You Need to Teach Your Job Seekers These Professional Habits Now

You Need to Teach Your Job Seekers These Professional Habits Now www.pexels.com Professional habits are important for job seekers to learn, no matter what stage of their career they’re in. Whether they’re fresh out of college, accepting a big promotion, or making a midlife career change, they need to establish valuable routines and behaviors to earn sustained success. Let’s take a look at the five most important professional habits they need to learn: Build Relationships Building a professional network is essential for any successful career path. When job seekers actively network, they get to learn new things about their industry, meet people, share ideas, and even set themselves up for earning an employee referral. It’s tough to make the most out of networking for those who haven’t done it before. According to a September 2015 survey conducted by the University of Phoenix School of Business, 15 percent of working adults surveyed say they don’t have enough experience to make networking worthwhile. The key to making networking valuable is simple. Your job seekers need to focus not just on an end result but on the process of relationship building. Once they connect with people who are important to them, they should maintain a relationship through any means necessary, like professional social networks. Linkedin is the go-to resource for those trying to connect with other professionals. A July 2014 OfficeTeam survey found that 28 percent of senior managers say that failing to keep in touch is a major networking mistake. Help them develop relationship building habits so they can prevent losing their best connections. For example, establish a schedule where they reach out on a regular basis and try to establish a recurring meeting, even if it’s just coffee once a month. Teach job seekers to make the most of their networking by following up and building a relationship. #jobsearch #tips Click To Tweet Express Gratitude Being grateful has so many benefits, in terms of physical and mental health, which can be a great advantage during the job search. The 2014 paper entitled Gratitude Enhances Change in Athletes’ Self-Esteem: The Moderating Role of Trust in Coach, published in the Journal of Applied Sports Psychology, found that athletes who expressed more gratitude toward their coaches and in general had higher self-esteem two and six months later compared to those who weren’t as openly thankful. The same holds true for job seekers with a higher self-esteem, they are more prone to developing confidence and being more decisive. Your job seekers should outwardly express their appreciation for another’s contribution on a regular basis. To make it habitual, teach them how to start a gratitude journal or set daily reminders to stop and reflect on something they feel thankful for. Teach them to notice the little things and be specific when it comes time to express appreciation. How did this person behave or act, and what kind of positive impact did it have on their life? By articulating this, they are better equipped to speak with sincerity. Keeping a gratitude journal is just one way to help your job seekers build a gratitude habit. #jobsearch Click To Tweet Communicate Well It’s no secret that when looking for new career opportunities, communication skills are a must. Not only should job seekers know how to prove their communication skills, but they should also be making strong communication a habit in their daily lives. Teach them how to be concise and simplify what needs to be said in person and in writing. Nobody likes to be stuck with a rambler or read an overcomplicated, long block of text. When writing emails, they need to get to the point immediately, break up the text body, and finish with a call to action. The same goes for talking when they ramble, they lose their audience and seem to be unfocused. Make this a habit in daily life so it translates to the workplace. [TWEET Dont let job seekers ramble. Teach them how to stay on point and communicate concisely. #jobsearch] Teach them to think about what their main idea is, then provide supporting details without sharing tangential information. Encourage your job seekers to practice this in their social life as well. Get Organized Organized people are more than likely to never miss a deadline and to know exactly what they need to do. Remind your job seekers that being organized is not necessarily an innate quality it can be learned and made into one of their most valuable habits. It becomes a mindset. Start with the little things in their life. Clear papers off the desk, sort the mail, organize the email inbox, and write a simple to-do list. Your job seekers need to set specific routines and rituals for the start and end of the day, with some time open for leisure and fun of course. Help job seekers stay organized in their work and home life. Set up to-do lists. #jobsearch Click To Tweet Show them how to set alarms and reminders to keep them on task. For example, when they’re planning out their next professional networking event, they should give themselves an hour to research who is going and identify who they should meet. When it comes to being organized, help them turn off their perfectionist side and accept things as imperfect and good enough. Add those to-dos they didn’t finish to the next day’s list. Remain Curious Job seekers can’t afford to be meek, shy, and reserved when it comes to professional opportunities, like meeting people at networking events or responding to a request for contract work. Teach them the importance of replacing their fear with curiosity. So when change comes, it’s time for the challenge of resisting it with fear or accepting with confidence and curiosity. To make this a habit, encourage them to do things out of the ordinary so they get used to stepping out of their comfort zones. They should cultivate an open mind, so when their managers offer them learning opportunities, they accept the challenge with enthusiasm and curiosity. An open-minded job seeker is ready to step out of their comfort zone to learn and grow. #jobsearch Click To Tweet How are you helping your job seekers learn professional habits?