In this challenging employment market, you must develop and manage a variety of personal, print, and web resources. Additionally, you are encouraged to explore deeper places within yourself for the strength and guidance you need to be successful.

Tom Bachhuber’s 45 minute workshop was presented at the 2010 Milwaukee Biz times Conference and Expo, April 28, 2010, at State Fair Park. The objective of the workshop was to present participants with leading job seeking ideas along with the inspiration to find their own inner strength and spirit in their transition.

Throughout this video of the workshop, the Power Point slides have red numbers on the bottom which refer to the same number item on The Job Search Courage Guide, which can be downloaded from this page. Additionally, the handouts Action Verbs and Jack Falvey’s article, There Are No Job Hunting Rules are referred to in the workshop and may be downloaded as well.

You are encouraged to pause at these junctures, reflect on the question or issue and write your response. The completed Guide can serve as a blueprint or plan for job seeking and summary of key issues to discuss with a mentor, colleague or coach.

Beginning

Dr. Bachhuber’s workshop Job Search Courage is presented here on film without the introduction where he covered a number of introductory and contextual issues. They include:

1. Spirituality is defined as “knowing and living according to the knowledge that there is more to life than meets the eye” (Richard McBrien). Mary Oliver’s poem about the soul uses the metaphor of seeing the effects of observing wind over water. We can’t define “soul” but we can see where it leads us.
2. The media portrays the Job Market at the “20,000 foot level” with all its statistics and projections, crossing all locations, industries and jobs. It’s critical for each individual to define their own personal, “ground level” job market which includes openings, opportunities, organizations and people which match their qualifications and ability to contribute.
3. Jane Hirshfeld’s quote, “Everything is changing…everything is connected…pay attention” is a key lesson. We understand that change is Planning and Prioritizing constant in our lives–personal, work, health, family, faith. We would do well, however, to discover new Zen of Job Seeking connections inside and out–to people, knowledge, resources–and pay attention to how they can help us make progress in our transition.
4. William Bridges helps us look at transitions in terms of three stages, each entailing different emotions, tasks and outcomes. His model is also a useful guide to the type of assistance we need as we go through a transition.
   

   STAGE	TASKS	EMOTIONS & OUTCOMES
   1. Endings	Dealing with Loss	Anger, blame, fear, shock, denial, regret
   2. Middles	Transitional Period	Anxiety, confusion, uncertainty, apathy
   3. Beginnings	Setting New Goals	Integration, reinventing yourself, new meaning, success, satisfaction, elation

5. Courage is certainly required for this journey. A straight forward definition of courage is important as we begin the workshop–“the state or quality of mind and spirit that enables to face danger with confidence and gain resolution.” The workshop will help you find courage in “mind and spirit” while gaining new ideas for job hunting–and hopefully reach resolution in your transition.