Clean Up Your Career, Part 4: Your Job Search

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Your job search can go from hopeful to helpless about as quickly as Tesla can go from 0-70. In an instant, your excitement about the possibilities can turn into insecurity and angst.

The truth is that you can’t expect your job search to leave you feeling secure if you’re letting forces beyond your control manage the process. Attribution theory is alive and well when it comes to job searching: If you leave all the power in the hands of an applicant tracking system and spend all your time scouring job boards in search of your dream job, you’re leaving the outcome to chance and other external forces.

If, however, you take control of your job search and actively strategize and participate in your search through creativity and networking, then any positive outcome will be directly attributed to your own actions. It’s probably not surprising that people who tend to attribute positive outcomes in their lives to external factors have a higher rate of depression. Don’t do that to yourself. You can job search more effectively in a shorter period of time simply by gaining more control over your search.


This post was adapted from Atrium Staffing’s blog.

Michele Mavi is Atrium Staffing ‘s resident career expert.

By Michele Mavi