Perfect Chaos

In a recent Time magazine, Mike Tyson is quoted as saying:  "I'm addicted to perfection. Problem with my life is, I was always also addicted to chaos. Perfect chaos."

Sound familiar?  I think this perfectly (pun intended) describes the existence of many job seekers.  They become perfectionists, engaging in analysis paralysis over every detail of their resume, never feeling quite ready to go to a networking event, toiling over the details of how to write a cover letter, not wanting to tell friends and family they've lost their job - for fear of appearing less than....perfect?!

I do believe perfection has some place in a job search:

• You never want to have any typos in your resume.
• You need to be well prepared for an interview.
• Your shoes (and the rest of you) must be well-groomed for an interview.

As for chaos, well, that's where most job seekers live.

• You come to expect problems dealing with the unemployment office.
• You never really know if your application/resume got received.
• You never know the real reason you didn't get selected after 3 rounds of interviews.
• You learn to live with financial uncertainty and your relationships are strained.

Chaos.  Everywhere.

So what's a job seeker to do?  1 - Accept that the job seeking process is messy and won't always go the way you want.  2 - Accept that you don't have complete control over everything.  3 - Accept the control you DO have and continue taking action, putting one foot in front of the other.

Bottom line:  I suggest taking a cue from Mike Tyson (never thought I'd say that): accept that it's Perfect Chaos.

Brenda