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Get On Your Feet

You have everything in place. Your CV sells you well. You know what you want. Support is on hand if life gets in the way. But still no progress? Maybe it’s time to step up.

By stepping up, I mean getting onto our feet, putting one in front of the other and making a move. It can be hard to get going but new things won’t come to us. We have to go looking.

I DON’T DO JOBHUNTING

There are skills and qualities for doing the job but there are a different set of skills and qualities for getting the job in the first place. Sometimes they are the same, sometimes they are not.

Take emails. Someone may want to work in a landlord’s repairs team. The last thing they think they ever need to do is send an email. (Chances are, everyone will at some time.) But regardless, to apply they have to submit a CV online. Do we stand back and say: ‘I don’t do computers’ or get on with it?

Finding some motivation is essential for both jobhunting and any job we’re going for. If we’ve followed all the 7 Signs, (reviewed last issue), everything should be in place. We should be on track for the right job, right now. So if we still cannot be bothered, something is going wrong.

If it really is the right job and it still isn’t getting us going, do we need something more? It might be just a little emotional support and talking things through with friends or family might help. Or it could be something more, depression even, and it’s time to talk to a doctor. After all, one of the 7 Signs is finding help when we need it.

CHECK THE ATTITUDE

If it’s not that we’re feeling low then we should ask if we need to look at our attitude. Sometimes when we ‘just don’t wanna’, we get really good at putting excuses in our way. ‘It’s not the right time.’ ‘They won’t want me.’ ‘I’d be better off on benefits…’

Over time, no-one will be better off on benefits, rather than in work. The screws are being tightened and slice by slice, benefit payments will become harder to live on. Moving into work, though, will not mean benefits are switched off like they used to be. That should help motivate us.

It’s easy to show motivation when we really do mean business about finding work. It’s called ‘going for it’.

Jeff Mitchell is editor of Quids in! money management magazine and author of I’m Ready – 7 signs that show you’re right for the job.

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