As one of the millions of people that are still searching for work after several months or years, it must be difficult for you to remain optimistic while you battle with piles of rejection letters and the feeling of hopelessness.
Frankly, it can be frustrating to send out countless job applications, pound the pavements for weeks and months, attend a handful of interviews only to still remain unemployed after six months or longer. In most cases, even the most ambitious job seekers can spend close to six months or more before they land a job.
Nevertheless, remember that history is littered with many such stories as yours. However, what they all have in common is how they succeeded because they never gave up. Ok, let’s look at some great examples of the people who never gave up as illustrated by Bernard Marr, the Best-selling business author and enterprise performance expert:
Henry Ford
The pioneer of modern business entrepreneurs and the founder of the Ford Motor Company failed a number of times on his route to success.
His first venture to build a motor car got dissolved a year and a half after it was started because the stockholders lost confidence in Henry Ford. Ford was able to gather enough capital to start again but a year later pressure from the financiers forced him out of the company again. Despite the fact that the entire motor industry had lost faith in him he managed to find another investor to start the Ford Motor Company – and the rest is history.
Walt Disney
One of the greatest business leaders who created the global Disney Empire of film studios, theme parks and consumer products
Walt Disney did not start off successful. Before the great success came a number of failures. Believe it or not, Walt was fired from an early job at the Kansas City Star Newspaper because he was not creative enough! In 1922 he started his first company called Laugh-O-Gram. The Kansas based business would produce cartoons and short advertising films. In 1923, the business went bankrupt. Walt didn’t give up; he packed up, went to Hollywood and started The Walt Disney Company.
Oprah Winfrey
Ranks No 1 in the Forbes celebrity list and is recognised as the queen of entertainment based on an amazing career as an iconic talk show host, media proprietor, actress and producer.
In her earlier career, she had numerous set-backs, which included getting fired from her job as a reporter because she was ‘unfit for television’, getting fired as co-anchor for the 6 O’clock weekday news on WJZ-TV and being demoted to morning TV.
J.K. Rowling
Wrote the Harry Potter books selling over 400 million copies and making it one of the most successful and lucrative books and film series ever.
Like so many writers, she received endless rejections from publishers. Many rejected her manuscript outright for reasons like ‘it was far too long for a children’s book’ or because ‘children books never make any money’. J.K. Rowling’s story is even more inspiring because when she started she was a divorced single mum on welfare.
I am sure that you can also think of some close to home examples that should be an inspiration to you as you aspire to be successful regardless of your current situation. The stories above show that if you want to succeed in your job search or career, you should expect failure somewhere along the way.
As you can see, the one thing successful people never do is give up! If you are still searching for work, keep your chin up, your job has your name on it when it’s time.
See Job search? Free Your Mind And The Job Will Follow
If you have finally secured a job after searching for work for a long time, let’s hear from you. Share your success story by adding your comment below.
