JobSync

Is Your Ego Hurting Your Job Search?

September 29, 2011

You’ve been out of a job for three months. Six months. Or nine months...

Or perhaps you’ve been looking to leave your current position for a new job for three months. Six months. Or nine months...

Of course the job market is tough, so you need a tough skin to get through it, right? But is your ego undermining your efforts to find a great-fitting position? Is it keeping you from reaching out to your network of family, friends, and colleagues to let them know you are looking and that you need a little help? Is your ego discouraging you from considering other fields where your transferable skills could find a new home? Is it preventing you from picking up some new skills or doing some career-enhancing volunteer work on the side? Or is your ego discouraging you from getting some career counseling, even though you’ve felt professionally adrift for years?

Your ability to rein in your ego may be costing you time and money and only adding frustration to your professional growth and development in addition to your everyday life. A little vulnerability can go a long way to opening yourself up to different possibilities and options. The problem, however, is that with a little vulnerability comes the risk of failure, and this is where ego often gets the best of embattled job seekers.

As difficult as it may sound, failure is frequently the first step to putting the broken pieces of a job search back together (And by failure, we don’t mean the scores of companies that have never replied to your online job applications). A flubbed interview is the first step to polishing your personal presentation skills. An inferior work sample that’s rejected is a catalyst for refining a submission for your next job application. Failure is your ego’s friend – it’s tough love, but love nonetheless.

So lose the ego, and gain the job.

• Tweet