Career expert offers tips for staying hopeful during job searches

April 4, 2011 - PRLog -- A recent Gallup and USA Today poll found that the hope of soon finding a good job increases a job seeker’s sense of wellbeing during the job search. Carrell Chadwell, career expert and author of “Changing Careers in a Changing World,” agrees, and offers these tips for sustaining hope and a positive attitude during a prolonged job search:

•   Find the positives in your life.  Make a list of all the good things you still have, despite being unemployed, such as a supportive spouse, wonderful children, good health, strong friendships, intelligence, skills, enjoyable hobbies and spiritual faith.
•   Develop a list of positive and self-supportive statements that you truly believe.  For example, “Something good will turn up eventually,” or, “I’ve gotten through hard times before, and can again.”   “I have great skills and experiences, and someone will want them.  I have a lot to offer the right employer.”
•   Strengthen your hopeful attitude by practicing and drilling it into your head.  Every day, read your list of positives and your list of self-supportive statements; and spend some time each day thinking about one or more of these true and positive beliefs.

“A prolonged job search is stressful, and it’s difficult to stay upbeat when numerous job applications and multiple interviews fail to yield good results.  But if you lose hope, the results can be discouragement, depression, loss of motivation, and difficulty in sustaining the job search and in projecting confidence in interviews,”  said Chadwell, a psychologist with more than 30 years of experience counseling job seekers.

Chadwell encourages job seekers that, while the future may be uncertain, “You probably still have many good things in your life, and with a positive attitude you can make the best of whatever the future brings.”

Chadwell’s book, “Changing Careers in a Changing World,” is a step-by-step guide for analyzing your unique strengths, values and needs to find the career that’s right for you. Her book is available on her website, http://www.drchadwell.com, and at http://www.amazon.com, http://www.barnesandnoble.com and other distributors.

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"Changing Careers in a Changing World" is a step-by-step guide and workbook that will help you to assess what you need in a job, identify jobs that will give you what you need, and prepare yourself to compete successfully for those jobs