Career Advice: Dealing with Frustration of Finding Jobs in a Tight Economy

Are you tired of filling out application after application? Have you reworked your resume, hunted at different web sites, posted your resume online, and applied month after month to various job announcements without any success? Are you a recent college graduate who just can't find professional work?

If you are frustrated with the job search in 2007, you are not alone. Many Americans have great qualifications, including work experience and higher education, and cannot find a job for which they are qualified. You can find temporary work in fields like substitute teaching and writing for the web.

It's not a time to be feeling haughty about your credentials and work experience. This is the time to be practical, to cast your net far and wide, and to do a good job where you are currently in your temporary job. The best thing that you can do is be positive, keep searching, and bloom where you are planted.

I'm doing that and hoping that a good job opportunity is coming up soon. It was a little disillusioning after finishing graduate school this spring, but I am learning that writing for the web can be fun, and I never would have discovered this if I was working a full-time job.

Here is some advice to remember. You are now your own job coach!

Keep the end result in mind. You have to believe that you will find a job soon. With a tight economy, prayer, hard work, dedication, and filling out hundreds of job applications, this sluggish economy does not bring guarantees of any results. I've had my interview suit ready for months and haven't used it yet.

Here are a few things to consider about the job you will eventually find:

1. It might not pay as much as you want to make or were making in your last job.
2. You may be over-qualified for the position but you might have to take it because you really need a job.
3. You may not see yourself going anywhere in this new position but having a job is better than having no job.
4. You may not understand why you got this job, but it may be the first step toward a great opportunity for a career that you never considered.
5. Life has a way of taking you in new directions that you don't understand. When you get there, you will be pleasantly surprised.
6. Whatever job you find, do your best. You need to have good references and job stability throughout your resume.
7. Whatever you end up doing in this position, you will be able to acquire more skills and experience to sell yourself later on in your career.
8. The economy will get better, EVENTUALLY.

Good luck with your search!