Are You Reaping What You Sow in Your Jobsearch?

I was driving home this afternoon thinking to myself how tomorrow will be my last day of work and that I am one day away from unemployment.  I had hoped to find another job by now, but alas that is not the case.  In an effort to try to stay positive I reminded myself of how I had applied for several positions and for all I knew, one of them would work out even if it wasn’t going to be by tomorrow.

I got to thinking about how the job search is so much like sowing a garden.  We go out and prepare a place suitable for our fruit and veggies to grow.  We take great care in making sure they have everything they need to be a success.  We sow our garden and then we wait.  We wait ever so patiently as we check on the progress every few days.  We make sure they have water and sunshine.  We wait….we weed.  We wait.  And as with my early round of tomatoes this year, if something goes wrong we don’t give up, we replant that garden.

All of this can be said of the job search.  You have to make sure you have everything you need to be a success.  You work on your resume.  You take great care to put together the best cover letter you can.  You do your research on companies.  You submit any additional documents to help convince that hiring manager that you are the ideal person for the job.  And then you wait.  To check on the progress you may follow up with an email or a phone call, but then you wait.   

The waiting is the hardest part in my opinion.  That goes for both the garden and the job search.  It’s during this in between time that you feel kind of helpless.  You have done all you can and now it is up to Mother Nature or someone you don’t know to decide your fate.  The important thing to remember while you wait is to keep sowing more seeds.  With any luck, eventually something will bloom and you will be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Picture by: Susy Morris