I just talked to someone in my mastermind group who is in insurance. He is currently looking for salespeople to join his team. Instead of posting his ad to Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com, he told me the only place he posted it is Craig’s List. It’s a great place for businesses to post job openings because it costs very little to place an ad, and the responses will be from the local area rather than from around the country. In the past, my friend would place a short ad in the local paper and receive over 100 responses. Then he’d have the enormous task of going through them all to choose his favorites. By using Craig’s List, he gets a handful of good candidates to choose from and saves himself both time and money.

Here’s why you, the job seeker, need to know about Craig’s List. My friend received 20 resumes in response to his ad, and of those he chose to contact the top 5 for interviews. Therefore, those who responded to his ad had a 25% chance of being contacted, maybe even more if anyone in the top 5 drops out of the running. Compared to a 1 or 2% chance of getting contacted from responding to a newspaper ad or one of the huge job search websites, that’s a great return! Craig’s List’s jobs are organized by city and by category, which makes it easy to narrow down your search. I suggest checking back every day, because new posts are being added all the time.

A word of caution. There are great jobs with great companies on Craig’s List, but there are also some listings that aren’t what they promise to be. Use common sense. If a job posting promises that you’ll make 6-figures working 5 hours a week from home, it’s probably a scam. Real companies will have an email address and often will post their web address so you can check them out and make an informed decision.

I’d love to hear about your experiences job hunting on Craig’s List and any other websites that seem to have less competition for jobs. Please post comments!

Happy hunting,
Allison

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I vividly remember being miserable at my corporate job. Each day as I walked through the entrance I would think, “I’m going to jail for the next eight hours.” The days dragged by. I would watch the clock all day until I could leave at 5pm. Then I’d get home and… not job hunt. The last thing I wanted to do was more WORK. I would plop down on the couch and watch TV until bedtime. I didn’t have enough of an essential ingredient for a successful job search: energy.

The most inspiring vision for the career you want to create will do you no good at all if you have no energy with which to create it. The problem with hating your job is that it drains you. It takes a huge amount of energy to resent what you have to do, to dislike the people you work with, and to clock-watch and not be present in the moment. Negative emotions use up energy, which is why I always recommend finding ways to enjoy your current job first before starting to look for a new one. For 101 ways to do just that, grab your copy of my free report by clicking here.

Here are a few great ways to begin taking back control of your energy. Think of the aspect of your work that you dislike the most. It could be a person you have to interact with, a time of day you particularly dislike (like a meeting or your commute), or a task that must be done. Next, choose one of the techniques below to lessen the energy drain this aspect has on you.

Technique #1: Eliminate it.
Can you eliminate it altogether? Before you jump to the conclusion that you can’t, try to think out of the box. If it’s a task you hate, is there someone you can delegate or outsource it to? If you hate your commute, you might ask to work from home a couple days per week. If it’s a meeting, ask if you can be excused from attending. Be sure to support your request with evidence of how the meeting reduces your productivity.

Technique #2: Minimize it.
If you cannot eliminate it from your day completely, how can you minimize it? For example, if you dislike your boss dropping by your office at random times throughout the day, you could ask to have a set time for him or her to stop by and take care of all business then, freeing you to work uninterrupted the rest of the day. If it is your morning commute, you could leave earlier to avoid the rush. If a particular task drives you crazy, you could do it first thing in the morning and have the rest of the day to do the parts of your job you like.

Technique #3: Change your perspective.
One of the most effective ways to deal with an energy drain is to simply think about it differently. Let’s take the meeting you hate to attend. How could you shift your perspective to make it better? Instead of looking at it as hours of your life wasted, you might use it as a time to voice some ideas you had that would improve your product or service. If someone cuts you off in morning traffic, instead of labeling them a maniac, you might imagine what would cause them to drive recklessly. They could be late to a job they are in danger of losing, and be worried about keeping food on the table for their family. Seeing things from a different perspective can create an immediate internal shift. Instead of wasting valuable energy being angry at someone, you have that energy left over to create the life you really want.

Be careful with your energy. You will need to have some left over from work in order to conduct a productive and positive search for your new career.

To your success!
Allison

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The first secret to conducting a successful job search, or to get anything else you want, is inspiration. By inspiration, I mean you have a goal that is so exciting to you, you can feel it in your bones. This is not what people normally feel when they think about getting a new career. Some questions they typically ask themselves are, “What kind of job do I think I can get? Who is hiring right now? What skills do I have that are transferable?” These questions may come in handy later on, but the most successful searches start with a different question: “What would I really love to do?”

When you have a goal that inspires you, it will pull you forward toward your goal. It’s a lot easier to have energy and discipline when you’re excited about what you’re trying to accomplish. Not only will you have a clear vision of what you want to do, but you will authentically desire it. Have you ever applied for a job you really didn’t want? I see this all the time with my clients. They get called in for an interview, and one of two things usually happens. Either they “forget” about the appointment and miss their interview, or they say something really ridiculous during it. The part of you that has seemingly sabotaged your interview is what Martha Beck calls your Essential Self, and it will help you get what you really want even if it has to make you say something silly to an employer that is wrong for you. That is why it’s so important to go after work that you really do want. When you really want it, your Essential Self will most likely make you even more adept at interviewing than normal. You may find yourself feeling a great rapport with the interviewer, or easily coming up with the perfect answers to the questions you are asked.

