Go back to Job Search Prep Syllabus.
When we started, I said that there is something about you that was preventing others from engaging you. Something that stopped them from calling you to ask, “Hey, want to come work here?” Well, maybe your phone isn’t quite ringing off the hook just yet, but the problem that was causing the radio silence is in remission.
If you’ve been putting effort into these lessons, struggling through them, engaging, making mistakes, trying, experimenting, concentrating, thinking, and making them part of your daily routine, then you’ve sown the seeds for a better attitude…
Whether we’re talking about goal setting, research, or sales, attitude is still the engine that drives the ship. You could be the finest vessel on the Seven Seas, but if your attitude is broken, you’re going nowhere.
What you’ve just completed is a 21 day course in attitude maintenance and repair.
You’ve learned how to look at goal setting a new way. How to interpret indirect feedback. How to do research to uncover opportunities “hidden” in plain sight. How to communicate with others in a way that makes them see your value. How to sell yourself when the time comes to close the deal.
Doing these things will help you maintain the right attitude. Maintaining the right attitude will help you do these things. It’s a virtuous cycle, and you’re now spinning in the right direction.
To keep things going, just add effort.
I said at the beginning that your attitude is what’s going to compel you to put one proverbial foot in front of the other. I said we’d give you the road map, but that you’d have to provide the forward momentum.
And here you are. Which means we’ve learned some things about you:
And if you can rule these things out, then you can look in the mirror and know that you’re capable. Your attitude is in the right place and you know how to apply it.
This program is a microcosm of the work world you’re trying to enter; if you did it here, you can do it there.
Nobody’s perfect. But you are important.
Keep doing things that help you stay focused and stress-free, that provide value to yourself and others, and that draw people to want to help you. Engage in activities that improve your confidence and make you attractive to employers. Do things today that not only get you the job, but prepare you for the job you will get.
And in the back of your mind, keep a part of your being totally focused on the job you want. See it as a done deal in the back of your brain. Michaelangelo said he saw the David in the marble and drew him out… you need to see your job the same way and draw it to you: by holding the entire vision in the back of your mind even while chiseling and scraping the tiniest details.
Your job search is still a case study. A laboratory. A playground. It’s where you can practice and develop and experiment with critical skills without recourse. (It’s not like anyone can fire you!) It provides everything you need: ample opportunities for feedback, a good reason to meet people, an opportunity for a new beginning… scary stuff, for sure, but also exhilarating and exciting if you have the right attitude.
We don’t expect you to be masters at the stuff we just covered. Yet. But we do expect you to continue to incorporate it into your day-to-day experiences and make it part of who you are.
So play with it. Challenge it. Accept it, modify it. Make it yours.
And when you walk into day one of your new job, put it to use again to make yourself indispensable.
There are seven core skills you need to master to get that job you want. The first is attitude. You need to bring that one, at least a little bit. Attitude cannot be learned. The other six skills can be… and thankfully, developing in these areas will help reinforce your positive attitude. These skills include:
You’ve practiced all of them, including the last one, sometimes without even realizing it.
Consider the last three weeks and answer the following questions as honestly as you can:
Keep it alive. The best way to stay sharp is to mentor someone else going through the course. You may feel like the blind leading the blind, but you’ll be shocked at how much you’ll learn by teaching others. It will also help because it will force you to go through the course again yourself. You will pick things up the 2nd time through that you missed the first time… you will also be able to leverage what you learned in later lessons to do earlier lessons better.
We’re looking at a way to formalize that process through the online course—by opening the boards, etc. We’re not quite there yet technically speaking, but if you have interest, let us know. As members of our first class, you are part of the FYC family.
On final thought: keep your eyes open for someone to mentor you. No one does it alone. You’re important, yes, but ultimately it’s about achieving success, not about proving something to someone.
Congratulations on completing the course.
We will continue to be here for you. We wish you all the success in the world.
Jason & Willy
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I cannot believe no one leaves a comment for this post! At least there should be a “Cheers”, for it is over :)
I confess that I have not done all the homework and did not follow the last 4 lessons since I had really important stuff to do in the last few days. But I am sure I will pick them up again after I finish this semester.
One thing impressive about found your career is that it is not a crash course. It is really about how to improve yourself during the process, which calls for a lot of efforts. But such things have solid bases and last long. They are useful not only for landing a job, but also for career development.
Another good things is that this course lets me make the choices and think of ideas. There are a lot of services claiming that they can get you a job. But what they actually do is to make you more like other job hunters. Of course, some of their customers get jobs eventually, but it is due to chances, not anyone’s efforts.
I really feel lucky that I have this course 15 months before graduation.
By the way, I am reading Jason’s “How to self-destruct”. Very SCARY but I know I have to face my problems that causes self-destruction.
Leslie, that’s so right on. It’s unfortunate that most students don’t get this course until they’ve already graduated. If you know this stuff in advance, you can give yourself a huge advantage prior to graduation.