discouraged in your job search? rest. but don’t give up.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Every once in a while, I spend a few hours reviewing all the current job postings listed by a growing collection of organizations I have bookmarked. Although I’m usually prompted to do this research because I happen to be working with someone in particular and am looking specifically for them, I NEVER fail to stumble across job postings that seem to be a good fit for someone I’ve worked with in the past. It only takes a minute or so to copy the link into an email to them with a “saw this and thought of you” subject line and message.

I’ve been doing this for years and here’s the thing. It’s very rare for someone to reply and tell me they had already seen the posting. More often than not, when they reply to thank me for sending the link, they tell me they haven’t been looking. The reasons vary, but at the core,

discouragement is sabotaging their job search.

If this is happening to you, please DON’T GIVE UP. Go ahead and keep sifting through those daily emails from indeed and continue to peruse job postings on LinkedIn, but don’t forget about postings on the websites of individual organizations.

I’m not naive enough to think that this one change alone will guarantee you’ll land the job you’ve been looking for. But I guarantee you’ll find opportunities you didn’t know about before.

claimed or counterclaimed.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

“There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.” C.S. Lewis

Either I’m on track and Satan is ticked and trying to derail me,

or

I’m off track and God is relentlessly trying to get me to see that He’s answering my prayer for direction.

and so I pray.

because I desperately want to be claimed by God.

I can’t let the negative feedback of man push me to the bench to sit and do nothing, waiting for God to tell me what to do. I can’t let the negative feedback of man discourage me from my ministry, especially after experiencing what I sincerely believe was a powerful interchange of the Holy Spirit with God’s people. I can’t ignore the possibility that Satan is ticked and wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Since that big fat liar is no match for the Holy Spirit, he chooses to attack God’s people, planting doubt and sowing discouragement.

I’m going to stay diligent on my path until God slams into me like a linebacker and knocks me off of it.

I’m hardheaded that way.

Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.
Zechariah 4:6

This old song is creeping into my memory today.

I’m going to stop being discouraged and be awesome instead. True Story.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I haven’t exactly been sad. But I’ll admit. For the last few weeks, I’ve been discouraged. I found myself in the middle of a new work group dynamic and the results have been . . . discouraging. Actually, it’s an old dynamic that I allowed to resurface. I should have known better.

I can’t be discouraged anymore. It doesn’t work for me.

I’m not going to hold back my best anymore to try and accommodate someone who is uncomfortable with my strength. It’s been like breathing through a pillow.

I can’t intentionally incorporate their work product into my work anymore. The addition is eroding the quality of my finished product and my peace of mind. If they can add to the finished product, that’s great, but I can’t continue modifying my work to include inconsistent contribution and incompatible components.

I’m not going to be less because they aren’t more. It hasn’t helped them be more. Affirming them hasn’t made them stronger, it’s just wiped me out. Giving them attention doesn’t satiate their need for attention, it just feeds it. It’s never enough.

Like feeding Seymour.

I’m going to go back to what I was doing before I allowed this situation to get out of hand again. I’m going to pray for them. And for me – That God will either change the situation or change my heart.

CLICK HERE to see other posts I’ve written about dealing with emotional bullies, narcissists and passive-aggressive people.