Self-belief and the job search

There’s no doubt that over the past 6 months most of us have been shaken to our inner core when it’s come to being confident about what direction our careers are going to take next. With redundancies, furlough and a loss of spirit amongst the travel industry in particular, it’s fair to say mental well being has taken a huge hit.

As recruiters, speaking to people on a daily basis and chatting about their career plans is part of the job and it’s always amazing to hear the varying levels of self belief from each person.

So what is self belief and why do some people have it in abundance and others don’t? And how does it affect our job searching?

Self belief is a feeling that goes that bit deeper than self confidence. Our self confidence can change depending on the situation and how we feel about our own abilities or skills. It’s wavering, it can be lost or gained far quicker than self belief as it can be affected by so many things. If somebody puts a negative comment on a Linkedin post you’ve put out – it knocks your self confidence. You make a mistake at work- there goes that self confidence again for a while!

Self belief however is far more of deep rooted certainty, a fundamental inner strength that carries you forward when the road ahead isn’t as expected and you’re presented with challenges that you need to overcome. It’s being comfortable to know that you ARE good enough, your values and personal beliefs ARE important and you CAN do whatever you want to do no matter what others say.

Personally, I think self belief is far harder to attain, it takes work and often the road to discovery is one littered with accepting and understand the reasons why you feel like you do. There will almost certainly be reasons or “blockages” that are standing in the way of you believing you can achieve your goals (career goals or otherwise) and until they are acknowledged and dealt with, your self belief will remain affected.

Find your negative beliefs and turn them around. Find evidence from your daily life that challenges what you believe. For example: “I’m never going to find another job because I don’t have any confidence”.  There will be confidence displayed in something you do in life for sure. Think about what you do happily and easily. What are you good at? Hobbies, interests, cooking, drawing- they all require a degree of confidence that you DO possess.

Use language positively and treat yourself with respect. Don’t wait for someone else to say something kind about you, say it to yourself!  Don’t put yourself down, speak to yourself the way you’d speak to your best friend. When you talk positively, you set your mind up to believe in your success.

Learn to see what you’ve achieved. Focusing on failures is a sure fire way to destroy self belief. Look at what you’ve accomplished, don’t filter out the positives. When applying for jobs for example, don’t focus on the one or two parts of the job description you aren’t the strongest on- look at what you’ve achieved so far in your career that demonstrates exactly what the job requires.

Envisage things in your life going right. If you have an interview for example, spend some time imagining it goes well. What does that look like? Are you calm, collected and relaxed? Are you able to talk easily and freely, sharing your experiences and creating a great rapport with the interviewer?

Don’t compare yourself to others (much!). We all do this and despite someone telling you not to, it won’t stop you doing it. But try and rein it in because it will make you feel you aren’t good at something. And there will ALWAYS be someone better at something than you!!  If someone is successful at getting a job, don’t spend your time wallowing that it wasn’t you. Ask them how they got in, can they recommend you, can they describe the interview process, do they know if there are any other vacancies coming up? Keep to your own agenda and don’t get caught up in what others are doing.

Keep moving forward, keep challenging yourself and keep that belief strong that you will be successful in whatever path you choose to take next.

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