Happy 100th - Part Two
Can't believe I made it this far.
This week, more lessons I’ve learned in writing 100 issues of “Mighty Forces.”
Get outside yourself. Try to find ways to focus on things other than your current situation and challenges. When I was looking for people to hire me as a writer, I volunteered to do writing and editing for several local non-profit organizations that were doing things I was passionate about, like increasing sustainability in the community. That had multiple benefits: it gave me some recent clips for my portfolio, introduced me to interesting people, and made me think about things other than the rejection I was feeling in the general job market.
Mind and body. I have had several major health challenges at the same time as I was job hunting. Three years ago I had a brain tumor removed that had made me completely blind in one eye; 18 months ago I had a stroke that could have killed me. But I’m still here. On a basic level, we can’t ignore our physical health, especially when the rest of our lives is so out of our control. Make sure you are eating healthy, exercising, and especially, getting good sleep. My ability to fall asleep pretty much instantly and stay deeply asleep has diminished as I’ve gotten older. And that affects everything.
Know your worth. One important aspect of research is learning exactly what you are good at, and how that translates into your worth in the job market. There are a lot of tools to help you with this task, both internally (how you feel about your skills and goals) and externally (what people with your skills are being paid). But again, doing this work has multiple advantages: you gain confidence, you gain marketing ability, and you gain communication tools that will help you in whatever industry you are in.
Taking a leap. I knew I wanted to leave my last job. Not because it was horrible, or because I disliked my co-workers. Just the opposite! But “making small changes to computer files,” as I used to describe my job, was not the thing that I wanted to spend the rest of my career doing. And I knew if I waited for the perfect time, or the perfect new job, I would never leave. So I took a leap. And while it has been challenging in a host of ways I never anticipated, it’s also been energizing. There isn’t a day that goes by that I think I made the wrong choice. We regret the things we don’t do. That’s a tough lesson as we get older. But so important.
Job hunting is sales. This was a tough concept for me to get. But the more I learned about the business of job hunting, the more I realized that it’s about marketing. You need to figure out the employer’s problem, and communicate to them that you can solve it. You are the product, and they are the customer you are selling the product to. Once you accept that framing, so many things fall into place. One of the catchphrases I use many times in the newsletter is “It’s not about you.” And it’s not. It’s about them: their needs, their goals, their problems.
Technology is important. So many new technologies are involved in job hunting these days: social media, search engines, applicant tracking systems, A.I. So mastering those technologies can give you an edge. But even more important as an older job seeker is your willingness to learn and adapt to new things. That’s what employers are looking for. And nothing brands you more quickly “out of touch” and “too old” than giving the impression that you are a stranger to this new online world.
We still have time. I love watching TED Talks. And I watched one about procrastination (one of my many failings). The speaker put up a slide with a grid of boxes and said, “Each of these boxes represents a week in an 80-year-old’s life.” And I had a minor panic attack, thinking about how many boxes I had already filled in. I wondered if I still had the ability to change things, to build the life I wanted. But the fact is that we still have time – to learn, to grow, to make changes. The key is starting those small moves, day by day. They add up. Trust me.
Again, thanks for being here with me. If there’s something you would like me to talk about, just leave a comment or reply to this email. I’ve always wanted us to support each other, to build on what we’ve learned.
See you next week.