Job Search Failures - Rarely "Fatal"
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Wouldn’t it be great if every job search you ever planned could be executed without failures. In other words, you would move yourself from concept and plan to a successful conclusion (i.e., the desired new job) without any mistakes. That’s a dream, and if you recognize that dreams don’t always work the way you hope they will, you’ll be in a better situation. You can regroup and move forward again toward your ultimate goal, which is much better than (to put it bluntly) wallowing in the despair of failure.

As the legendary silent film actress, Mary Pickford, once said, “If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.”

CAN YOUR JOB SEARCH REBOUND FROM A FAILURE?

If you take a pessimistic outlook when your job search hits an apparently major snag, the idea of rebounding from failure might seem preposterous. In that case, the whole job search might be doomed to failure! Do you have any other options?

Unless you’ve done something (or encountered something done by someone else) that represents a catastrophic failure, my guess is you’re not doomed. However, you might need encouragement to step back and rethink the overall situation. How big is the problem, really? Can you work around it somehow or take another approach that can help you get where you want to go?

Earlier today, someone at OnlineMBAToday.com shared an infographic with me that includes the statement: “Failing doesn’t always mean you’re out of the game. Sometimes you have to look at the bright side of failure and learn from it.”

The infographic, “Without Fail,” is well done and well worth a look. It includes 5 steps to consider in “Turning Failure into Success.”

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE JOB SEARCH “PRIZE”

Rather than waste a lot of time worrying about the failure that seems to jeopardize your chances of a successful job search, motivate yourself to keep going by reminding yourself of how good it will feel when you reach your goal.

If that goal needs to change along the way somehow–such as by focusing on a different job than the one you initially went after, the “one that got away”–so be it. Cut yourself loose from that original target and concentrate instead on the new goal (position). Put the thought, energy, and determination into pursuing it that you need in order to make it happen.

Remember this well-known saying: “If it is to be, it is up to me” (attributed to William Johnson). Refuse to accept a job search failure as the crash-and-burn end of your dreams for career success. As long as you’re still breathing, there’s hope!