'Cause I need you to look into mine
Feb. 11th, 2011 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impersonaZ asked me which books have been most helpful for me in starting up my jobhunt again! While I definitely am not even close to having DREAM JOB right now, I am mentally a lot closer than I was a few months ago, and by-and-large a lot more optimistic about the whole ordeal. These are the three books that really helped me out:
What Color Is Your Parachute: I mentioned this one before, but it is worth mentioning again. My biggest problem coming into the job hunt has been the same problem I've had since I graduated college - I have no idea what I want to do for a career, and I get trapped in this attitude of "I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR MONEY", which gets you stuck in the same shitty job over and over again.
WCIYP is divided into two sections - the first section which is the manual How To for the job hunt - how to search, how to network, how to sell your resume and cover letter. What I found a lot more important, and the section I actually read first, was the second section devoted to the Flower Exercise. Basically, there are seven major exercises you go through to determine what kind of career path makes you happiest and plays best to your skill set, and forces you to narrow in on what you want instead of generalizing again. At the end of the Flower Exercise, you grab a giant piece of posterboard and map out exactly what you found out about your preferences. I drew mine on hot pink posterboard which I hung up right next to my TV, which is a constant reminder of my goals and what kind of job I do want.
This book was a major, major morale boost for me, since as I said, knowing what I wanted to do has been the major problem. When I feel lost nowadays, I find a job list (just a simple list of careers) and spend a few minutes picking out the ones that seem fun, and I get some direction again. But definitely do the Flower Exercise first, and take your time with it. I spent about two weeks on mine, which gave me time to really think about my answers and do research on the answers I came up with.
200 Best Jobs For College Graduates: This one is up there because it is a fantastic job list book. It sorts out jobs by education level, major, and experience, gives you estimates for job growth and average salary, and most helpfully, the general job expectations and duties you'd be responsible for. This is the book I was reading when I stepped back and was like "...wait a second, there ARE careers I can do related to writing!", whereas before I was like "WELP LEMME GIVE UP ON THIS NOTION OF HAVING A JOB DOING SOMETHING I LOVE".
Yeah I've been out of college nearly three years now but I never got an idea of what my degree can do for me, or how to sell it on a resume. I have a poor idea of what you can do with a degree vs. what you can't, probably because the past few years of our terrible economy made me believe that people with degrees are just as shit-out-of-luck as people who don't have them. Plus, I've been wanting to go back for a Master's degree, and this book is helping me figure out what majors best suit what I want to do (or vice-versa, if I do get a degree related to writing, what can I do with that)
(Though I am generally opposed to English/Writing degrees anyways, NO OFFENSE AT ALL but I feel like if you love writing, you love it enough to practice reading and writing all the time and make yourself a better writer. But that logic doesn't work for artists and art school so it probably doesn't work for writing either. Anyways.)
Gunn's Golden Rules - Yes, the book Tim Gunn wrote. No, this doesn't have anything directly to do with getting a job.
But this book did also boost my confidence, since Tim Gunn is also a painstakingly nice person, often also a doormat, and the book follows all of the social networking tricks and rules that he's learned ever since he got into the high-stress worlds of fashion and entertainment. I felt like it was a Shy Person's Primer for how to network, how to be aware of everyone you interact with as an associate and a potential person with connections, and how to basically be on your best behavior for everyone you meet, cause you never know who might pay it forward for you.
Plus, I know I end up depressed and defeated under the idea of 'nice guys finish last', especially since I've read job-books that basically say that - if you are a nice, low-key person, say good bye to all hope of being important and respected. No. That is a Bullshit Thought and one I personally had to nailgun out of my brain. Plus, just because I'm more introverted than extroverted doesn't mean that I can't be assertive and confident.
Still going to be MIA for a few days - I've dipped back into listening to John Mayer and Snow Patrol, if you believe that the music you listen to can be a thermometer for your mood. Plus I have the next three days of work, and with the sales lately things have been stressful there. Still chugging along on tags the best I can - I am in way too many active threads at the moment, and February is all about finishing them up and getting them back to a managable level (Purity and Two Guys are the two I feel closest to finishing at the moment, oh and I need to post in Wolves cause that is nearly done too). I really really sincerely want to work on Restless Heavens next month, because I've been thinking about it constantly at work and there is so much I wanted to explore in that world.
