If you feel like a hopeful nominee, a reluctant runner up or a cocky winner, stand in line because your job search is a far cry from the glitz and glamour of The Oscars. You may feel like you have to dress the part or at least give good face to the crowds who are cheering you on.  But, inside your stomach churns in tangled nervous knots and you wonder how you got here and whether being in the job spotlight is such a good thing.  Having the feeling that every interview is like the opening of a gold envelope and that all you have to do is sit, smile and wait-makes the process maddening at best and at the very least, glad you don’t have to give the red carpet a whirl.

Remember when you felt secure and comfortable knowing that you were on the right career path, confident that the job you held was going to hold you long into retirement.  Well, wake up now, that dream was a good one while it lasted. There comes a time in everyone’s life where the dream and reality take a sharp contrasting turn. In the midst of this struggling economy, where you may find yourself without a job, wondering what you did wrong and if you could just do it over again you would have played your cards right.  Anything, so as you don’t have to look for another job again.   Breaking up is hard to do but going back to what wasn’t working is even harder still.

It’s never too late to begin your job search BEFORE you graduate!  You may be thinking I have MONTHS to decide where I’m going to work.  Guess again.  If you are only thinking about this now, you are actually very LATE FOR YOUR IMPORTANT JOB DATE!  It’s not that I want to pressure you or anything, and it’s not like you don’t have enough pressure from mom or dad who are wondering when you’ll get off their payroll and onto your own!  It’s not that we don’t love you but, you really do need to get in gear if you are thinking you are going to want to do more than hit the movies, video game stores or soak it up on the beach come May or June.

Let me count the ways.  Am I my resume?  Am I a brand?  Am I desperately seeking someone to show me the way?  If you are as confused by how you should define who and what you represent to the job world, get in line.  Most people today don’t know whether they are defined by the accomplishments listed on their 3-page resume or the idea that they should somehow convince themselves they are a brand like any common household product! Knowing who you are is important of course, but knowing what you stand for when faced with your inevitable job search is essential.

Living your best career not merely implies if you are lucky enough to have a job or not, but it does make you think about how you choose to spend your time in what you love vs what you do.  Making a living is vital to most all of us.  But how we manage our time and focus our attention on what we have to do as opposed to what we love to do separates you from living your best career from just working.

Sometimes you find yourself in situations where the choices are limited and you have to do what you have to do to survive.  But finding something you love in what you do, even if it’s not your primary choice, helps to guide you towards living a meaningful and fulfilling career no matter what your job title is. How you find your drive, passion, potential no matter what your job is today is key to living and finding your best career.

Wondering what it would take to succeed in a time when so much is riding on your ability to survive? Nothing can stand in your way of getting what you want from your career than a little determination, a strong will and well, a mission to succeed at all costs. Finding your passion and sticking to it, no matter the odds, channels the way and allows a line of sight to appear out of a cloudy career path. Knowing that you will do what it takes to see it through to achieve your goal, whatever that may be, is the fighter instinct you need to develop in order to realize true success.  Do you have true grit to see it through and find the job you were meant to do?

If you’ve ever heard the expression, “skin in the game,” don’t worry, it’s not a reference to a condition you get if you turn into a zombie in the AMC series “The Walking Dead.” It is a condition you get however, if you ask yourself what is your long term commitment when it comes to your career and if you have what it takes to stay the course.  Many of us think that by focusing on the meeting or the resume or the job offer, we’ve done our best to commit to the process of establishing our career goals and job search when little else seems to matter. When you have skin in the game when it comes to your career, it means are you committed to the long-term plan and asking yourself, Do you really know what you want and how to keep it?

...or so it seems.  Timing, timing and more timing.  Like the old biological clock that ticks for some and tocks for others, your job search like the waxing and the waning of the moon, is subject to timing, divine or otherwise.  Knowing that patience is the name of the game when it comes to waiting for the right opportunity to come along does not always make the wait any easier or any faster.  For some of us, waiting for the right job is as they say like watching paint dry, for the rest, it can be as quick as someone running the course through a speed dating session.  Your job search does not have to be an ordeal, 127 hours of waiting for help that never comes….

Giving it your all, calling in the shots, focusing, following, listening and playing your A-Game.  When you’ve given it your best shot in your job efforts and have shown up to deliver your best, it’s now time for the hard part, to sit back, trust and yes, wait.  Finding the resolve to release control over the job process when you know in your heart of hearts that you’ve showed up and delivered your best is not always easy.  Playing the waiting game, replaying the meetings, interview, follow-up over again in your head thinking maybe you could do something differently is not going to help the process move any quicker for you.

Everyone knows we are in a down economy.  If you don’t, then you are either richer than rich, or have been living in a cave for the past two years.  Just because you empathize with the state of the economy, does not mean you should forfeit your worth or value when it comes to what someone is willing to pay you.  So many of you think that you may have made a certain salary, earned a certain income level in the past and you can’t or don’t deserve to ask for the same amount of money now. What’s changed? Have you gotten less experience over the years? Have you depreciated in value? Just because you may not have worked in awhile or are trying it on your own for a change, doesn’t mean you are worth any less?