There are 3 types of people: winners, losers, and…

I heard Les Brown, the famous motivational speak say this –

There are 3 types of people, winners, losers, and people who haven’t discovered how to win.

If you’ve been looking for a job for a long time without success, you might be tempted to think of yourself as a loser at the job search game, but the fact is that you aren’t; you just have to figure out how to win the game.

In my last post I talked about how listening to the “bad” news about the employment outlook can discourage job seekers so much that many have given up and abandoned their efforts to find a job; they believe that there just aren’t any jobs out there. This negative thinking that will set you up for failure and sabotage your efforts. The truth is that there are many jobs out there; you just have to use the best methods for finding them.

A number of years ago, I worked with a woman named Susan who had been out of work for more than a year. Susan was in her early 50’s, the victim of downsizing, and looking for a job as an office manager. By the time she came to me to write her resume and give her job search pointers, she was desperate and willing to take a lower level job.

As I recommended, she did her best to use multiple methods for finding a job. In addition to using traditional methods (responding to advertised positions), she also focused on networking and directly contacting companies.

There was a small restaurant she frequented while searching for a job in NYC where Susan became friends with the waitress who worked there. The waitress told her that she heard that there was a job opening in the company across the street for a property manager. While Susan didn’t have direct experience with property management, she knew she was capable and would be able to do the job. Thanks to the waitress, she was able to set up an interview with the prospective employer.  When he expressed doubt about her ability to be a property manager since she had no prior experience, Susan offered to work without pay for two weeks to prove that she could do the work. She did such a great job that she was hired and paid for the two weeks she worked.

The moral of this true story is:

Never give up.

Believe it’s possible and that opportunities will come your way because you never know where your next job will come from!