The Career Refresh with Jill Griffin

Maintain Confidence During Your Job Search

Season 6 Episode 151

Sometimes when we've been looking for a job for a while, it's hard to believe that a new job is coming. Searching for a job when we are frustrated or in doubt makes the whole process harder. In this episode, I talk about:

  • The three pieces of our career story we have to tell
  • Why we must examine our thoughts
  • Why affirmations and thought journaling alone don't create results
  • How to create belief and stay there!
  • What you need to practice regularly

Support the show

Jill Griffin helps leaders and teams thrive in today's complex workplace. Leveraging her extensive experience to drive multi-million-dollar revenues for brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Samsung, and Hilton Hotels, Jill applies a strategic lens to workplace performance, skillfully blending strategy and mindset to increase professional growth, enhance productivity, and career satisfaction across diverse organizations.

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

  • Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
  • Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
  • Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
  • Keynote Speaking
  • Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

Speaker 1:

Hi, welcome to the Career Refresh podcast. I'm your host, jill Griffin. I'm a former media and marketing executive, turned career strategist and executive coach. I spent my career working my way up and through the ranks of global organizations and startups, and today I show others how to be the same. Join me each week as we discuss the strategies and actionable steps to leverage your strengths, increase your confidence and develop your career. Well-being Ready, let's do it. Hey there, this is the Career Refresh and I'm Jill Griffin. All right, friends.

Speaker 1:

This podcast is something that I've been wanting to talk about again for a while. I talked about this many episodes ago, but it is about how you change your belief. It is mindset and mindset. A lot of times people are like oh, develop a positive mindset. Mindset isn't about always putting a positive spin on something, or it's like trying to force yourself to believe something that you don't believe, because when you try to do that, what happens is nothing. It's like putting something on a post-it note in your bathroom mirror that sits in front of you and it just becomes wallpaper because you don't believe it yet. Or every time you see that thought, you think, oh, yeah, and it almost makes you feel a little bit bad. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about finding the collection of thoughts and beliefs that you hold true and that you can repeat often and even if you're like, well, I kind of believe it, but I don't always believe it, that's a good place to start. Your mindset shapes who you are and also what you're going to achieve, because your thought creates a feeling inside you and then from that feeling, you're going to take an action or an inaction. Right, because everything we do in life is because of how we want to feel or because of a feeling we want to avoid.

Speaker 1:

So much of the work that I do right now, as the marketplace is shifting I mean we still have low unemployment, we still have high wages, but as more and more layoffs are being announced and they're being announced by the larger companies and therefore with the larger companies, we all go oh gosh. And then there's the adjacent companies that support and they start making layoffs and people start getting into their mind. And it's about management of your mind. I'm not saying it doesn't suck to get laid off. I'm not saying it doesn't feel uncomfortable to hear about layoffs. It's not what we're doing. It's really looking at the facts around your particular situation and deciding how you want to approach it. It's about reviewing and rethinking everything you know and believe about your thoughts, your career, your life, your reality and what you're creating and again, this is not positive affirmations.

Speaker 1:

In order to create lasting change, you have to take small steps and then repeatedly look at those thoughts over time. I was just speaking to a client this morning and we were talking about okay, we're four months into the year, what do we want to create for the remaining eight months of this year? Where do we want to be? And you know, if we're looking at it calendarly right, where do we want to be in December? And if the idea is that you are going to be in a higher level position, then not getting a callback today or not getting the response when you sent out the resume or you went on the interview and you haven't heard from them. That just becomes data. Because if you really believe by the end of the year that you are going to be in a job that is fulfilling and meeting your needs financially, emotionally, mentally then the pieces of feedback and data along the way getting ghosted, not hearing back from the recruiter Again, I know these suck, but we also have a choice to go okay, what is it that I can do differently?

Speaker 1:

Is there something I need to fine tune in my story? Is there something I need to tell differently in my career narrative? How am I answering that question? Is there a better way for me to answer that question? To be more thorough in answering that question?

