Imagine the delight of @sasagronomy, who posted on Twitter:
“I Love Karma. The man who just drove into the parking space I was waiting for & told me to F off, has arrived for his interview — WITH ME!”
While this job seeker clearly didn’t know it, he sealed his fate by revealing himself to be rude and self-centered in a way that would not likely have occurred during an interview. He made his own bad karma.
On the flip side, there are several things you can do to take control of your persona and the perception people have of you. When you become more fully self-aware and purposeful in your actions, you affect the style and quality of your personal interactions to everyone’s benefit.
Here are some things in your power to control:
[See: 10 Job Resolutions to Revitalize Your Career.]
Look inward. Reflect on the bad choices you’ve made. Maybe you are that person who is happy to turn parking in a crowded lot into a competitive sport. Maybe you have been so self-centered that you haven’t played well in the sandbox with others on your team with whom you are supposed to have collaborative relationships.
Maybe you’ve gotten into a habit of using networking opportunities or, even worse, job interviews to retell your tale of woes, creating a mood of negativity around you.
Reflect with candor about where you may have gone wrong in setting the tone or atmosphere of your overall job hunt. When you focus on all the things that others did to put you in a bad spot, you set a poor and often self-defeating atmosphere for discussions about your abilities and future.
Show your passion. That means you have to care about yourself and take pride in what you do and what you’ve accomplished. It means you think of the future and the kinds of things that you really enjoy doing and can’t wait to tackle.
People love to be around other people who clearly love what they do. It’s no accident that LinkedIn encourages you to begin your profile summary section with a sentence like, “I’m passionate about…”
Let your enthusiasm shine through your cover letters when you explain why the job to which you are applying makes sense and how you would bring value to the employer.
Likewise, when you enter an interview and are asked to tell about yourself, don’t give a boring history of your career. Instead, introduce yourself by talking about the kinds of work challenges that make you thrive and do your best.
[See: 10 Ways Social Media Can Help You Land a Job.]
Respect others and their needs. When you are out of work and looking, it’s easy to be consumed with your own needs, and perhaps even your own desperation. Alternatively, if you are a busy professional trying to add a job search to an already crowded schedule, it is easy to be totally self-absorbed.
Either way, remember that there are typically a fair number of people who are specifically tasked with filling a position, and the search takes time from their schedules.
Your job is to make their tasks easier, and to treat everyone with whom you interact in person or online with the respect they deserve. That especially includes the human resources staffer who phone-screens you, the receptionist who greets you when you come in for an interview, the team members who give up part of their workday to meet you and all the way up the line. Simple politeness like using “please,” “thank you” and promptly writing notes of appreciation all do wonders.
Follow up. Prompt thank-you notes, providing references when requested and anything else you can do to keep a discussion moving forward can demonstrate your interest and the fact that you don’t drop the ball.
[See: 8 Stages of a Winning Job Search.]
Enable serendipity to happen. Put yourself out there and be open to unexpected opportunities. Go to networking events, appropriate job fairs, professional and other industry-related events and Meetups. When you are out and around, you never know exactly whom you’ll meet and what kind of relationship you might create. At a minimum, you can show an interest in learning the “latest and greatest” from experts. You never know… you might just wind up sitting next to the person who is looking for candidates just like you for a hard-to-fill position.
Happy hunting!
More from U.S. News
10 Things Your Mom Didn’t Teach You About Job Searching
5 Ways to Make Your Own Job-Search Karma originally appeared on usnews.com
