If you don't have those three minimally, you won't be much of a success fishing.
Job hunting is a lot like fishing, at least the basics. Anymore, the proper equipment is a good resume that relates to the job types you are looking for. If you don't like selling and have no experience selling, don't say you do on your resume, and don't apply for a sales position.
The proper bait for a job you'll enjoy is having some connection to that position, either by experience, or education. This is the sort of thing that should be on your resume in order to lure the recruiter to take a look at you. First job is getting past the gatekeeper, sometimes a human, but more often than not, a computer looking at your resume and trying to match the key words in its system to words in your resume.
Finally, the patience aspect. You need a lot of patience. Just like casting over and over to attract a fish, you have to keep applying and applying and working for that nibble that may lead to a catch you can work with or for.
I'm still casting. So far, employers are keying in on phone experience and not quality experience. It's frustrating, but I keep putting my resume out there and applying and applying. I've got multiple versions of my resume depending on the sort of position I'm applying for. Some emphasize my education background, some my quality background. I don't have a tailored resume for my insurance background as I really don't want to go back to that industry, now that I've seen how the big boys play.
Still, I do wish the recruiters that are out there would actually take a look at my resume. I've gotten some interesting job offers, but when you look at the offer, you can easily tell that a human did not bother to read it, and if a computer did, it wasn't looking for obvious key words. Otherwise why would I be recommended to apply for a forklift operator job when neither the word fork or lift singularly or combined occur in any fashion on my resume.
I have a perfect job for you, one recruiter said. When I looked at the list of qualifications for the job it was quite clear the employer wanted someone with a medical degree. Sorry, not a doc yet. I need about sixty more hours of education to get there and then it wouldn't be medical.
Now that I am in another cast, this time on the other foot, I'm not looking for any jobs that are going to require any amount of standing. I've had some
nerve problems for years - sciatica, and now the Charcot foot just plumb takes me out of a standing position.
So, I keep fishing. I need to. Unemployment hasn't kicked in yet and I applied a month ago.
A friend of mine mentioned on her Facebook account that she is organizing her home office and one of the things she is going to do is get back to her wonderful fiction writing. I'm so glad she is recovering her creativity. Oh, how I long to join her in that venture. My heart yearns to be creative again, but it's a long road to get back there. I mention this because that would be an additional income stream to help through these lean times.
I hope that is an area of my heart and mind that hasn't been irrevocably damaged. I'm trying but so much is coming out as aimless drivel.
In the meantime, I keep writing my thoughts in this blog and throwing them into the wind to see if anything resonates at any time with anyone. I keep baiting the hook with what I can and throwing the fishing line out in the water, hoping I catch something more than the long, feathery grass that grows in the shallows.