079 The Art of Being You in a Job Search

Show Notes Authenticity is a characteristic that can often go out the window when looking for work. In the harried and eager interest to meet the employer's needs and expectations, the job seeker can lose themselves. Andrew and Scott share strategies and tactics on how to be genuine and stand up for the strengths that job seekers bring to a role. Don't miss these Topics: Being "you" in a job search focused on your strengths. Mindset of truth to yourself over pretending to be something you aren't. Balancing financial needs and job satisfaction. Holding desperation at arms length. Complete assessments to get more clarity and access a professional to help you identify your strengths. Increasing the satisfaction in your job. Nothing Lasts Forever. Stand up for your strengths in the interview. Reinvent yourself to something you want. Consider a vanity project that makes you feel good. Resources (including affiliate links) StrengthsFinder 2.0What Color is Your Parachute Toastmasters for Better Communication iTunes: Rate and Review Raw and Unedited Transcript View Transcript 00:00:02 - 00:05:01 welcome to job seekers radio. I'm Andrew and I'm Scott. This production is meant to provide you the listener meaningful support to find great careers. Faster whether you're working or not. Today's episode is brought to you by the anatomy of a networking conversation. It's an e book and a free resource that you can download at Jobseeker's radio DOT COM in today's show. We're talking about the art of being you in job. Search one of my favorite phrases that A colleague of mine says to me all the time. Is You be you? I'm sure most of us have heard that phrase did that come with the snap. No he he means it really very sincerely you can snap yes. Of course. He's he really means it. He wants people to be as authentic as possible. Because it's in learning. Who People really are that. We can then leverage their strengths. And that's one of his themes in his career is to to work with your strengths. When you're looking for something better at in a job search of any kind often feel like you have to change who you are to meet somebody else's expectation you have to Discount your strength. Sometimes because you feel like they may not be valid. And that's often what happens in people that I work with have been laid off from somewhere. They felt like they've been rejected. They're going into a situation. Where Jeez the stuff that I did must not be valuable so I need to reinvent myself and that might be true. You may want to reinvent yourself but if that's your choice great it may be but it isn't necessarily the truth and there's that element of well if this didn't work anymore then now. I have to fake it and and we hear this all the time. Fake it till you make it well that works but is it really sending the messages. You want to send if the message doesn't matter and you're faking it because you are learning how to do it better. That's definitely add approach can take. I don't discount that at all to your point if I suddenly feel like I have to change who I am in order to now be acceptable. That kind of faking. It is probably going to either backfire on you or it's not going to work at all people that are looking at indeed dot com or the job postings at a company They look at that job posting. Oh I can do that. I can do that. I can do this too and look at all these things that they can do without. I saying Is that really what I want to do? I really want to do that. Because if we look at everything based on just a capability model where we're checking all the boxes. We may end up. Disatisfied I don't know that that's a natural approach you know not to mention there's opportunities where you know what? I can't do that and I should probably take that job because I don't have a choice. If you don't have the ability or capacity financially or otherwise to say no yeah that that may be something to consider and don't discount the validity of that situation for those who are in it because if you're really feeling desperate because you're out of money or you're going to lose your home or whatever that that is those are very real concerns and I don't want people to feel like we're discounting that in in any fashion. There is still the sense of doing the things that bring you something that brings some enjoyment that keep you going and often those who are associated with our strengths. As we're looking at that we we think about ourselves. What is it that I'm good at going through that list? Oh Yeah I could do all these things. Would I enjoy doing them? In this scenario if there are things from my past what I enjoy doing them again bringing those skills back to the four answer is yes then by all means you know. Apply talk to them about that if you can get the interview. That's great if the answer is I would go back to do those things because I'm starting to feel desperate okay. There's a different approach that I would recommend than simply ...