cycle I’ve witnessed time and again:
· You decide what’s really in your heart and soul to do for work – most specifically, the skills and talents and abilities you most want to use again. Doing your “must have” list for a job will give you the chance to be really specific; a guide for creating your Must Have List is on my blog following this post.
· You formulate a concise “intention” statement that clearly communicates what you want to do, and you can easily say it to people without any “ums” or uncertainty. It’s your 30-second “elevator speech.” You can write it in e-mails to people, who then see exactly what you want to do.
· You start talking to people about your intention. The specificity helps people think of CONCRETE possibilities. They hear your sincerity and passion, and it is contagious. They think of people who are connected in the industry. You talk to everyone about what you want to do because who knows? Your dry cleaner may know someone who knows someone.
· You indicate that you are open to doing pro bono or volunteer work. You take on some volunteer work, simply because it keeps you involved in practicing your craft. This goes on your resume, keeping it current. It also puts you in the world of work, raising your spirits and giving you something to talk about with others. You also are now able to network naturally, in the course of doing your volunteer work.
· You update your LinkedIn profile to add the pro bono work, so your network gets an update and you may come to someone’s attention who knows someone who knows someone.
· Maybe you also create a brochure advertising your services as a consultant. Every time I’ve helped create consulting brochures, they get job interviews and in two cases, jobs, within a few weeks. I think it’s because they’ve gotten very specific about the kind of work they are willing to do as a consultant, what kind of value they will add as a consultant, and the kind of clients they want to work for.
The point is that you are IN ACTION, committed fully to getting exactly what you want. Maybe it’s the “power of intention” or the Law of Attraction or simply you are energized enough by your decision that things start to fall into place.
· You see a job posting, write a compelling cover letter – because it has passion and intention behind it – and get the interview.
· You meet someone for an informational interview and s/he offers to introduce you to someone higher up in their company or key at another company, or offers you some freelance work as a try-out.
· Someone tells you about the perfect job, you go in and nail the interview because you are passionate about using your skills and adding value to the employer – helping them reach their goals.
In sum, while I support you getting work to pay the bills, you’ll probably have to do almost the same amount of work to get anything as you will to get something targeted.
I recommend doing the small additional bit of work to target your search, get your energy up and your momentum going. All your efforts will be toward a specific goal which has to be more effective than spreading them out across a huge spectrum of possible jobs.
If I travel somewhere, I use a map. The same principle applies to job search. Know where you want to go and it will be infinitely easier to get there.
