If you’ve visited The Job Quest over the past few days, you will have noticed that things look a little different around here. Oh, it’s the same blog you’ve come to know and love, but it’s a little sleeker, a little faster. Many thanks to Kim Woodbridge of (Anti) Social Development for all her great work!
Last year, when I moved the blog to its current location and had it designed, I didn’t fully know what I was doing. My designer at that time was awesome and did a fabulous job of creating the look of The Job Quest, but there were a couple missteps I discovered as the year went on:
1. I used a free blog theme. It was a nice enough theme and was able to give me a professional site. However, as the year went on and I added content to the blog, it started to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. In retrospect, it was rather silly of me to expect a free theme that is not updated to be able to keep up with online technology that is constantly evolving. Lesson: Doing things on the cheap isn’t always the best option. Making an investment, when necessary, is a wiser choice that provides better outcomes.
2. I didn’t know what options I had with hosts. I just went for a well-known name because, well, they were well-known. Unfortunately, I had a few bumps in the road over the past year. Trying to navigate in my account pages was a nightmare — even finding the FAQs or a forum to ask questions took quite an effort. Having issues was bad enough, but adding all the extra time that I had to spend getting them resolved compounded it many times over. Lesson: Get recommendations before buying.
How many times do people do the same thing in their job searches?
They “go it alone” with trying to figure out how to navigate the ever-changing landscape of techniques, tools, and resources that are available to help job seekers succeed. And even if they do know about them, how easy is it to keep up as the tools themselves develop to be able to maximize their potential? In this case, as well, making an investment in a career professional who stays abreast of the changes in the job hunting trends can be a wiser choice that provides better outcomes.
But say they do recognize that having a career professional help them would be a benefit. Not knowing what to consider, they just randomly pick someone. That can work, or it can backfire. Getting recommendations is one way to help with the decision of who to work with on your job hunt.
In the end, the best choices are the ones that are going to lead to the outcomes you desire.
Image courtesy of Erich Ferdinand
Does your job search feel like it’s stuck in neutral? Hit a road block with your career? Learn more about working together to jump-start your success!
Twitter: jacobshare
says:
Taking it one step further- always try to lean on experts where you don’t have expertise.
You can drive yourself nuts trying to keep up with blog technology, hosting, plugins, etc., but why bother? If you can afford it – a key condition, I admit – find someone else who’s business it is to do so, so you can focus on your business.
And yes, get recommendations from people you trust about people they trust.
Keep reaching higher!
Twitter: TheJobQuest
says:
Hi, Jacob!
So very true. It’s funny, though, how people convince themselves that they “should” be able to do something because it seems easy. After a few frustrating hours, they mutter, “It shouldn’t be this hard!” The thing is, it always was, but the expert who has put in many hours with the subject matter makes it look easy because s/he is much more efficient at doing it.
Twitter: CadenceOn
says:
Melissa,
Very nicely done! Your candor and openness regarding lessons learned is priceless in several regards. Keep up the fine work!
Twitter: TheJobQuest
says:
Thanks, A.B.!
I find that some of the biggest epiphanies happen because I messed something up. Everyone makes mistakes, but what’s more important is what happens afterward — are there attempts to try to hide it? Or is it used as an opportunity to improve whatever it was that was screwed up and then see what other applications those lessons could have in other areas? If more people could get over the former and embrace the latter, it would be a wonderful thing.