One of the best gifts you can give yourself in the New Year is to be optimistic about your new opportunities. Here are six tips to help you manage yourself effectively and maintain your self-esteem during your job search.

1. Don't Do it Alone: Join one of the numerous groups that have been created specifically for job search networking and support.

2. Volunteer: Volunteer work has a positive impact on health, self-esteem and general well - being. If you are a volunteer or have strong community involvement, take on a bigger role in those arenas. Your interaction with people in these environments will enhance and update your skills and experience and provide networking opportunities. 

3. Eat Sensibly and Exercise:  A healthy diet, along with regular exercise, helps to maintain energy level, positive self-image, health, and abate depression.

4. Practice Gratitude: Keep a gratitude notebook. There is no denying that things can get tough -- really tough on all levels (physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually) during the job search. Taking five minutes out of each day to write in a journal about the things for which you are grateful can go a very long way in shifting your attention away from the negative and on to the more positive aspects of your life.

5. Value Yourself: One way, which will also help prepare you for interviews, is to make a list of all of your key professional accomplishments. Remember, your accomplishments are not limited to the professional arena. Identify any life accomplishments you have had, perhaps as a parent raising children, a caregiver to an ill loved one or in volunteer work.

6. Practice Positive Self-Talk:  When something in the job search doesn't go as planned, particularly when we feel we had control over the situation, it is easy to spiral into negative thinking patterns imbued with self-judgment. Become aware of these patterns so that you can avoid dwelling in a sea of negativity. When you do become aware of negative thought patterns or judgments, ask yourself: "Would I talk to a best friend the way I am talking to myself right now?" Not if you want to keep the friend. This is a perfect opportunity to shift this pattern and begin practicing "positive self-talk."  

If you are currently experiencing challenges in your job search, take advantage of the many resources JVS has to offer.

  Make it easy for JVS to help

and take the first step.

Visit our website at www.jvsdet.org to see our calendar of events or  

call us at 248.559.5000