qualities of a job search

patience and silence.

my wife can attest to the fact that i am phenomenal (probably to a fault at times) at the latter and not so phenomenal at the former. these are traits that i have known about myself for a long time in my short life. i appreciate running alone in the rain, left to my own thoughts of solitude. i struggle though to occupy myself for more than a couple of days and find boredom sets in when i know i would rather be working. my patience being tested while driving frequently results in high levels of in-car tension. but when my wife falls asleep in minute 21 of driving, i don't mind driving the rest of the 4 hours in complete silence to myself.

these are qualities and characteristics of a job search. it has only taken three days of unemployment for me to figure out which parts are going to be difficult for me to withstand and which will be un-affecting to me.

some years back i spent 7 weeks in costa rica studying sustainable development. while there one of the professors spent free time indulging the hobby of bird watching. it was something that i had never participated in, but having lugged my binoculars all the way to costa rica, i wanted to get some good use out of them, and this was a great opportunity. i wasn't sure what to expect of the bird watching experience. i am not even sure i can remember having any expectations. but on the first morning we traipsed out into the jungle i was hooked. we caught glimpses of three wattled bellbirds and the resplendent quetzal. it was majestic to wait, listen, locate, and see birds that are indigenous to that part of the world and are beautiful in their natural setting.

and so i was sitting on my back porch, sipping my morning coffee, and watching the bird feeder as it occurred to me that job searching is like bird watching. you have to combine and hone the skills of patience and silence. waiting and listening for birds requires a measure of patience for which i was tested at times. you can sit for agonizing minutes at a time hearing and seeing nothing. once you hear a bird, searching for, locating, and actually seeing that bird without them flying off is a fete of accomplishment at times and requires a desire to persist even when it isn't easy. and the first rule of bird watching is not that there is no bird watching, but that silence is prized only below seeing a new species of bird previously unlocated through the glass refraction of your binoculars.

job searching mimics this practice. you have to exhibit patience in waiting for and locating the jobs that you are qualified to apply for. once you apply you have to find comfort in waiting patiently and absorbing the silence of days passed and emails and calls unreceived. i can imagine that moment of ending the run of employment as breathtaking in its own rite, just as you skip a breath the first time you see a rare bird or hear its distinctive call in your ears.

and so i have come to the conclusion that i must continue refining the skills of patience and silence -- it will probably pay off in the long run, just like seeing the beauty of the birds.