High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Traits of a Championship Mindset

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• The 5 Traits of a Championship Mindset: "Commitment should not be just about setting a goal, but living by a standard. A goal is a something you reach. A standard is something you live by."

• Why More Women Need to Say Yes to Top Leadership Positions: "There are other biases that women face in the workplace, but the number one bias that all women face is about family and career."

• How to "Sell" Yourself in a Job Interview: "You’ll be perceived as someone who is keenly interested in what the interviewer has to say and what the company can offer."

• How to Improve Mental Health at the Office: "Many individuals with psychiatric disability can and do work effectively. How the condition impacts work life varies considerably."
• 3 Tips for Making Collaboration Fun and Productive:"Keeping teammates in the dark can stall a project. By sharing the same information with every member of the team, it shows each person that they are essential to decision making and gives team members the ability to execute on their own."

You Didn’t Get the Job. Now What?

Seeking out a job can be stressful and sometimes you make it to the interview stage, perhaps you’re even a finalist for a job, but you don’t get it. What do you do then?

This can be a discouraging time and you might be tempted to give in to despair but allow yourself to experience your emotions before taking the next steps. Here are some ways to deal with the disappointment of learning you did not get the job.

Take some time to process. You might be surprised to learn you didn’t get a job you felt well-qualified and prepared for, and subsequently feel sad or discouraged. There is no right way to experience the feelings around being turned down for a job that you wanted. Allow yourself some time to feel what you feel and experience what you experience without judgment.

It’s not personal. The sooner you understand that the decision is not personal, the better. There are many factors that companies and businesses take into account when they hire someone, and often a company has to turn down multiple highly qualified candidates for a job. You didn’t get the job but it’s not a reflection on who you are as a person and the value you bring. It wasn’t the right fit. Another position and employer might be a better fit.

Seek out feedback. Though you should not take it personally that you did not get the job offer, there still might be some issues for you to work out. Seek out feedback from the interviewer, if possible, to learn why they chose another candidate and to receive a critique of your interviewing skills. Use this as an opportunity to gain some insight as you move forward.

Reevaluate. This can be a great time to reconsider your strengths and interests, and to reevaluate your professional goals. It might also be the time to think about entrepreneurship and starting your own business.

Move forward. Once you’ve taken the time to process the disappointment about the job, and you’ve reevaluated your goals and career objectives, take even small steps to move you in the direction you want to go: revise your resume, apply for another job, take a class, apply for a business loan. Moving forward will help you remain optimistic and prevent you from getting discouraged.

How to Manage Anxiety Before a Job Interview

You’ve been sending out resumes left and right, applying for jobs in your sleep, and now you finally got the call and have a job interview set up. After lining up the interview, you might discover that you have a lot of emotions, including anxiety. Perhaps you’ve been looking for a job for a while and have started to feel a little desperate to return to the workforce.

Of course, you know that to perform your best in the interview you’ll want to manage your emotions.

Here are a few ways to manage your anxiety before the interview.

Recognize how you feel. Don’t bother denying how you’re feeling about the interview. Your emotions are not right or wrong. If you’re feeling anxious, nervous, or worried it’s necessary to acknowledge how you’re feeling so you can implement some strategies to better manage your anxiety.

   

Discuss how you feel with a friend. Take some time to share your feelings with a friend, spouse, or partner. It can help to manage your feelings simply by acknowledging them to another person. When we hold our emotions in or try to bury them, they can feel more oppressive and difficult to handle.

Get some good sleep. Of course, you want to get good sleep before your interview. Don’t stay up late watching television, perhaps take a hot shower or bath, and read for awhile to help you relax.

Avoid alcohol. Do not drink the night before your interview. You might think it will help you relax and fall asleep, but alcohol actually impairs your ability to fall into a deep sleep. And it should go without saying that you don’t want to drink in the hours before your interview.

Meditate and self-talk. Take a few minutes to meditate the day of your interview and develop some phrases for positive self-talk, such as “I have the skills necessary to do this job well” or “I will perform well in this interview.”

Breathe. When we’re feeling anxious, we can sometimes neglect to breathe properly, and this can increase our feelings of anxiety. So, take some time and breathe deeply, while repeating your positive self-talk phrases and you’ll do just fine in your interview.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Coping in a Toxic Work Environment

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Coping in a Toxic Work Environment: "As difficult as a toxic work environment may be, never allow yourself to become less than who you are meant to be out of anger or spite for your current employer.  Always conduct yourself with integrity and always put in your very best effort toward the job you were hired to do."

• What Not to Do After a Job Interview: "Your interview could have gone spectacularly overall, but focusing on one or two things you could have done better will cause you to feel like the whole thing was a failure."

• 5 Smart Ways for Busy People to Stay Healthy: "Even little changes, like upping your daily step count by taking the stairs or parking further away from the entrance to your building, can improve your general health. The mentality that a workout has to be intense to matter is dangerous. Focus instead on fitting small, active bursts into your day."

• 5 Reasons Older Founders Are Generally More Successful: "the experimentally creative do not reach peak inventiveness until their mid-50s and have more than just that one eureka moment."
• Simple Ways Anyone Can Be More Creative:"No matter if you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned pro, sometimes the best source of creative inspiration comes from others. Creatives often look to the best within their industry—the experts—to learn new techniques and come up with new ideas for their own work."

5 Things to Do While You Await a Job Offer

After you have a job interview or two the time between the interview and hearing back from the company on a decision can feel excruciatingly long. It can be easy to fall into despair or to be tempted to seek out updates on your application.

Instead of using this time to worry or think about all the things you wish you’d said differently in the interview, focus on the following things to manage the time while you await word back from the interviewer.

Be patient. This can be difficult but resist attempts to contact the interviewer or employer about your application status. Many companies will disregard your application or remove you from consideration if they feel they are being rushed in their decision. Cultivate gratitude for the opportunity to interview for the position and identify some things you might have learned from the process about the company or supervisor that can help you in future interviews or deepen your knowledge of the position should you be offered the job.

Take care of yourself. Don’t sit around the house waiting for the phone to ring. Be active. Take that run or get on your bike. Walk the dog. Eat well, get enough sleep, and avoid excessive alcohol. Meditate or pray. Meet up with a good friend for lunch. See a movie. Do things you enjoy and that are healthy for you and avoid the temptation to become discouraged while you await that phone call or email.

Take a class or sign up for an online course. Continue to develop your knowledge and gain more skills in an area of interest, or simply add a new hobby by signing up for a class or taking an online course. Strive to be a continuous learner and you will find more opportunities available to you. You might even meet someone in a class who is looking to hire someone like you. 

Polish up your resume. Revisit your resume and make any necessary tweaks to highlight your strengths and areas of success. Add information about that class or course you’re taking. Ask for feedback on it from a friend, colleague, or career coach.

Actively seek out other job opportunities. Continue to seek out other opportunities by keeping your eye on job boards and listings such as those on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, or Indeed. You never know when the right opportunity will come along so plan to regularly seek out jobs of interest and attend events where you can expand your network and learn about opportunities.

Incorporating these strategies will enable you to manage the time while you await a job offer more appropriately and productively.