This Is How to Get Your Next Job

#8: Don’t Fixate on What You Lack

Everyone has issues.

You may have a college degree in the “wrong” field. Or no degree. Perhaps you’ve had six jobs in 10 years. Or you haven’t worked in two years, never worked outside the home, or have no experience beyond an internship.

Every single person has a not-so-perfect circumstance—by choice or not—or things they lack or wish were different. But it doesn’t have to turn into the thing that clouds or dooms your success in a job hunt.

I understand why you might think otherwise. Remember that back in Chapter 1, we talked about how employers, being the human beings they are, do what psychologists call “negative filtering.” This means they focus on the negative and fail to pay attention to the positive. Then ...