5 Lessons I Learned From Job Hunting

It is better to start early because you have more time that way to build what you want to build. Here are the lessons I learned from job hunting.

There are lots of lessons I learned from job hunting; I have been unemployed 4 times. But in this post, I will talk about the major lessons from job hunting.

I had struggled to look for jobs in the past for many reasons: I was underqualified, I was not a good fit for the position, and I was choosy regarding the jobs I applied to.

Before I dive deep into my professional struggles, here are the lessons I learned from job hunting:

1. You are not as special as you think.
2. Your educational attainment matters but not to all employers.
3. Sometimes, companies don’t choose you because you are overqualified.
4. Even if you didn’t get hired, something good happened. Find it.
5. Before you lose hope, look down.

Let’s begin.

5 Lessons I Learned From Job Hunting

Before I graduated from college, I thought that getting a job would be easy. I was egotistic and had narcissistic tendencies. I was proud in an unhealthy way.

My goals at the time were too high. I wanted to work in the public sector or a law office, and then I would enroll in a law school once I earned enough money.

I was looking forward to being a prosecutor and criminal psychologist back then because I wanted to punish criminals and understand them at the same time.

I’ve been curious about people, specifically people who are deemed bad, ever since.

But I was a fresh graduate, and I was not a good student. I didn’t have any relevant experience, and I could not justify that I would be able to perform well because I didn’t even perform well at school.

I left college in April of 2017 without any job waiting for me; I was unemployed after graduation.¹ I got a job in August of the same year. 4 months after graduation.

But I didn’t work hard for it. I dislike nepotism, but I benefited from it. I got my job because of my mom, who is an administrator at an educational institution.

I stayed at that job for eleven months. I resigned in July of 2018 because I was not happy anymore. It was not aligned with my goals.

So, I was unemployed once again.²

I just passed the Civil Service Examination at the time, so the public sector was my target. But I couldn’t get a job once again. I hunted for jobs for about 8 months, and it affected my mental health.

I went to church many times. I wanted to ask God to give me a job, but I asked for strength instead. I believed it was happening for a reason, so I just trusted Him.

In February of 2019, I stopped looking for jobs because I was exhausted. I was just at home, trying not to be depressed. Getting rejected was depressing.

Do you struggle with job hunting? wikiHow has a guide on how to survive if employers keep rejecting you.

I got a job in March of 2019 without looking for it. That was the beginning of my remote work journey. I got hired by an Australian company.

It was my first writing job.

But I was fired after five months.³ It was a disappointing moment for me because it was unfair. But I accepted the situation and moved on.

After the firing, I got a job after 10 days of being unemployed. Things were okay during the first few months. But before 2019 ended, it went downhill.

I believed it could be saved, so I stayed. I thought it was fated after all. But I lost myself in the process of saving something else. Or someone else.

In 2020, I considered myself still employed even though I stopped receiving my salary in November of 2019. But now, I see that I was unemployed at the time.

So, I consider it my fourth unemployment phase.⁴

While I was in the situation, it was damaging because I dealt with lies, backstabbing, disbelief, disappointment, heartbreak, mental stress, financial stress, and spiritual stress.

Whenever I think about that now, I am still affected because I can’t understand why I had to deal with that when I never did anything wrong to them.

But that is the wrong way to say that.

Whether something is right or wrong to other people is up to other people. Maybe I did something bad to them from their perspective.

Without further ado, here are the lessons I learned from job hunting!

1. You are not as special as you think.

One of the lessons I learned from job hunting is that you are not as special as you think. We like to believe that we are better than everyone else, right?

The main character syndrome is often perceived in a negative light, but I think all people have it but at different levels. It also depends on a few things.

I care about people’s feelings and love watching them, but you will see that I am the main character in my writings. I usually talk from a first-person point of view.

I am talking about my views.

Other people criticize those who think that they are the main character in their own life. But aren’t we the main characters in our lives? We are in the center and other people are supporting characters.

According to Insider, some signs that you may have a main character syndrome include the desire to be the center of attention, the inability to take criticism, and the need to have a perfect life.

It is a different case if we talk about situations. Everyone who is involved in a situation must be given a chance to show what they have got.

Job hunting is a situation. Other people can participate in it and even compete with you for one position. So, don’t think that you are special and must be chosen.

You may be the best person in your life, but not in other people’s lives. When job hunting, prove yourself to others if you want them to let you in on their team.

