Getting Jobs and Clichés?

The sermon given by my pastor at church last Sunday was titled “I am getting by.”  His point was that just getting by is not enough! This sermon got me thinking about clichés in general and clichés as related to finding jobs in particular.

The Merriam-Webster definitions shown on my iPhone for cliché are a trite phase or expression - also the idea expressed by it; a hackneyed theme characterization, or situation; or something that has become overly familiar or commonplace.

I am going with the second definition as a characterization or a situation. Further, I divide clichés into three groups:  positive, neutral, and negative.

Here are some examples of clichés related to employment and job searches:

Positive:

          Everything is going my way!

          I had a good day!

          Things are looking up!

          Look on the bright side!

          I have a plan!

          If the world gives you lemons – make lemonade!

          Happy days are here again!

          Success is around the corner!

           Let’s roll!
           Nothing ventured - Nothing Gained - (Missie)

         

Neutral:

          I am getting by.

          I am holding my own.

          Things have got to get better – They can’t get worse!

          Same song – second verse

          Keep on keeping on!

          Never say die!

          That is just what I expected!

         

Negative:

          I am waiting for the other shoe to drop!

          Everything I do turns to ____!

          Cheer-up things could get worse

          Why bother?

          I seem to always do the wrong thing!

So what are the take a ways?  As I stated in a previous blog, a positive attitude is one of the keys to happiness. I am suggesting that you focus on the positive clichés and avoid thinking in the negatives.

The Labor Department has a statistics that counts discouraged workers. 

According to Wikipedia, a discouraged worker is a person of legal employment age who is not actively seeking employment or who does not find employment after long-term unemployment. This is usually because an individual has given up looking or has had no success in finding a job, hence the term "discouraged" who have stopped look for jobs. 

I urge you all to avoid this category by remaining positive and remaining active in pursuit of employment using effective job seeking strategies such as those contained in my blogs!

Further, I request that you help me expand this list of clichés by either posting them to this blog or emailing them to me at glynjordan@gmail.com.  I will post your emailed clichés as comments to this blog, but I will not include your name.

         

Thanks.   Glyn