No Luck with the Job Hunt? You May Be Overthinking.

The most important word for me in college, graduate school, and as a professor has been praxis. Whether studying it from a women’s studies, education, or social change perspective, its core is the same- take action, reflect upon it, and then take new action and facilitate transformation. In other words, humans have a predilection to sit on their tushies, search for “the right answer,” and in their quest for perfection, never start closing the gap from where they are to where they want to be.

Positive psychologists have compiled a lot of research documenting the myriad of dangers attached to overthinking. In her book The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want, Sonja Lyubomirsky explains that excessive contemplation “impairs a person’s ability to solve problems, saps motivation, and interferes with concentration and initiative.”

Job seekers unnecessarily belabor the employment hunt and decrease their personal satisfaction by endlessly tweaking their cover letters, resumes, and emails and parking themselves in front of the TV or CrackBerry musing on the latest unemployment statistics. While I’m not suggesting one divorce herself from spell check or undergo delusions that we are not in a trying economic climate, it is worth remembering that most people will forgive a split infinitive and approximately 80% of Americans are still fully employed.

Lyubomirsky also writes that overthinking can actually undermine peak performance by impeding concentration and causing one to make useless social comparisons between herself and others. “People who pay too much attention to social comparisons find themselves chronically vulnerable, threatened, and insecure,” Lybubomirksy goes on to explain.

To stay motivated towards achieving your desired career goals, engage in these five action-oriented job hunting strategies IMMEDIATELY, as in as soon as you finish reading and commenting on this entry!

1. Request 5 informational interviews with key players in your field (My article on making the most of your informational interview will be on George’s Employment Blawg by the end of this week)

2. Develop and/or refine your 15-second pitch

3. Attend a networking meeting in your field and introduce yourself to AT LEAST 5 new people with your new pitch

4. Get busy building your platform by sharing your knowledge and resources with others. Post a new blog entry. Comment on the blogs of others. Send valuable articles via Twitter.

5. Know who you want to be when you show up to your “ideal job.” Practice being this person each day until s/he becomes habitual. (And you just might attract your platinum opportunity along the way)

Once you have taken these concrete actions, you can sit back and evaluate what you’ve discovered, where you’ve been successful, and how you can continue to work smarter, not necessarily harder, as you strive to move into your new job. And Lyubomirsky and I vow, you’ll be a lot happier for the praxis approach to the job hunt.