This morning I received a comment on one of my financially focused posts – this comment shares a common problem, “I don’t have a job.”  This is just one of the reasons I encourage building a business.  Somehow it seems better to me to not have enough work than to be completely out of a job.  But what if you you just need a job for the immediate future?  Here are some things to consider…

How to Look For a Job

First of all, you need to know I am speaking from experience.  In that past 20 years I have been without a job on two different occasions.  In both cases, prior to losing my job, I had jobs that paid well and a family to support (and bills to pay!)  When I lost the first job I was not prepared to start a business, and so I had an urgent need to find work.  The second time around I was ready to begin my new business and thanked my employer for pushing me out to begin my new venture.

So where do you begin?

1. First, I recommend thanking God for all He has provided up to this point in your life.  Look around you at all of the blessings He provides – that might be health, family, a home, food you ate several hours ago, or whatever you can come up with.  God is sovereign.  Do you believe that?  Acknowledge He is God, and He loves His children.  I hope you can call yourself a child of God along with Paul in Galatians 3:26.

2. Consider why you lost your job.  It’s easy to blame your employer or the economy, but in every case, if you are truly a child of God, He has a purpose in this trial.  What character trait is God working to teach you today?  In my case I was able to identify several things that were not in line with God’s Word – this allowed me to go to God in repentance, to receive His mercy on this matter.

3. Recognize your responsibility – if you are the provider for your family, you are responsible to keep providing.  It’s not your former employer’s job to pay your unemployment, and it’s not the Government’s job to support you either.  So your new full time job is, getting a new job.  I quickly set up a new schedule for my work.  My new office was in my house.  I was going to get a job…and I began to seek the Lord for direction on this.  This became my new 8 hour per day ( and sometimes more) occupation.

4. Update your resume – your social media sites such as LinkedIn are very important.  Also, if you have all kinds of junk out there on Facebook that would be detrimental to your job search, shame on you.  Clean up whatever you can and commit to keep a reputation that is above reproach out there.  You might also pull together a reference sheet.  Don’t have a list with three people on it – no, get a list with 33 people on it.  I had 36 on mine, with titles and email addresses.  Overwhelm the people you interview with.

5. Read. Start reading (I hope you are already doing this), books on the kind of work you do.  Whatever it is, even if you deliver pizza for a living (which has a lot to do with sales and customer service), there are books by people who are successful, in your field.  Study them and be able to speak to prospective employers about what you do.  I actually put together a presentation – skipped the resume step, and called business owners to set up appointments to give them my presentation.  Most of the companies I interviewed with did not have a job opening, but several created one after hearing my presentation.

6. Commit to spending the entire day selling yourself.  Make lots of calls, set up lots of meetings, connect with job search firms, and practice delivering your value proposition.  Most interviewing managers have no idea what they are doing – help them by coming prepared to carry the interview.

7. Commit to God that you won’t lie about your abilities, continue to evaluate your character and how you come across in an interview, and even ask some of your business minded friends to evaluate your program – your value proposition…

There are many openings out there – this economy may be reducing jobs, but companies still need to make a profit and if you are better than their current workforce, they will hire you.  In the mean time, consider selling things on the side.  Use eBay and Craigslist – buy and sell.  Who knows, you might find that you can make more money buying and selling than you can with the kinds of jobs you are qualified to fill.

© 2013, David Stelzl