Thanksgiving Lessons for Your Job Search

Stuff your job search turkey with holiday cheer.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to get together and celebrate with friends and family. Juicy turkeys, delicious stuffing, piping hot pies, and wonderful conversation make the holiday memorable. There’s just something about thankfulness (and eating) that brings us all together.

After Thanksgiving is over, you’ll be refreshed and ready to hit the job search again. But before you do, think back on the holiday and apply what made it so wonderful to your search.

Get the Party Started

Thanksgiving involves plenty of planning. You need to call Aunt Susie to make sure she’s bringing the mashed potatoes, email Uncle Fred about the discount turkey, and text your siblings to make sure nobody bakes the same pie. It’s a struggle, but at the end of the day all of that scuttling around results in a holiday everyone can be proud of.

You can apply the same hustle to your job search. Cultivate relationships with friends and colleagues, and then leverage those relationships to hear about new job opportunities. Just make sure to keep in touch, and avoid asking someone for a job connection out of the blue.

Give Thanks

That’s the whole point of Thanksgiving, after all. Being grateful for what we have, and for all of the incredible people who have helped us get to where we are today. You need to be thankful in your job search as well. After an interview, always send a handwritten note (or at least an email) to your interviewer thanking them for their consideration. If any of your contacts help you attain an interview, thank them for their time, either via LinkedIn, email, or by phone. The more personal you can make the connection (a handwritten note, a kind phone call, an in-person meeting) the better off you’ll be.

Don’t Be a Turkey

Thanksgiving is a bad time to be a turkey. Whether your turkey is stuffed or topped with cranberry jam, you probably wouldn’t want to swap places with him. A turkey can also be defined as, according to Merriam-Webster, a “stupid, foolish, or inept person.” So it goes without saying that you don’t want to be a turkey in your job search either.

To avoid looking like a turkey, make sure to prepare. Join professional or trade groups to learn the ins and outs of the industry. Research a company online before you step foot into an interview, and have some idea of what the company culture and dress code are. You don’t want to stand out as a gobbling, semi-flightless bird. Try to soar like an eagle instead.

Have any other ideas about how Thanksgiving can apply to your job search? Let us know in the comments below!