Jump start your job search
David writes: “I just got laid off. This will be the first time in 15 years that I have to find a job. Where do I start?”
A job search starts with understanding and organizing its seven components: 1) Establishing and managing ongoing processes. 2) Time management. 3) Developing marketing material — your résumé and cover letter, 4) Researching companies and industries. 5) Networking. 6) Interviewing.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll discuss each of these. This week, I’ll focus on Nos. 1 and 2.
1. Establishing and managing ongoing processes — Let’s start with your phone because it’s your lifeline. Consider every call from a prospective employer as part of your interview process and demands full attention. Landlines are preferable
Jim Pawlak to cell phones. Why? With cell phones, you run the risk of dropped calls, poor reception and garbled voicemail. Also, you won’t be able to devote your attention to a call that comes in while you’re driving, at the store, etc.
Keep a copy of your résumé close to each phone — you never know when a prospective employer may call. Use voicemail, rather than an answering machine, to ensure that incoming callers do not receive a busy signal. Voicemail also minimizes the possibility of accidentally deleting a message. And, make sure that children know what to say when answering the phone during your job search — kids do say the darndest things.
When using a cordless phone, don’t walk around the house when the conversation involves job search. The other party can hear your footsteps and may think you are nervous.
File management comes next — this involves scheduling and keeping files on people (e.g. network contacts, who’s who, etc.), companies, industries and ads. A PC and a smartphone make the process easy. Outlook and similar contact management software programs are built for tracking contacts and organizing your schedule. If you use a paper day-planner, the process is a bit more cumbersome because notes on your contacts and meetings may get scattered over many pages. If you lose your day planner, you’ve lost all your information.
For tracking other types of information, paper files are a must because of their portability. You can review a file in the parking lot before an interview. You can take articles with you to discuss at a networking meeting. Head for the office supply store and buy an inexpensive milk crate file “cabinet” and hanging folders (I use red for company information and blue for industry information.) and file folders. Use Evernote to compile and organize web-based information; you can print the files.
Managing the internet is an ongoing process, too. You’ll spend lots of job-search time surfing the web. Typing a few keywords into a search engine and then sifting through hundreds of pages of results is time-consuming and inefficient. To learn how to search the web effectively, head for the library; a reference librarian is the best source of learning “how to.” Most are masters of webbased research and are more than willing to share their knowledge.
When it comes to posting your résumé on internet jobs sites, remember to refresh the posting every week because employers use posting-date parameters. Why? Right or wrong, they assume that older posts mean that the person already has found a new job or has interviews scheduled.
2. Time management — The goal for job search: at least 25 hours per week. You’ll find you’ll spend more than that when setting up your search. Divide job search time into two parts — research and contact. Evenings are research time because they won’t take away from your workday making-contact hours. Spend two hours a day doing research and organizing what you’ve found, and you’ll have three hours a day to spend on applying for jobs and networking activities.
Next week’s column will deal with résumés and cover letters.
When it comes to posting your résumé on internet jobs sites, remember to refresh the posting every week because employers use posting-date parameters. Why? Right or wrong, they assume that older posts mean that the person already has found a new job or has interviews scheduled.