A 'new age' of job searches

OK, I admit it's not very open-minded, but hey — I'm from Minnesota. We're very practical here and very stoic in our approaches to things. So when I hear job-search ideas that incorporate too much whimsy, my woo-woo alarm starts whining in a distant corner of my mind.

And when the whimsy becomes practice — that is, when people start believing they can, say, "attract" a good job — well, my woo-woo alarm absolutely shrieks.

"People!" I want to shout, like my fourth-grade teacher used to do. "People, use your heads!" But she's probably not a great example to emulate when responding to seeming chaos. I distinctly remember one incident in which she climbed on top of her desk and began shouting at her 30 young charges to shut the heck up.

Shocking as it was, most of us were more interested in sneaking peaks up her skirt than we were in the punishment she was threatening. We were monsters, I know. She left at midyear, never to teach in our district again.

But I digress. Which, oddly enough, is my point. As a job-search strategist from the old school (hit the pavement, make your calls, start at the bottom, etc.), I worry that too much woo-woo is a digression from a job search rather than an actual method of finding work. Of course, I also feel that way about using the Internet, so I'm already out of step with current practice.

And yet, don't you just hate that nagging little feeling that you might be wrong about something? Or that, at least, you're not quite as right as you'd like to be? I mean, people do find jobs using the Internet, with or without my blessing. Why wouldn't other job-search methods also work?

To make the matter even fuzzier, some of the concepts that I want to dismiss bear a striking resemblance to advice I give all the time. I might say, "Set goals, get on a schedule, start an exercise program." Is that really so different from someone else advising a job-seeker to create rituals or channel his or her energy?

Somehow it is, but I think it must be more about how it's said than about the message itself.

Most of the following advice comes from random comments or ideas tossed out in conferences and other settings by colleagues who are more tolerant of woo-woo. They are happy to discuss their clients' success in finding jobs after applying the "laws" of attraction or undergoing cleansing rituals.

I listen, take notes and wonder whether they would be offended if I jumped up on a desk to shout at them.

But this isn't about me. While I may not believe much in these approaches, I do believe in success. And if woo-woo works for some people — for whatever psychological, spiritual or other-worldly reason — who am I to argue?

The following are some of the ideas, ranging from whimsical to nearly wacko, that might bring spice — and perhaps success — to your job-search efforts.

1. Learn to "be" in your unemployment. Appreciate your job loss and remember that the journey matters as much as or more than the destination.

2. Change your approach. Work out a difficult problem by telling it to yourself as a children's story or by singing about it.

3. Envision your job search as a metaphor. Perhaps it's like gardening; you're sowing seeds and tilling the soil. Or maybe it's a baseball game, with you and your team (your network) out on the diamond together, fielding leads and batting at opportunities.

4. Honor playfulness as part of your job search or transition process.

5. Insert physical movement into your job search by taking dance breaks or, at least, breaks to stretch.

6. Keep your energy flowing while you search for a job. Try standing to make your phone calls, for example.

7. Develop daily rituals for yourself and set goals for the day's work.

8. Create rituals to acknowledge special occasions — for example, when you complete a difficult phone call, send out your first résumé or get your first response from an employer.

9. Use a cleansing or healing ritual to rinse the trials of the day or week out of your system and to give you strength to start fresh the next day.

10. Attract the job you want by naming it, envisioning it and calling it to you on a daily basis.

That should be enough to get you started. Keep an open mind, and tell me what works for you — I need your feedback on this!

- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecare rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.