Speaker 1:

You know I often say in order to get a job, we need to be telling the story about how our skills are repeatable, scalable and transferable. Repeatable I've done it before. I can do it again. Scalable I can work in a small department or a startup and I can also scale that to a large piece of business. I can work in a large piece of business and I also know how to scale that down to be effective within a startup. Right, repeatable, scalable, transferable. Transferable I've done this type of work in this type of an environment, but here's how it works in another type of environment. We have to be telling those stories because if we are not telling those stories, then the person we are interviewing with or the recruiter, the person we're talking to, is going to make assumptions. So we are going to lead them.

Speaker 1:

So, coming back to mindset, a positive mindset comes from thinking purposefully and practicing those beliefs. For me, it starts when I get up in the morning. It's thinking ahead of time what do I wanna accomplish today? What do I wanna think about? What do I wanna do? Who do I wanna be? Who do I need to become? What do I need to be thinking in order to create that result? It's constantly thinking on purpose and, as I say all the time, this is a multimillion dollar machine and you can't see me, but I'm pointing to my forehead, my brain. This is a multimillion dollar machine and what do I wanna put in there?

Speaker 1:

I understand that it's hard because we live in this instant gratification culture. Everybody wants the thing now, but there's no shortcut. The shortcut is doing the work. And it's funny because if you went to a school in the US an average public school we were not taught around mindset. We were not taught the idea that we have an opportunity within our capabilities. I'm not talking about like I get to be Superman because I think I wanna be Superman, right. I'm talking about within my capabilities, we get to create the results we want.

Speaker 1:

I think if we were taught that not everything we believe is true and that we actually can change our thoughts. We probably would have saved a lifetime of obsessing over thoughts that aren't serving us. I see that people want change fast and they always are like super frustrated when they can't get the change. Or they went on the interview and they haven't heard back, or they've send out the resume. And again, I am not saying it's not hard, but this is all the more reason why we need to constantly be managing our thoughts, because if you're sending out resumes or updating your LinkedIn profile or China network and you're thinking it's hard, then you're taking all of your action from hard and it's going to show up in your results, right? I'm guessing you've all been there where you've interviewed someone to work on your team and their resume looks great and you look at them and you're like there's something off here. It's because there's a disconnection between their thoughts, their experience and how they were showing up. And that's what I'm talking about. Friends, there is action we can take Actually get in the market, doing networking, making sure our resume is representing the story we want to tell, making sure our LinkedIn is the story we want to tell, having networking conversations. There's definitely action we can take, but we also need to constantly be thinking about how it is that we're working our mind.

Speaker 1:

You can never solve a thought problem with an action. I'm gonna say that again you cannot solve a thought problem with an action. You can't act your way out of bad thinking. It'll help a little bit, but that bad boy is gonna come back. I was talking to a client recently who just did a round of 75 hard, and if you wanna know what that is, google to get the full things. It's Andy Frazella. But here's the net. Net it's 75 days, two workouts a day, 45 minutes each workout. One has to be outside. It's, I think, 10 minutes of reading a nonfiction book every day and you cannot listen to a podcast or an audio book. You have to actually be reading. And then it's like pick a diet and stick to it for 75 days. No excuses If you stop doing it. You then have to start over again.

Speaker 1:

I am neither endorsing or not endorsing this program. I'm simply telling you that a client of mine was doing this and what she said was that now that she's back there on the interview circuit and goes through certain rounds and then it goes quiet for a while and she's not sure if she's been ghosted or what's happening and it starts to feel panicky because she wants to get a job again. I get that like that's valid, no doubt. But she said that when she was doing 75 hard, she didn't have these negative thoughts. And here's where I disagree with her. She didn't have the negative thoughts because she was just distracting her negative thoughts with something else. And then she said well, when I was walking every day, I was processing, right, but processing is like therapy, which is super helpful, but in order to move forward, in order to have different thoughts, you have to spend time building them. It's like every time I have a negative thought if I pick up social media or alcohol or food or an argument with someone, right, I'm putting something in between me so that I don't have to feel what I don't wanna feel.

