Planning and positive thinking: the keys to a successful job hunt

Needless to say in the present economic climate a lot of people are busy job hunting. Researchers from the University of Missouri studied 327 job seekers to see what psychological factors contributed towards successful job seeking. Participants in the study were asked for background information, took personality tests and were asked about how they planned their job hunting. After 4-5 months they were contacted again to see how successful they had been in finding work. Metacognitive abilities - drawing up a plan, acting on it and refining it in the light of experience - were the most important factors in getting a first interview while the ability to maintain a positive outlook was more important at and beyond the first interview. The personality traits of extroversion and conscientiousness were also linked to success in job hunting. The researchers stressed that while properly planning a job hunt might seem like common sense it was surprising how few people actually did it in practice.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924112847.htm