Augusta Technical College Office of Adult Education Building Your Confidence

1. Augusta Technical CollegeOffice of Adult EducationBuilding Your Confidence

2. Turning Negatives into Positives Maintaining your positive attitude takes work, especially when you face setbacks. “Your best teacher is your last mistake.”-Ralph Nader

3. Don’t let mistakes drag you down. To maintain your positive attitude, don’t dwell on mistakes or get mad at yourself. In fact, mistakes are not always bad. To be successful, people have to take risks. And it is hard to take risks without making mistakes. If you don’t have goals and never take risks, you will avoid mistakes. You will also never move forward in your life.

4. Learn from mistakes and move on. Mistakes can be great learning experiences. Stepping back and trying to learn from a mistake can help you be successful. Certainly, you don’t want to repeat the same mistake over and over. Instead learn from each mistake and move on. Most of us have mistakes that we wish we could take back. We can’t change the past but we can choose to learn from our mistakes and move forward.

5. Thomas Edison

6. Milton S. Hershey

7. Simple process to overcome mistakes:

8. Exercise: Learning From MY Mistakes Imagine that you are rushing to get to work one day with a cup of coffee. You are also caring books and papers. You spill the coffee on your clothes and papers. Fill out the chart to think about how to learn from the mistake. Remember: We all make mistakes. People who say they have never made mistakes are fooling themselves. The key is learning from your mistakes and moving on. Dwelling on the negative only brings more negativity into your life. Think positive and move forward.

9. Approach life like driving a car. In driving school one of the first things you learn is to look ahead and not get distracted. To avoid accidents, you learn how to glance to the right and left. Then you learn to use the rearview mirror to check what may be behind you. However, to avoid accidents and get to your destination, you need to focus on what is ahead. Approaching the job search should be no different. The destination is your goal. There will be distractions during your job search. Stay focused on your destination. Look toward what’s ahead of you. Think about where you are going.

10. Keep a balanced perspective. Good drivers must be aware of everything around them and ignore any distractions. They keep a balanced perspective. The job search is like driving. You need to face forward to stay on track. Stay focused on the road ahead and do not allow yourself to be distracted by negative thoughts or past experiences. Keep your eye on your situation from day to day. Handle problems as they arise. And let what you’ve learned from past experiences, including mistakes guide you in making smart decisions for moving forward.

11. Celebrate your accomplishments. Focusing on accomplishments improves self-esteem! Though you should not dwell on past mistakes, thinking about positive past events is useful. One helpful way to build your self-esteem is to focus on good things you have done.

12. What are your accomplishments? • One way to keep a positive outlook is to think about your accomplishments. Have you done some great things at work, in your community ,or with your family? • Examples of life accomplishments: • Being a good parent, husband , wife , or friend • Winning an award at work, school, or in you community • Overcoming great difficulties • Helping others in need • Training new coworkers at a job • Volunteering in your community • Guiding young people to achieve their goals • Raising children who make you proud

13. Exercise: My Top 10 Accomplishments Build your confidence by listing 10 or more of your top accomplishments. These accomplishments could relate to your work, school, or your personal life. When you focus on your strengths you help yourself build more strengths. Plus many of your accomplishments will guide you in selling your skills as you search for your next job. If you cannot think of 10 things, write down what you can.

14. Identify your key selling points. You have key selling points that will make you a great employee. Identifying your key selling points will increase your confidence. You must first believe that you have something to offer before an employer will believe in you. There are four types of key selling points: Personality Knowledge and Experience Career Accomplishments Credentials

15. Examples of key selling points • Personality • Team Player • Natural Leader • Hard working • Easy to get along with • Persistent • Knowledge and Experience • Microsoft Office • Public Speaking • Customer services • Speak more than one language • Skilled with landscaping

16. Examples Cont’d • Career Accomplishments • Use numbers, if possible, to make your accomplishments specific. If you do not have work experience, use volunteer or internship accomplishments. • Increase sales by 20% • Trained three new employees last year • Chosen for a management training program • Awarded Employee of the Month in November 2016 • Promoted twice in five years

17. Examples Cont’d • Credentials • High school diploma or high school equivalency credential • Certificates for completing computer training programs such as Microsoft office training • Workplace certificates, such as forklift operator or safe food handling • Career training certificates, such as Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) or childcare • CPR or First Aid Training

18. Which selling points will mean the most to a potential employer? Your selling points are important tools in your job search. Think about which selling points are important to a potential employer. An employer will care about points that will help his/her business. For example, a key selling point may be that you are proficient in Microsoft Excel. If the potential employer needs an office worker, she will be very happy. However, if the employer needs a cook, she will care more about your cooking skills. When you talk about your key selling points, focus on the points that are important to the employer.

19. Exercise: My Key Selling Points This information will help you when you create your resume and prepare for interviews. You will know what makes you a great employee and what kinds of jobs will be a good fit for you.

20. Don’t take rejection personally Rejection happens for most job seekers. Do not take rejection personally. The more resumes you send, the more applications you fill out, and the more interviews you go on, the chances of getting a job improve. You may be rejected for a job that is just not good for you. A potential employer may like you , but you may not be right for the job. So do not take rejection personally. Keep trying and remember each rejection gets you closer to a job offer. It is better to have some rejections than to not try at all.

21. Resources • WorkWise: Choosing a Job • New Reader Press • 2017