​If you are currently looking for work, what are your expectations for your next job? If you find yourself weighted down from the pressure of the past year, here’s how to start making progress and expect more in your job search as you look ahead in 2022.

Seek Out a Sponsor

You don’t need to go it alone –– look for help in your next steps. According to ManpowerGroup research, women are more likely to say that relationships rather than overt self-promotion will help them get ahead. In this regard, women can be helped through sponsors or those in higher levels who move beyond mentorship and actively help promote female colleagues. Find someone who can help boost you up, and you can do the same for others.

Recognize Your Transferable Skills

If you’ve been out of work, if may feel like you are falling behind on your skills. In fact, you may be practicing transferrable skills that help in the next role. If you find yourself teaching from home or volunteering, these are skills that you can bring up in a job interview that shows your continued growth. Of all transferable skills, learnability is the foundation. Learnability is the desire and ability to continually learn and grow throughout careers, and it still applies even –– and sometimes especially –– outside of work.

Gain an Outside Perspective

You may feel like you know yourself better than anyone else, but you’re not necessarily the most objective evaluator of your own skills. Instead, you can hire a professional skill or personality assessment and leverage the results to identify your strengths. Similarly, you can find a career coach to help you better understand your value to employers. Finally, ask a mentor, coach trusted friend to provide you with feedback on your progress and what steps you need to take next.

Don’t Get Discouraged

In any job search, setbacks are inevitable. Expect that to happen, and don’t get discouraged when it does. Psychologists demonstrate that Three P’s can stunt recovery: Thinking a “failure” is personal (“It’s my fault”), pervasive (“I’m unqualified for any role”) and permanent (“I’ll never find a job.”) If you find these thoughts creeping in, reframe and view it from another perspective – it’s just a single job, it wasn’t the right fit this time, and the right job is still out there. Don’t give up, and keep expecting more.

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Remembering where your true talent lies will help nurture and grow where you have the most potential, and where you can thrive. Keep using your goals as a north star even in the face of setbacks, and your next step could land the perfect fit. 

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