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1. Your
Networks: Natural And Created
2. How To Design An Elevator Speech
3. Resume Redesign Guide
4. Change Your Career Now and Have
a Better Future
5. How to Indentify and Describe Your
Dream Career
6. Tips for Introverted Job
Seekers
7. Informational Interviewing
8. The Buddy System Model
The
Challenges faced by Introvertive Job Seekers:
Introvertive
job seekers may be disadvantaged in the competition for work/jobs.
The social dimensions of effective job seeking makes it painful
and frustrating for introverts --- when compared to extravertive
job seekers. For this reason, many introvertive job seekers confine
their job search to more comfortable activities of responding
to newspaper classified ads and posting their resumes on job boards
on the world wide web. This frequently leads to an obsessive concern
with cover letters and resumes.
Compared to
extravertive job seekers, introvertive job seekers are likely
to have smaller networks of friends. Most of their friends are
likely to be job related and filled with other introverts. Their
potential total friendship networks are smaller than those of
extraverts.
When engaged
in interpersonal job seeking, introvertive job seekers tend to
be outside of their 'comfort zones' and accompanied with high
stress. These responses are less typical of extravertive job seekers.
Models
of Success: Some examples of what extroverted job seekers
do:
- Lauren
comfortably initiates contact with her large network of friends
at networking meetings, by letter, telephone calls, email, and
fax.
- Mark comfortably
requests that his friends to introduce him to their friends
who may know others in Mark's targeted occupations and businesses.
- Karen's
'natural' network of friends is large and diverse. She is able
to refer her job seeking friends to her other friends who are
likely to offer leads and information about opportunities. This
automatically increases the size of her 'created' network.
- Frances
uses the internet primarily to contact friends rather than reading
ads posted on the world wide web job boards.
Four strategies introvertive job seekers may comfortably
use:
First, they
plan their search activities to alternate stressful activities
with more comfortable search activities, e.g., regular outside
meetings with a few friends that are followed by time writing
thank you notes, reading and searching the web.
Second,
although introvertive job seekers are likely to be uncomfortable
among strangers and in large groups, they can operate quite
well for brief periods of time in these settings and then leave.
It is introverts' exaggeration of their potential emotional
discomfort that discourages them from attending large networking
groups among strangers and initiating frequent social contact
with their friends. Introverts can remember that they can be
comfortable in one-on-one meetings and that most large 'networking'
meetings are filled with groups of two people in conversation.
Third, introvertive
job seekers can learn a few, but highly important, new social
skills such as assertiveness. (See below)
Finally,
introvertive job seekers can comfortably employ several compensatory
tactics that are less anxiety provoking and less stressful.
(See below)
Examples
of Successful Introvertive Job Seekers' Strategies:
Introvertive
job seekers can develop new skills:
- Alan increased
his knowledge and understanding of assertiveness. He reads magazine
articles and books on how to be assertive, and he listens to
audio tapes and views video training tapes on the topic.
- Ben received
personal coaching in assertiveness, and increased his skills
and comfort level in asking his friends for help.
Introvertive
job seekers can use compensatory or 'work-around' strategies that
relieve them of the discomfort of more interpersonal social networking:
- Carl persuades
a few of his extravertive friends to introduce him to others
at meetings, parties, large networking events and church sponsored
support groups.
- David
stations himself near the food tables and exits at parties,
association meetings and large networking events. His friends
and acquaintances come to him.
- Elaine
continuously improves and rehearses her 20 second 'elevator'
speeches before and during meetings and telephone calls.
- Frank
memorizes questions to ask and things to say that are customized
for each social situation.
- George,
when his 'job-search buddy' can't go with him to group affairs,
immediately hunts for someone he knows to talk to.
Helen sets daily frequency goals for initiating conversations
with others and raises the goal by two each week. - Irene
commits herself to having outside social contact with one friend
each day for one of the following: breakfast, midmorning coffee,
lunch, late afternoon drinks and dinner. Then she routinely
goes home and follows-up on leads with notes, telephone calls
and thank you notes to friends and new acquaintances.
- John volunteers
the use his computer skills to help non-profit organizations
-- one at a time. He gets to demonstrate his large skill set,
effortlessly develops new friends with highly networked Board
committee members and gets paid part-time work.
Conclusion:
Through practicing
assertiveness skills and compensatory strategies, introvertive
job seekers get job interviews with hiring managers for scarce
job opportunities.
For more information,
contact me at:
(919) 469-5775
www.lifecareerinstitute.com
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