#JobSearch #Friday – You Graduated from #College – Importance of Resilience

By RecruiterGuy | July 12, 2020

What does Resilience mean to you? Bend but not break? Life comes at us quickly with unexpected challenges. Covid-19 is a great example right now.

What are you doing to create an opportunity for your career and livelihood? Waiting for Covid-19 to end is not helpful.

Almost every generation has experienced a recession close to college graduation. Your generation is not the only one to experience a downturn as they graduated and hit the streets looking for the perfect job.

What does this have to do with MY Resilience?

You may not have developed resilience yet. How have you dealt with challenges up until now? Too many people today developed the “Snowflake” characteristics while in college. This may not be you – But, you certainly know some of them.

In a professional setting, it is important to understand that there will be differences of opinion based on upbringing and previous experiences in school and life. As people grow older, many of them change their opinions and perceptions. I know I have.

How Does Resilience Impact My Job Search?

In my experience as a professional recruiter for 39 years, there have been many challenges to my thinking. I learned to internalize them. Then I decided I would either integrate them into my practice or wait and see if the potential new practice would be accepted – or not.

Joining LinkedIn was one of those decisions to wait a little time to see if it would grow before I created a profile. In January 2005, LinkedIn was growing quickly and I decided to join and created my profile.

What did you learn about resilience in college? Here is my story –

I had a Social Psych professor who had different views than me. I was interviewed on WBZ Boston regarding an event on my college campus that day. My thinking was reasoned and my comments were picked up by the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram. Everyone I spoke with after, except the professor, thought my reasoning was on target. A couple of days later, during another event on campus, the professor came to me and said, “I saw what you said.” I replied, “What did you think about my comments?” Her reply was…”I will fail you in my class.”

Since her grade was going to be only based on the midterm and final exams, my midterm exam the following week was going to tell the tale. Her midterm was 5 essay questions based on the events the previous week – totally subjective from her perspective. I knew what she wanted in her exam but I decided to keep my integrity and give my side of the story. She did not return the results of the midterm exam until after it was too late to drop the course. She gave me a 17% grade. For some classmates, that would have been devastating especially since this was during the Vietnam War. I scheduled a meeting with the Academic Dean. He was aware of the events on campus. He allowed me to drop the course. He also cautioned me that I needed to make up the credits over summer. Resilient? I created an opportunity.

That summer, I hitchhiked to Santa Barbara, California from Washington, DC, and took 2 English classes in summer school at the University of California Santa Barbara that were AMAZING – and earned an A in each course! I changed my major to English and still graduated in 4 years.

Sometimes, life is not fair. Face it. Change the result to benefit you. This lesson is one I kept for my entire career. When you come to a wall that prevents you from reaching your goal, pivot. Find another way to reach your goal. Many times, in my experience, the alternate way was more satisfying and more successful. The universe was telling me something.

Learn to benefit by being flexible in your job search. You may not find the exact job you hoped for but you may be able to get your foot in the door at your Dream Company. Then, demonstrate your resilience to be the best in your position. Promotions follow resilient people!

Resiliency will benefit you in both your personal and business lives!

This is my last post on Finding a Job for new College Graduates in 2020. I wish you well in your search for your first career position!

This information will get you started. If you want to move more quickly in your search or would like more information on Salary Negotiation, you may order my book, Employee 5.0: Secrets Of A Successful Job Search In The New World Order – http://amzn.to/2D9w39f My book contains the 12 Steps to find a new position in a nice, orderly fashion. It also has the stories of people who did well – and some who did not. You may learn from both sides.

Thank you for following my blogs!

Bill Humbert is available for Speaking, Talent Attraction Consulting, Career Transition Consulting, and Training contracts.

RecruiterGuy@msn.com 435-714-4425 www.RecruiterGuy.com

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