Job Search Organization: Activities part 1

In a recent post for Job Action Day (http://perfectjobsoftware.blogspot.com/2008/11/job-action-day-2008-organize-for.html) we talked about the need to organize every job search. This is the first of the follow-up articles to talk about what that system must do.

Activities

Ideally, every job search should take us a big step forward in our lives and careers. But making progress is a series of small steps that take us from here to our goal.

It’s vitally important that we look organized and in charge of our search for everyone watching us. Being on top of our search is almost a pre-first impression—what people “see” before they even see us. It shows we are someone they should want to hire or help. We can show that we’re on the ball by getting the important things done and done on time.

We’re going to need a system to maintain and prioritize our ever-changing list of tasks. As our job search progresses, we need to check this list regularly and re-prioritize as needed. To look our best we need to be disciplined and finish all high priority items every day.

It’s important that we set realistic due dates for items that involve other people, remembering to factor in extra time when we need input from others. Always meet outside commitments. Always. If something unforeseen comes up, contact the person to let them know what happened, and check that delivering later is ok. It’s often fine to make a new date, but then we have to ensure that we make that new date at all costs. If we make a note on that Contact’s record, we can ensure that we deliver on time the next opportunity we get. Remember, this is our pre-first impression.

If we do this, we can maximize our opportunities.

It is estimated that one third of job seekers lose momentum and stop searching in the second month of their search. We can fight against this by always making sure that we have a new follow-on activity for each one that we complete. When entering that dangerous second month, we try to end the day with one or two more new tasks than when we started the day. Knowing what is next on our job search is an good way to make sure that we keep going.

Everyone has their own style for creating activities. I have a friend who always starts a to-do list with the activity, “Make To-Do List”. When she finishes the list she can already cross one item off. For some people, making the tasks small enough to accomplish a few in one sitting is the best way to go. Other people do better with larger Activity scopes. For me, if an Activity can be completed in less than an hour, I’m more likely to start and get the Activity completed.

There are lots of ways to make our Activities work for us, but the most important thing is that we are setting daily goals and using them to move forward.

We will continue our Activity job search tips in the next installment.

Copyright 2008 Steven D. Davies