Discipline Will Get You That Job

There are many facets of life that require discipline; getting up every morning to go to work, paying your bills, putting gas in your car and countless other things. However, many people consider looking for a new job as a hassle that can be addressed whenever the mood strikes them.

Many Americans today adopt the ‘it can wait’ attitude and their career search suffers as a result. Finding a job, just like putting food on the table, requires discipline and extreme effort to accomplish.

People who join the military get a taste of discipline during boot camp and basic training. However, even these folks lose a considerable amount of their discipline when they enter the working world. If you have the discipline to work out every day or to get up and go to work, then you have the discipline to find a new job and find it quickly.

Look everywhere for that job

The discipline required to find a good or even a great job starts with looking for that job. You have to look continuously and when I say continuously, I mean at every free minute that you have.

Finding that perfect job means leaving for lunch and going to the library to search the internet for jobs. It also means spending a minimum of one hour a night surfing the job boards to find that perfect job. And that is just the beginning.

Once you have disciplined yourself enough to spend all your free time looking for a new job, you can begin to divide your job search time into specific tasks. One important aspect of looking for a job is to make contacts. You do this by sending your resume to all placement agencies and letting them know your requirements for your new job.

Network with friends

You must also spend some time networking with your friends to see if they have any ideas for you. You should also spend time networking with acquaintances whose spouse might work for a good company or a person you met at church who works for a company that might be hiring. No matter what the source, you need to try and take advantage of any contacts you may have.

Another aspect of a disciplined job search is looking at all possible sources for a job. This might include multiple job boards, several newspapers, and many different company websites. It never hurts to send a resume to a company that is not hiring because they will generally keep your resume on file for 6 months.

Finally, it never hurts to use the phone book and call places where you might like to work. I have actually gotten a job while the market was terrible by blindly calling software companies to see if they needed help.

Stay positive and stay disciplined

Another important aspect of disciplining yourself to find that perfect job is to keep a positive attitude even in the face of rejection. I have sent out hundreds of resumes without a response but have managed to continue sending my resume until I landed a job.

Unfortunately, looking for a job is not like going to McDonalds. You can’t just pull up to the drive through window and select your new job from the super value menu. Throughout your intense job search efforts, you must maintain a positive attitude and remain disciplined.

If you consider getting a new job or advancing your career as one of those events in life that require perseverance and discipline, you will succeed where others fail. If you are able to dedicate any and all free time to finding that perfect job, your efforts will be rewarded. So, put your nose to the grindstone and accept the fact that finding a new job is going to take lots of work and extra effort. It’s going to require your utmost discipline.

About the Author
Scott Brown is the author of the Job Search Handbook (www.JobSearchHandbook.com). As editor of the HireSites.com weekly newsletter on job searching, Scott has written many articles on the subject. He wrote the Job Search Handbook to provide job seekers with a complete yet easy to use guide to finding a job effectively. To download your own free copy of the Job Search Handbook, visit http://www.JobSearchHandbook.com.