Authentically desiring something also tends to bring external forces to your aid. Coincidences may occur at the exact time you need them. Opportunities will appear seemingly out of no where, although they may have been there all along and you are only now noticing them.

So, the first step to a successful job search is to sit down and figure out what you really want – what is most inspiring to you. Do not let Premature Practicality (a phrase coined by the great success coach Michael Neill) get in your way at this point. Let yourself dream up something fantastic. If you like words, you can journal about it or make a list of attributes you want your job to have. If you are visual, you can create a vision board from magazine clippings or even do a video on your computer. MindMovies.com has software for doing exactly that. If you prefer audio, speak your career desires into a recorder. Then, once you have your list, revisit it often during your job search to give yourself a shot of inspiration.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

To your success!
Allison

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I had an enlightening conversation with one of my clients recently. When we began coaching, she shared that she did not get along well with her boss. My client never felt supported by her, and felt that she thought my client was doing a poor job. It had become so bad that my client began to question her own abilities. Weeks later, I checked back in with her on how she was now feeling about their relationship. She shared with me that she doesn’t worry much about her boss anymore since, after all, they only speak once a week over the phone and her boss works from a city 100 miles away. I was shocked! The way she had previously been talking, I imagined the boss was constantly popping into my client’s office, looking over her shoulder and micromanaging. In reality, she never saw her in person, and only spoke to her about an hour per week by phone. My client allowed her boss to have an enormous amount of power over how she felt about her job, and therefore spoke about her as a constant presence.

What helped my client see things differently was taking back responsibility for her own happiness. When you need a person or a situation to change in order to be happy, it’s a sign that you’ve given away your power. To take it back, ask yourself what you can do to improve your experience. It might mean having a conversation with someone or setting a boundary. It could mean minimizing time spent with people and on tasks that drain your energy. In my client’s case, it required nothing more than a change of perspective.

When she began to look for what was right about her relationship with her boss, she saw how limited their interaction actually was. In fact, she barely had a boss! She could see how lots of people would love to have that much autonomy. The next time you find yourself wanting something to be different, ask yourself, “What is right about this situation?” You might not need it to change after all.

To your success!

Allison

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If you’re unhappy at your current job, you may be wondering if now is the time to attempt a career change, or if you should stay put until the economy improves. Here are three reasons why I think you should not wait for outside circumstances to change before making the switch.

First, companies are always hiring. At the height of the Great Depression, the unemployment rate was about 18%. A huge percentage to be sure, but it also means that 82% of willing and capable workers were employed. Some of the largest companies in the world got their start during that time. Today is no different. There are thousands of workers hired every day in an average sized city, so why shouldn’t you be one of them?

The second reason to initiate your career change now is that it could take some time. There is some inner work and planning to do first. You may not know what new career to pursue, or what skills you have that can transfer into another career. Then there are the nuts and bolts of the job search to tackle: updating your resume, contacting references, putting out feelers in your network. The longer you wait to begin, the longer you will be stuck in an unfulfilling career.

The third reason to begin your career change now is that you can’t predict the future. Nobody knows when the economic climate will improve. Do you want to place your life and happiness in the hands of outside forces? To do so is to give your power away. Take back your power and take action if you are unsatisfied in your career. It’s much easier to make a change while you are currently employed because you won’t have the extra pressure of your finances weighing you down. And if you decide to do something that involves financial risk, like going into business for yourself, you can start planning for it now when it’s easier to put some money away for the future.

So go ahead. Begin to make that career change now, and with the proper planning, you’ll have a smooth transition into a great new adventure.

To your success!

Allison

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Over the weekend, I heard a very sad story. I went to a business workshop, and the trainer began by relating to us the story of his father. His father was a child during the Great Depression, and like many, he went into the family business. He was a butcher. The problem was, he hated it. Our trainer could remember being a little boy and seeing the strain his father was under and how unhappy he was. But, he felt stuck because he had a family to take care of, and it seemed to him that he had no other options. He always said he’d rather die than go on being a butcher, and a few years ago his wish came true. He died of cancer.

This story is tragic because it didn’t have to happen. When you believe you can create a better life for yourself, and decide you’re going to find a way, forces begin to collaborate in your favor and opportunities appear. While today people are waking up to the importance of enjoying your job for a full and happy life, earlier generations sometimes saw work as only a means to an end. As sad as it is that many of them missed out on much happiness, you can see their sacrifice as a huge gift. Their lives can serve to inspire you to take control of your own career happiness so that you pass on to your children not only a roof over their heads, but also the permission to do what makes them happy. And they learn that from watching you lead a happy life yourself.

Job stress and unhappiness can take their toll on your health, relationships and career success. If you find yourself unsatisfied in your career, I invite you to check out my free report, 101 Ways to Be Happy at Work – NOW! In it you’ll find concrete steps you can take today to create a joy-filled career.  I also offer many affordable coaching packages if you find you need more guidance and clarity. Visit the Coaching page to learn more.

To your success!

Allison

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