What do your job search and the Minnesota State Fair have in common?

09.01.2016

MNStateFairTonyWebster

Photo by Tony Webster

At first glance, it probably doesn’t seem like a job search and the Minnesota State Fair would have anything in common. Maybe the most obvious answer would be that your job search led you to getting hired to work at the fair? But believe it or not, they have more in common than you might think. Good, bad and otherwise, if you’re attending the “great Minnesota get together,” you will likely experience one or more of the following things.

1.Planning 
Have you ever stopped to think about how much planning goes into attending the Minnesota State Fair? Where are you going to park? Will you take the park and ride, and if so, which one will you go to? Will you buy tickets before you get to the entrance, or when you arrive at the gates? Will you set a limit on how much junk food your kids can inhale throughout the day, or will you put a lid on it at a certain point? Are you meeting anyone, if so, where is a less-crowded and visible location to meet? We hope you are putting as much planning into your job search as you do a trip to the fair. Have you sat down and analyzed what “must haves” your next position should include? Have you made a list of the companies you want to target? Have you thought about what people in your network would make sense to contact? Have you gotten in touch with a recruiter that might have a connection to one or more of your targeted companies? Whether it’s a day at the fair, or changing the direction of the career, it’s best to attack both with a plan because they’ll both turn out better.

2.Excitement 
The fair and your job search can both be filled with excitement, but for very different reasons. During your job search, you will likely get excited when you are asked to come in for an in-person interview, follow up interview, and are on the cusp of getting the job. At the fair, excitement may come in the form of eating your favorite cheese curds, pronto pup, or seeing a sword swallower for the very first time. The excitement you experience during your job search could lead to a new direction in your career, whereas the choices you make at the fair may just influence the duration and frequency of your workouts for the rest of the week. Either way, we hope your job search and the fair are equally exciting.

3.Irritation 
We hope that you don’t experience anything irritating during your job search or your day at the fair. However, candidates are commonly irritated when they submit their resume and application to an online job posting, and they never hear anything back. They feel as though their application went into the “black hole,” never to be seen again. We try to help our candidates navigate that scenario in any way we can. Because we’re working with the people who are hiring candidates, and we deliver your resume and qualifications to them to review the “black hole” is much less likely. Irritation at the fair can be experienced in many ways. Anything from circling multiple lots to find a parking spot, waiting in line for anything, and the overall crowded nature of the fair can be enough for a patient person to complain.

4.Gratefulness 
This is generally experienced by a candidate when they find the next step in their career. While he or she may have felt the three previous emotions we mentioned throughout the process, the end of a job search usually brings a sense of joy, gratitude and relief. The candidate is happy that he or she is taking the next step in their career, feeling grateful for finding something exciting to pursue, and relieved to a certain extent that they don’t have to keep looking. Gratitude after a day at the fair usually feels a little different than the gratefulness you feel at the end of a job search. After a day at the fair, you might feel tired, full, and sun-soaked. However, you’re usually happy you attended if for no reason other than you got to eat everything you can only eat once a year, and see things that you can only see at the fair. If anything, you might be grateful the fair only happens for twelve days a year!

We hope your day at the fair and your job search are filled with all of these aspects, except number three (irritation). If your time at the fair inspires you to kick off your job search, bring us some kettle corn, and we’ll be happy to help you in any way we can to find the next step in your career.