I’ve been half-teasing lately with my career services colleagues that thebanks and GM aren’t the only ones in need of a bailout. Job seekers should askfor one too. Why not? It seems that in today’s environment the more corporateleaders mismanage their businesses, the more attractive they are for gettingbailed out by the U.S. tax payer.

So why should job seekers be any different?

It is no secret that most job seekers are ill prepared for their job search.They spend money in the wrong places. They pin their hopes on the wrong things.They have very little idea of what to expect (although they think they know itall). They try all kinds of tricks and shenanigans to make things work forthem.

And then they are upset when they don’t have positive results. Or when theydon’t land the career of their dreams.

I spent a great deal of time the other day trying to work with this woman inJackson, Mississippi. She’s been searching for a job for a little less than 30days, and she is looking for a sales position with an earning potential ofabout ~$150,000.

She’s frustrated. She wants the resume “fixed,” she wants the economy“fixed,” she feels victimized by her last employer, and she wants this jobsearch over within 45 days or else…..she doesn’t know what “else” is exactly,but she really means it. It better be over in 45 days, or she is going to dosomething!

After talking her down off the ledge, I spent some time 1) discovering howshe has been conducting her search so far and 2) figuring out where theseexpectations came from. As I suspected, kind of like the housing market, whenpeople aren’t making 150% profits from their homes, then they’re suffering…

So you tell me, is my client from Jackson a victim of the economy or ofherself:

When I explained to her that as a full-time job seeker, she should besending out somewhere between 35 and 50 resumes per week (because she is onlysending out ~5/week now), she told me that there weren’t 35 to 50 jobs postedin her area in Jackson each week. Her exact words were “Recruiters are tellingme to wait until after the new year.”

Like most job seekers, networking and cold calling are foreign concepts toher. Instead, she is just planning on waiting around for that job to open up(within 45 days or else, of course!).

When I asked her how she was spending her 40 hours/week since now she isunemployed, she confessed that she has no idea how much time she is reallyspending (remember she is only sending out ~5 resumes/week). But again, therewas little for her to do because Jackson, MS, doesn’t have many jobpostings…

When I told her the average job search time for someone making $150,000/yearis about 4 months for ~40 hours/week of time spent searching, she simplyrecited to me all her stellar credentials. And then blamed Bush and theeconomy. When I told her that those stats are nothing new, and have been aroundfor a while, she still blamed Bush.

Basically, no matter what I said, in her mind, if she didn’t have a joboffer within 45 days, either her resume service ripped her off or it was allBush’s fault.

So what am I to conclude here? You think maybe she is a rare case?

I’m afraid not.

Listen…is this a tough job market? Sure it is. I don’t think that is indispute. But tough does not mean impossible, and too many job seekers give upwithout hardly trying. And most of the time, they went into the search withpoor expectations in the first place.

Perhaps the oddest thing about my friend in Jackson is that, of all things,she is a sales person. She can tell you all about the sales life cycle, allabout branding and product positioning, all about selling in a tough market.But when it comes to her job search, she cannot apply those sameprinciples.

It never ceases to amaze me just how emotional the job search process is. Itchallenges you to move outside of your comfort zone and put yourself out there.Most people go into it kicking and screaming, on a good day. So as soon asthere is something out there to blame, to latch onto as the reason for all ourproblems, we so easily take the bait.

Then what are we left with? Demotivation? Looking for that genie in abottle?

No worries. The government is into redemption these days.