Speaker 1:

For 75 days, working out 90 minutes a day twice, you know, two 45 minute blocks and doing all these other things, that's a distraction. Again, it's a good distraction, but it's a distraction and it kids us. Because if we thought that taking that walk and processing what we were thinking was actually moving us forward, then we would have moved forward. But processing what had happened, without processing your emotion, seeing what you're thinking today, seeing. Is it serving you? Do I wanna stay in this? Do I wanna sit in this dirty diaper? Do I wanna think about this differently? That's what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1:

Thinking about what happened is one thing. Doing like self coaching for yourself and really asking yourself is this serving me? That's where we want you to go, because, the end of the day, if you knew that all the job interviews you were going on right now and you'd have a job in 90 days, how would you be thinking about not getting returned phone calls or delayed responses or the failures that you've had along the way or I didn't get the job again? I'm not saying it's not going to be disappointing, but you wouldn't let it stop you. If you knew for sure, you believed for sure that you are going to have a job. You wouldn't let these, these pieces of information, these feet, this feedback along the way, the ghosting from the recruiter, the I've applied to a hundred jobs off of linkedin and haven't heard from one of them you wouldn't let it stop you because you would stay in belief.

Speaker 1:

But that belief doesn't just happen. You have to build that belief. You have to find a thought it's possible, I can get a job. I'm willing to believe I can get a job. I'm learning how to get a job. I'm learning how to get a job in this marketplace. I'm learning how to play the game in this marketplace. Those are the thoughts that then you can start revving on. You're like, okay, that feels a little bit better than I'm never going to get a job. And then you start revving on those. So then you start thinking, oh differently, because you cannot be in the negative thinking and be in the strategic solution of moving forward. It is biologically impossible, friends. This is fight versus flight. You cannot be fighting the fight in the action and also be thinking strategically. One has to stop in order to do the other.

Speaker 1:

Thinking about your thoughts is a star, but, depending on what those thoughts are, it can keep you in a thought loop. That's one of the challenges with just journaling. If you're constantly just writing the same things over and over and you're not working on a plan to change the thoughts that don't serve you, then you stay where you are, and that's what my client was doing when she was saying that she was well thinking while exercising. She was just in a thought loop. The way to change your thoughts is to process all of this. So first recognize what you're thinking, write it down. I'm going to tell you that's always the easiest way. Whether you're a pen and paper person where you want to open your notes app, write it down and watch the critical self talk.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't matter what your thought is if it's not serving you, but either way, if you're practicing it, you start to believe it. You could easily be practicing a positive thought and believing that. See the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Then, if you're not where you want to be, you want to neutralize the thought. So I would recommend that you work on more neutral thoughts, things like there is opportunity. I'm learning how to create opportunity in this marketplace. I'm willing to believe that the next interview is around the corner. I have the qualifications for this role. It's possible, I can get this opportunity.

Speaker 1:

Do you see that this way of sort of neutralizing the thought is more effective? Because, little by little, your brain gets comfortable with it's a possibility and it starts to calm down a bit. And when you're calm, you can think. You cannot be in the stress or the negative emotion and be thinking. And then you have to practice. You have to practice and practice and practice, seriously practicing multiple times a day. Every time your brain decides to be a jerk and tell you a sentence like I'm gonna get job is so hard in this market Just want you to pause and say I'm learning how to create an opportunity this market, I'm learning how to get a job in this market that is going to create more neutral or more positive things feelings and then, when you practice it multiple times, it starts to become easier and, dare I say, at some point, effortless. So, my friends, be gentle with yourself. This is a challenging time for some, but I'm also going to tell you I have plenty of clients out there who are getting interviews, landing jobs and landing really decent salaries to. It is possible. So, my friends, give it a try, have a great week and, as always, here's to possibility.

Speaker 1:

Hey, thanks for listening to the career refresh podcast. If you're enjoying this and want more information, go to my website, jill Griffin coaching dot com. There you can find information on how to work with you one on one or my group programs, or even bring me into your workplace. I'll put the link to my website in the show notes, but hey, listen before you go. Do me a favor rate and review this podcast because it definitely helps me get the word out to people everywhere so they can also thrive in the workplace. All right, friends, I appreciate you. I'll see you soon.