ALSO, MY BIRTHDAY IN TWO WEEKS <33333
What Color Is Your Parachute: I mentioned this one before, but it is worth mentioning again. My biggest problem coming into the job hunt has been the same problem I've had since I graduated college - I have no idea what I want to do for a career, and I get trapped in this attitude of "I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR MONEY", which gets you stuck in the same shitty job over and over again.
WCIYP is divided into two sections - the first section which is the manual How To for the job hunt - how to search, how to network, how to sell your resume and cover letter. What I found a lot more important, and the section I actually read first, was the second section devoted to the Flower Exercise. Basically, there are seven major exercises you go through to determine what kind of career path makes you happiest and plays best to your skill set, and forces you to narrow in on what you want instead of generalizing again. At the end of the Flower Exercise, you grab a giant piece of posterboard and map out exactly what you found out about your preferences. I drew mine on hot pink posterboard which I hung up right next to my TV, which is a constant reminder of my goals and what kind of job I do want.
This book was a major, major morale boost for me, since as I said, knowing what I wanted to do has been the major problem. When I feel lost nowadays, I find a job list (just a simple list of careers) and spend a few minutes picking out the ones that seem fun, and I get some direction again. But definitely do the Flower Exercise first, and take your time with it. I spent about two weeks on mine, which gave me time to really think about my answers and do research on the answers I came up with.
200 Best Jobs For College Graduates: This one is up there because it is a fantastic job list book. It sorts out jobs by education level, major, and experience, gives you estimates for job growth and average salary, and most helpfully, the general job expectations and duties you'd be responsible for. This is the book I was reading when I stepped back and was like "...wait a second, there ARE careers I can do related to writing!", whereas before I was like "WELP LEMME GIVE UP ON THIS NOTION OF HAVING A JOB DOING SOMETHING I LOVE".
Yeah I've been out of college nearly three years now but I never got an idea of what my degree can do for me, or how to sell it on a resume. I have a poor idea of what you can do with a degree vs. what you can't, probably because the past few years of our terrible economy made me believe that people with degrees are just as shit-out-of-luck as people who don't have them. Plus, I've been wanting to go back for a Master's degree, and this book is helping me figure out what majors best suit what I want to do (or vice-versa, if I do get a degree related to writing, what can I do with that)
(Though I am generally opposed to English/Writing degrees anyways, NO OFFENSE AT ALL but I feel like if you love writing, you love it enough to practice reading and writing all the time and make yourself a better writer. But that logic doesn't work for artists and art school so it probably doesn't work for writing either. Anyways.)
Gunn's Golden Rules - Yes, the book Tim Gunn wrote. No, this doesn't have anything directly to do with getting a job.
But this book did also boost my confidence, since Tim Gunn is also a painstakingly nice person, often also a doormat, and the book follows all of the social networking tricks and rules that he's learned ever since he got into the high-stress worlds of fashion and entertainment. I felt like it was a Shy Person's Primer for how to network, how to be aware of everyone you interact with as an associate and a potential person with connections, and how to basically be on your best behavior for everyone you meet, cause you never know who might pay it forward for you.
Plus, I know I end up depressed and defeated under the idea of 'nice guys finish last', especially since I've read job-books that basically say that - if you are a nice, low-key person, say good bye to all hope of being important and respected. No. That is a Bullshit Thought and one I personally had to nailgun out of my brain. Plus, just because I'm more introverted than extroverted doesn't mean that I can't be assertive and confident.
Still going to be MIA for a few days - I've dipped back into listening to John Mayer and Snow Patrol, if you believe that the music you listen to can be a thermometer for your mood. Plus I have the next three days of work, and with the sales lately things have been stressful there. Still chugging along on tags the best I can - I am in way too many active threads at the moment, and February is all about finishing them up and getting them back to a managable level (Purity and Two Guys are the two I feel closest to finishing at the moment, oh and I need to post in Wolves cause that is nearly done too). I really really sincerely want to work on Restless Heavens next month, because I've been thinking about it constantly at work and there is so much I wanted to explore in that world.
ALSO, MY BIRTHDAY IN TWO WEEKS <33333
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Date: 2011-02-12 05:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-13 06:26 am (UTC)