Wishing how employers would hire is not a strategy for job search success.
It is common for job seekers to be frustrated, angry, and bitter about their job search because of their wishful thinking, a mindset that creates negative emotions and prolongs their job search.
More important than your resume, LinkedIn profile, or the size and quality of your network is your mindset… how you mentally navigate today’s job market and employer’s hiring practices.
Your mindset determines how you think, feel, and even physiologically respond, such as being ghosted by an employer or your candidacy being rejected, which impacts your job search performance.
Wishful thinking is believing in a self-serving belief, thereby ignoring inconvenient facts and truisms due to confirmation biases, usually motivated by feeling entitled. (e.g., “I am owed a job and a certain lifestyle.”) Successful people know it is not their wishes that make things happen. When it comes to job searching, success is achieved— as soon as possible—through constant “right effort” aligned with how employers choose to hire.
An important first step that a job seeker can take to reduce mental stumbling blocks is acknowledging that employers own the hiring process, not the job seeker.
Ask yourself these questions:
When you scour job sites, tweak your resume, and write cover letters, do you grumble about the effort, wishing the application process was easier?
Do you wish recruiters and hiring managers would instantly recognize your talent from your resume and LinkedIn profile without having to sell yourself?
Do you wish you did not have to look for work?
If you answered “yes” to any or all these questions, your mindset needs a reboot, starting with managing your expectations. (READ: Not approaching your job search with a sense of entitlement.)
Your mindset can work against you in three ways:
Being negative about the job search process.
I have never met anyone who enjoys job searching. However, I have met a few candidates who have told me they see their job search as a rebirth—a chance to start fresh—which, upon reflection, is precisely what it is
A job search is your opportunity to rediscover yourself, find an employer and team where you belong and feel welcome, try something new, expand your skill set, and do what you have always wanted. What can be more exciting? More hopeful?
When you approach your job search with a positive mindset, you will see that there are silver linings.
As I mentioned, employers own their hiring process. This truism will never change. Hence, being negative is wasted energy that only results in making you dread your job search more and makes you less likely to apply for more jobs or go the extra mile in your applications, thus inevitably creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that supports the common false narratives, “Employers don’t know how to hire,” and “There are no good jobs out there.”
When you are frustrated, stressed, angry, or disappointed about your job search, you are holding onto a fantasy. (wishful thinking) Like the serenity prayer says, “accept the things you cannot change,” such as an employer’s hiring practices.
Being consumed by self-doubt.
You cannot expect employers to believe in you if you do not believe in yourself.
Self-doubt and impostor syndrome are beasts that are hard to tame. Often, job seekers do not apply to jobs they are interested in, even though they meet most of the required qualifications, because they do not tick off all the boxes.
What you believe about your qualifications directly affects what opportunities you pursue. Self-talk about your capabilities becomes your reality. Self-doubt will cause you to look for excuses everywhere. (e.g., “I don’t have [whatever] skill [or experience] on my resume” or “I’m too old to be applying to this position”)
The top five qualities hiring managers look for in a candidate are:
Able to produce results
Enthusiasm
Will fit into the current work environment (READ: Will not be a disruptor.)
Is a team-player
Long-term potential
If you can consistently speak to these qualities, especially number two, “Able to produce results,” you will be well ahead of your competition.
With the exception of number one, to some extent, none of the top five relate to hard skills.
Sense of entitlement
My observations and conversations have led me to conclude that most job seekers are not victims of a tough job market. Generally, job seekers tend to be bright, capable, intelligent, and marketable. However, many are their own worst enemy, holding themselves hostage by their unrealistic expectations (wishful thinking) and unreasonable expectations of employers.
Feeling entitled does not lead to anything great. Establish your job search goals and stay true to them. However, be realistic about your deal-breakers.
The job opportunity in front of you may not have all the bells and whistles you wish for, but it may lead to the career you wish for.
Everyone has a ladder to climb. Therefore, adopting a mindset that makes your job search and corporate climb as smooth as possible is wise.
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