2. Your educational attainment matters but not to all employers.

If you think that you will secure the position because you have a strong educational background related to it, you may be right.

But your education is not all that matters.

How are your skills? Your attitude? And are you sure that there isn’t anyone who has a stronger educational background compared to yours?

Just because you are good in academics doesn’t mean that you will be a good worker. This is why some people with no bachelor’s degree or higher are more successful than others.

CNBC has compiled a list of some of the big companies that don’t require a college degree. These give importance to skills and experience.

Personally, I used my bachelor’s degree but not my educational background to get a job. A job. Just one job, which was my first job after college.

I was an administrative assistant at my first job, and the requirement was just a bachelor’s degree. No specific bachelor’s degree.

After leaving that job, I have been a professional writer. That has been my main profession since 2019, and my major in college didn’t hinder me from getting jobs.

One of the lessons I learned from job hunting and looking into my career journey is that college is overrated.

You don’t need to have a degree in business to start a business. You don’t need to be a tourism graduate to be a flight attendant. You don’t need to enter a design school to start designing.

I didn’t need a writing-related degree to be a writer. Anyone can actually be a writer without a degree. Even children can.

3. Sometimes, companies don’t choose you because you are overqualified.

You will not know this because they will not tell you if you are overqualified. But sometimes, that is the reason why companies don’t choose you.

I think you should not feel bad about not getting the job for this reason. You are giving the rightly qualified people a chance to do what they are best at.

A beginner’s best is an expert’s so-so.

Say you are a writer with five years of experience, don’t apply for an entry-level position because that is for those who are starting out with their writing career.

If you want to be a writer but you don’t know where to start, Grammarly can help you start your writing career.

You know that it is difficult to get a job without a proven track record of successful projects. Entry-level positions are for beginners.

Allow people to begin even if you desperately need a job.

Also, some companies don’t want an overqualified person to fill in the position because they want to work with someone who can be trained.

Beginners are also more affordable.

4. Even if you didn’t get hired, something good happened. Find it.

During my second unemployment phase, which was after I quit my first job after college, I might not have gotten a job but it took me to many places.

I was able to explore Manila because of the interviews.

It was tiring, and it made me feel hopeless because I hunted for jobs for months. But I was grateful because I went to places I hadn’t been to.

Those new places I went to were louder and more alive than others. Manila is generally a loud city, but different places have different levels of loudness.

According to Travel Wanderlust, when visiting unknown places, don’t get too excited because it may be dangerous, especially if you don’t plan ahead.

Manila is the capital city of the Philippines.

I studied in Manila, but I wasn’t interested in getting out of my comfort zone, so I rarely stepped out of Intramuros where my school was located.

I had friends who lived in other parts of Manila, and I went there a few times. But only a few times. And I was with other people during those times.

When I was job hunting, I was alone. Many times I needed to overcome my fear of getting lost because I had a poor sense of direction.

Looking back, it was empowering!

I still struggle with directions, which is why I always need to plot my destinations in Google Maps if it is a new place, but I don’t fear getting lost anymore.

5. Before you lose hope, look down.

There are jobs we think are below us, which is fine.

But before you say that you don’t have a choice, or before you lose hope, look down. That is one of the lessons from job hunting that everyone should be aware of.

If there is a field you want to enter and you don’t have any solid experience to support you, be willing to start from the bottom.

I have been a professional content writer since 2019, but I knew that I had to start with a low rate on Upwork if I wanted to get clients.

If I had increased my rate at the beginning, it would take me many months to get my second client after a year of hiatus.

Because I allowed myself to be a beginner, I had a total of 8+ clients on the platform and a 100% success rate within just half a year.

MasterClass says that part of developing a beginner’s mindset is letting go of your ego. Embrace the idea that you are not better than others, even if you are.

Also, I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, but I don’t have any experience being a political writer and journalist.

And I graduated in 2017, so I forgot most of what I learned.

I have a sociopolitical blog, and I applied for a library card in our provincial library to learn about politics. From scratch!

It may be good for you to start thinking about what you want to happen in your future. It is better to start early even from zero because you have more time that way to build whatever you want to build.

Last Words

I am still job hunting because that is part of a freelancer’s life, but a different kind because I chose this. When I decided to freelance full-time, I was expecting this.

But I see that applying for jobs to be an employee and doing that so you can get clients is different. Freelancers are used to it while employees are not.

Can you relate to the lessons from job hunting?

If you enjoyed reading the lessons I learned from job hunting, here is a video of me sharing more stories about my professional life: