You may not be one of the millions who are knocking on doors, scouring the job boards and filling out their bi-weekly UED forms, but you may just be as lost and confused as your unemployed counterparts.  You may have a job to go to every morning, a paycheck you collect twice a week and health insurance-but, are you happy?  Just because you have a job does not mean you are any more or less fulfilled than the guy who is struggling to make ends meet.  You may think, “What have I got to complain about, I should count myself as one of the lucky ones.”  True, but are you happy?  If you are still pondering this question, welcome to the world of the “under-employed.”

I know you know what you are talking about but does anyone else?  We often say things to sound prolific, savvy, or with it, but do you know how it sounds to the person sitting on the other side of the desk?  It would be nice to walk around with a tape recorder all the time and hit “playback” to listen to the pearls of wisdom that trickle from your lips especially when you are in an interview.  Trying to impress is one thing, but sounding like a moron is another. Here are five unexpected side effects when you open your mouth in an interview.

If you’ve ever studied a course in spirituality you may have heard of a concept where before you decide to enter this earthly plane you actually had a choice on the selection of your parents.  Now whether you think that is an interesting concept, true or not, it certainly makes you think about the power we supposedly hold over our very existence. I thought about this in my own case and wondered what it was I would have gained by choosing the parents I did.  If this concept were true, then I believe I would have chosen my mother for her sense of humor, sensitivity, intelligence, creativity and my father for his loyalty, survival instincts and tremendous work ethic.  If you consider this for a moment and applied this concept to your career, would you be able to decide whether you chose your job or if your job chose you?

Just because you’ve been working your butt off interviewing, networking and working every angle you can to find your next job, doesn’t mean every job is the right one for you.  When a job is not the one you were hoping it would be, you need to walk away from the a pending offer just like a you would a bad first date. For whatever reason when the job you want does not want you, you need to figure out a way to move on with grace, courage and the speed necessary to get enough traction between you and your next career move.

Most people think an understated approach to your job search is both respected and desired.  We are not trained on how to self-promote and celebrate our accomplishments particularly when it comes to writing a resume or a bio.  Often times we address ourselves in the third person or don’t address ourselves at all in a resume and use bullet points with statistics to talk about what we’ve achieved in our job. The next time you think a piece of paper or an electronic email is not an extension of YOU-think again.  Making the most of who you are and what you did on paper is as important as your in-person interview.  So when you have the chance to sing your praises, make sure to belt-it-out!

Second-guessing is a natural part of the process especially when you’ve been out of the job search game for a while.  Or, maybe you are so sure of yourself that you know what you want and don’t feel the need to waste your time on networking outside of your comfort zone?  It’s okay, no one is judging you, however, when it comes to knowing what you want from what you don’t want, it’s always a good idea to take the meeting to help you figure it out.

When is it time to mourn the death of your career?  You’ve been dragging around your tired job like a mourner wears a black arm band only to realize it’s time to mourn the loss and move on.  You can’t keep wishing it wasn’t so.  Living in a state of denial about the death of your career is not going to help you move forward and join the ranks of the gainfully living and employed.

Before you turn into a cast member from “The Walking Dead” know that you can manage the loss of your career and let it RIP.

When it comes to looking for work, how do you best approach your job search? Now that there is some movement in the job market with over 75,000 media & entertainment jobs posted on some of the job board aggregators, do you feel there is opportunity for you or do you like many, still hope that someone will notice your resume and pick you out of the countless number of others who may be applying for the same job? Are you confident that you can stand out in the crowd or, do you wonder whether you will fade into the background, resigned to post your resume and pray for a response?

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.

You can’t be anymore inspired or motivated to change your job, rethink your career strategy or plot your next move as outlined in the new movie, “Horrible Bosses.”  Okay so this may be an extreme way of dealing with a problem and it’s time comes to make a career change.  But, hey desperate times as they say require desperate measures.  I’m not suggesting you hire a hit man (or wanna-be hit man) to take out your boss or any colleagues who might be getting in your way towards career advancement.  However, when it comes time to really reflect on how miserable you might be, keep one thing in mind: any alternative starts to look good when you are stuck in the middle working for a horrible boss.