Top Ten Job Seeker Mistakes – #5

Mistake #5 is: “Do not get help. Believe they can do things on their own – but don’t, do by learning the hard way and the long way, or think that what worked in the past will work in the future.”

Believe it or not, I believe this is the majority of job seekers. Why?

1. Perhaps they are depressed, discouraged, or despondent at their situation
2. Perhaps they believe that the world has not changed. If they just wait a little be more, the world will return to catering to them.
3. Perhaps they are arrogant. They were successful, so why do they need to listen to anyone else?
4. Perhaps they are naïve or ignorant. They were successful in HR, Finance, operations, IT, or even Sales and Marketing, so why is job seeking different?
5. Perhaps they are too financially impoverished to get help

We will talk about #1 under Job Seeker Mistakes #3.

Whether the world has experienced a paradigm shift economically, politically, demographically, globally, electronically, etc. or not, you can be the judge. The world is what it is and will be what it will be. Experts I know believe the world is continuing to change – becoming more challenging as each year passes. The question is whether you are willing to deal with the world as it is today.

If a person is arrogant, there is nothing that I can say. The best thing that could happen to them is to be humbled; which is what will happen to most of them over time. My pain is seeing their pain in the process.

If they are naïve or ignorant, they are similar to the arrogant. When the pain becomes more acute, perhaps they will be willing to learn.

If they are too financially impoverished to get help, that is merely a polite way to say that they are really in categories 1-4. Why? A lot of help is available for free. This blog is free. Other people like helping other people for free.

Some resources cost money. A book may cost $15-100. A seminar may cost a lot more. A good coach will cost around $200 per hour. Yet, how much money are they losing every day being unemployed? Anyone can afford to be helped. The question of affordability is whether free help is sufficient or if they want the best help that they can afford.

Please get help from somewhere. Everyone needs to lend a hand to someone. We all need someone to lend us a hand when we need help. Ask for help.