Boost Your Job Search with these 4 Lessons from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

At first blush, conducting a job search and training in a martial art do not have much in common, but there are parallels between the two when you stop to think about it. Some readers may remember my earlier post about what job seekers could learn from Muay Thai kickboxing. Now, I’m asking you to hit the mats with me and consider how the process of training the ‘gentle art’ of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu relates to progressing through a job search:

1.  Remain calm. When sparring Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, one of the first things you learn is that you must remain calm to be effective. If you’re calm, you think more clearly and make smarter decisions.

The same goes for your job search. If you begin to get spooked from the pressure, you may start making decisions you otherwise wouldn’t have. Stay focused on your value to a potential employer, your worth in the marketplace, and your end goal. Find a healthy release for your stress (might I suggest martial arts) and then move on. Don’t let the stress build up inside of you.

2.  Look for opportunities. There’s much strategy involved in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is often called a game of human chess. You have to look for your opportunity to transition, sweep, escape, or attack for a submission. Timing is everything.

This applies to your job search as well. A smart strategy is to offer assistance in order to receive it back. Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to network, offer assistance, or make an introduction, and keep in mind that networking is exponential: it’s not necessarily who you know, but who your contacts know. Always be looking to expand your reach.

3.  Be efficient with your energy. When you spar in Jiu Jitsu, you quickly realize the benefits of using your energy wisely so you don’t gas out before the end of the round. If you explode out of the gate and put all your energy into the first minute or two, you may not have enough energy later when you need to complete a sweep or escape a position. Similarly, there’s times when abandoning a submission attempt is smarter than burning through your energy trying unsuccessfully to finish it.

When conducting a job search, the same concept applies. Pace yourself and prioritize how and where to spend your time. If you dive in the first week or two and blast your resume out to every posting within your reach and email every contact in your directory, you’re not approaching the process very thoughtfully, and you’re likely to burn out quickly or become disappointed from the lack of results. Similarly, learn when to cut your losses and move on if you’re pursuing a job target with no luck. Conserve your energy and develop a plan of attack, with the goal of making it through ‘til the buzzer – which, in this case, is a job offer.

4.  There’ll be not-so-good days. You’ll have good days and bad days with almost everything, and that includes training Jiu Jitsu and conducting your job search. Have confidence that the good days will outnumber the bad days, but be prepared for the occasional frustration or two.

Have a support system in place, including someone who can serve as your sounding board or reality check, and remember that the best way to combat a tough day is to simply get back on the horse. In Jiu Jitsu, that means getting right back on the mats to train again. In your job search, that means picking that phone up to make one more networking call, researching one more company on your target list, or setting up one more informational interview.

Both activities boil down to a numbers game – time spent on the mats training and time logged in job search-related activity. Both require commitment and motivation and are rewarding at the end of the day.

If you’re feeling stalled, nervous, or frustrated in the midst of a job search right now, contact me today to learn how I can help — and if you also train Jiu Jitsu, drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you as well. Oss!