By Mary Ann Faremouth,
Becoming our best self is a life-long process. Sometimes that journey is filled with many twists and turns along the way. The thought occurred to me as to how we can expand and grow after the pandemic. So often during our life, we are ruled by a fear of failure, disappointment, facing rejection, etc. JK Rowling once wrote something like “you will never truly know yourself or your strength until tested by adversity.” It is only when our lives become challenging that we see how strong we truly are.
As we prepare for this new journey, we find that by asking better questions now will give you the time to prepare honest responses to ensure better results as well as educate yourself to secure a better job offer in the future. The world will eventually evolve to a “new normal” and, when it does, you need to do all you can to be able to compete in this post-pandemic world.
In the New Work World, if you are serious about securing a job or making a career shift, you will have to “put the pedal to the metal” to really be proactive and make a strong commitment to be able to stand out above the competition. As with any great setback in life, the real winners are those who have resilience and perseverance. You really do have choices as to how you respond and dedicate your energies to create new opportunities for yourself.
The new prospective employer will not tolerate why your resume has formatting issues, why your references won’t return a call, why your LinkedIn profile is not up-to-date and professional, why you have been too stressed out with fear of Covid19, family, kids, etc. These issues and attitudes could very well cost you the job offer later.
Asking Better Questions might allow you to look more appealing than the candidate with more experience who DID NOT prepare. Doing a proper evaluation of yourself will better prepare you when you are competing for the same job with others who may be more qualified than you. Employers will be looking for a candidate with that something extra as they determine the best applicant for the job. You can turn this into a time of reinventing yourself through discovery. Discovery will come about because of your self-analysis in preparation for re-entering the New Work World. History has shown that gain can come out of destruction. The Phoenix will rise from the ashes. It’s important to remember that not only are you, the applicant, going through a new learning curve on how to approach securing a new job, so are companies and employers. The qualities they are seeking are also changing.
Some things to consider are as follows:
- Do a realistic self-analysis to document your skills and weaknesses related to your job and desire to secure a new career. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
- Do research to target a new job or industry which will perhaps be more profitable and secure than the one you currently have or came from.
- Contact previous bosses, if you are NOT currently unemployed, of course, to secure reference letters, inform them of a possible prospective employer calling, and expressing gratitude for them taking the time out of their day to answer any questions about your previous work performance.
- When asked why you might have been laid off, terminated or furloughed in this pandemic, how will you explain? Remember to express gratitude for the experience, reserve any hard feelings about the loss of your unemployment, and omit any negative talk about a particular industry, boss or co-worker.
- Analyze your monthly household living expenses to see if there are ways to cut back so that you are not working for just a paycheck. You want to find employment that is going to satisfy your passion and utilize your skills. It can be worth taking a step back for perhaps a giant step forward. Have you examined your realistic worth in the current market place?
- Clean up ALL SOCIAL MEDIA content. This is more important than you might imagine. Your LinkedIn profile and social media pages should be professional. Make sure all your content does not contain anything inappropriate.
- Find a trusted mentor, friend, previous boss, or family member who you can lean on for support when the stress of your job search becomes overwhelming.
- Engage in mindfulness techniques such as YOGA, meditation, prayer, or visualization to help you get centered and calm down during this process of seeking new employment in the New Work World.
- Make time to exercise, relax and involve yourself in hobbies that you might enjoy and have something fun in your life.
This transformational time can be used as a very important step by re-introducing ourselves to the world as our mask is removed and we are much more in touch with who we are and what we have to offer the world to make it a better place. We are truly finding our place within that new work world and our own world as we emerge a much better version of who we had been. In the process, we may find that our new life is better than the one we left behind.
According to Faremouth’s company website, “Mary Ann is the founder and CEO of Faremouth and Company. As a leader in the national recruiting community and a placement specialist since 1982, Mary Ann knows what it takes to get the job done. She is 2016 President of Houston Independent Personnel Consultant Group, is a member of the NASPD, NAPCA, the National Association of Personnel Consultants, and is also a highly regarded speaker and writer. Her articles can be found in various industry related publications. She founded Jobs: Houston Magazine in 1997, one of the most popular employment magazines in Texas for over 7 years.” She is the author of the critically acclaimed and multi-award winning book Revolutionary Recruiting.
Mary Ann Faremouth is the founder and CEO of Faremouth & Company and a highly regarded recruiter, career consultant, speaker and writer. She has been a placement specialist and a leader in the national recruiting community and has placed thousands of employees since 1982. She was the 2016 president of the Houston Independent Personnel Consultant Group and is a board member of the NASPD (National Association of Steel Pipe Distributors) and Authors Marketing Guild. She specializes in recruitment of professional, clerical, and temporary placements, with a variety of industry specific positions in various fields. Her expertise is in matching quality applicants with the right job, serving companies ranging from thriving independents to global conglomerates, tailoring each engagement to the client’s needs.
Mary Ann holds a CPC (Certified Personnel Consultant) credential, was certified by the Board of Regents of the National Association of Personnel Consultants in Washington, DC, and was awarded an Advanced Communicator Bronze, Advanced Leader Bronze Awards by Toastmasters. She cofounded Jobs: Houston magazine in 1997. Mary Ann maintains affiliations with professional organizations in various other industries, including oil and gas, financial, construction, IT, and structural, mechanical, and civil engineering. She has a keen understanding of the marketplace and its specialized needs and requirements.
Mary Ann brings a wealth of expertise to clients looking for the right individual to maximize and empower their team. As a consultant she is available to assist both the applicant and the client to quickly adapt to the New Work World. She also offers virtual and in-person workshops to guide individuals through personalized self-discovery to find new career paths. She continues to build her affiliations with recognized leadership organizations to best serve her clients and applicants by creating a network of highly professional contacts throughout the world. She utilizes her platform as a writer and speaker through her articles and affiliations to reach those in need of help, offering hands-on guidance to navigate this uncharted territory. (More information on www.faremouth.com)
Mary Ann’s award-winning first book Revolutionary Recruiting has been listed by Book Authority as Number #1 of the Best 100 Recruiting Books; #1 Best Seller, Non-Fiction by Amazon (2019); Top 20 Recruiting books by Recruitics; Readers’ Choice finalist (2019) by Houston Literary Awards; Best Non-Fiction (2018), Best Cover (2019), and Best Self-Help (2018) by Authors Marketing Guild. Her books support individuals and corporations, teaching them how to tap into each candidate’s unrealized potential to find the right person for each job, maximizing both employee satisfaction as well as the employer’s bottom line. Mary Ann also showcases her expertise of the recruiting world on a monthly podcast for The Price of Business and weekly articles for USA Business. Mary Ann lives in Houston, Texas.