Help snap this deer out of the job search headlights

Post date: 2023-02-04 01:03:41
Views: 113
I was made redundant last year, right before Xmas (thanks, old job). They paid out my statutory severance, which wasn't loads but enough to tide me over through March with a little belt-tightening. Meaning the next thing is to get a new job... right? RIGHT????!??? Thing is, I seem to be frozen in place, barely making any foreward progress and getting more stressed by the day. How do I wake up from this stupor and just Find A New Job Now?

I would describe my efforts to find a job so far this year as "half-hearted, perhaps even half-assed". I have dragged my feet on updating my CV and LinkedIn profile, I have only read the first two chapters of "The 2-Hour Job Search" (2nd edition), and have not applied to one single job posting. It's bad.

I know that I'm generally a person who thrives on Last Minute Deadline Energy, and that doesn't help this situation. I know, cognitively, that I need to get a move on, get some soft networking going, expand my contacts and work up to finding a posting that will suit me, but nothing seems to get me moving forward: I've tried scheduling my time, getting friends to check in on me, so far nothing has clicked. I would consider paying for a "work coach" or something like that but I don't know where to begin.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that I'm not looking for a direct continuation of my last job: in the past four years at the same organisation I held three different job titles, and none of them were a fit for me. I feel like if I had a 1:1 match (like, a chef looking for a new job as a chef, just at a different restaurant) it would be easier, yet not only am I searching for work but also I don't know exactly what work I'm searching for. This maybe wouldn't be so much of a problem if I was at a junior level, but now that I have a salary floor and seniority enough to warrant it, completely starting over again isn't a good option.

I'm open to any and all suggestions that might help motivate me—which, as now might be obvious, involves confidence too. Certainly any tips on tools that have helped you narrow down a new career path in middle age would be appreciated. If you're a professional HR kinda person, what have you successfully counselled people like me to do? I feel like I'm not so much interested in the "why" as I am in the "how", but maybe I need to focus on the former first? I just don't know!

If you found yourself in this perilous position of procrastination, what helped get you going? Help me ring the alarm!!!
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I'll get right on it...