For Job Hunters: When it's Hard, Take a Breath, Find the Spinach

For a lot of graduates like me, job hunting is a long dragging process. The stressful, tired, lost, and nervous feelings kick in, and we are drowned in the uncertainty of not knowing whether our works and expectations are leading somewhere. Thinking from the big picture, there are a lot of things in life like job-hunting that needs us to have the right mentality.

So what to do?

1.       Enjoy the moment. What happened may not be ideal, but that’s what life has given us. Things can not always go the way we want. Try to do everything right, but keep in mind that doing everything right doesn’t guarantee us a job offer. Accept it, respond, act, and move on. It is by accepting the gift of present so that we enjoy the moment to the fullest without being caught up in the future or the past too much. Enjoy it while we can.

2.       Be content, and do something "fun". Do what need to be done, and at the same time, do something exciting, either by dedicating ourselves into a project, or by creating something interesting. As long as we are making progress, although it’s not the ultimate result we want to achieve, we should be happy and content. That way we’ll have fun in this process. You never know, something even better might be revealed.

3.       Keep the hope. This may sounds cliché but it is true. This is just a process. Our dream is like point B and we are in point A. In order for us to go to point B, a lot of times we may have to take a detour by going to point C first. But as long as we know the direction we are going and we know that point B is up ahead, we are doing the right thing.

Just like Popeye needs spinach to feel the power, we need “spinach” in life to keep us going. Take a deep breath, enjoy the moment, be present, be persistent, be confident, the Spinach is out there. 

Niche Job Sites and Interview Tips

I found this of value to job hunters like me and share it here:

Top 100 Niche Job Sites: help your job-search be more specific

http://newgradlife.blogspot.com/2009/12/top-100-niche-job-sites.html

How to "Tell me about yourself?"

http://newgradlife.blogspot.com/2009/12/job-interview-questions-tell-me-about.html

Another interview question that is difficult to answer: define ethics and integrity to me.

What's your answer going to be?

Hope it helps!

Interviews and snack

Two job interviews today- one with a leading Chinese language newspaper, one is a entertainment media company targeting worldwide markets. Summary:

Pre-interview research, a lot of research, is very important! This includes but not limit to : research about the company, the position, and interviewers, and possibly in-depth knowledge of the industry. You have to be able to at least understand how this whole thing works to convince your interviewers to trust you.

I have big cravings for Indian food these days. After finding out that Indian for lunch still can not fulfill my inner desire, I stopped by Samosa House on the way back. And bought snacks gujarati mixture and pickled eggplant for me and the girls, and navrattan for TT.