I have been noticing how my emotional moods have been changing based on what is happening in my job search. Last week, I found two good jobs to apply for.
A little side track is needed here. There are several types of jobs that I apply for. The lowest level would be a job to insure that I make the counts for unemployment. I have had a few of these at Boeing, but I never really needed them because I have always been able to find enough jobs so far.
There are also jobs that I’m sure my chances of getting a call back are slim. Jobs where I am really pushing the limit on my qualifications. I keep applying for Boeing first level management positions, thinking that someone might want to give me a chance at management. But it is more realistic to think that they are easily able in this economy to find plenty of people. But what the hell, it only takes a few seconds and at least when I was in Boeing, I was qualified to go into management, I just never did.
Then there is a class of jobs, or maybe it would be better to say several classes of jobs that I am qualified for and if offered I would probably try hard to get it, but deep down would rather not have. These take time to apply for and they warrant this time. These are bill paying jobs, something that I could be good at, but my heart might not be fully present. These seem more important as time passes and we see the end of the severance pay getting closer.
And then the last classification is jobs that I really want. Jobs that make my head spin thinking about them. These don’t come along often. The phone interview I did at Children’s was for a job like this. These have the combination of: being in my field (helping organizations and people improve performance and manage change); it includes plenty of areas where I can grow and learn; includes coaching and mentoring others; and is with a stellar organization that is performing well by the world. The Children’s job met all of these criteria.
I’m finding that these jobs don’t come up often.
Ok, end of the side track. Last week I found two such positions that I am looking at. And with this my mood has improved quite a bit.
The interview with Children’s was on May 20th, about three weeks ago. The following week I was working on another interview for a job that was exciting, but in the end it got canceled before I was interviewed.
I have felt my mood inch down since then. Little by little each day when I would search and I would find some positions, but nothing that was really exciting. Nothing that would truly nourish my soul. Just finding jobs that would pay the bills.
Then Thursday, I found the another exciting position and spent the afternoon applying for it. The next morning, I found the second one, and I’m still working on the application for this one.
I wondered if I could improve my cover letters, so I did some searching on the internet. Here is a blog listing called 8 steps to a perfect cover letter with some hints that I found helpful:
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2005/08/26/8-steps-to-a-perfect-cover-letter/
My mood is better. Finding these positions has put me in a Cover Letter High, a euphoric state that lasts until all hope of getting called for an interview is extinguished. I imagine it will last through my completing the applications, and it is easy to keep my spirits up for the week after in anticipation of hearing something back. The week after that things start to become raggedy. I feel the mood inching downward and I feel larger swings happen, like if I find nothing while searching my mood will go down more and then it might pop up again because something small happens, but then resume its down trend soon after.
I guess what I need to do is just make sure that I find another really exciting job to apply for before the end of the second week.
Even better is to fully enjoy the CL high and follow it with a healthy dose of Interview Intoxication.
Today’s quote is the area that I’m working in today’s blog:
Too often we underestimate how quickly our feelings are going to change because we underestimate our ability to change them.
-- David Gilbert, Ph.D.
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