An excerpt from the award-winning Down & Dirty Job Search program

 “Treat your job search like a job:” I bet you have heard that cliché before. But what does it mean?

Most assume that it relates to the number of hours they spend on their job search. They mentally commit 40 hours or more a week to their job search, but beyond looking at the jobs posted on the online sites, they aren’t certain about what they are supposed to do.

Treating your job search like a job goes way beyond just structuring time to do it. In truth, you are the manager of a very small department with only one employee: yourself.

If you start thinking like a manager, you can recognize that this employee has some challenges you must address:

• A poor work environment.
• No set schedules.
• Unknown performance standards.

Your work environment.

Job searching is like working in a vacuum; it sucks!

Specifically, one of the things that suck is that you are trying to squeeze it in around your normal life. And that includes your physical and mental space when you are at home. Everything can be a distraction, from the beloved pets to the beloved TV.

Be prepared to carve out a workspace specifically for your job search. Just setting up a spot on the kitchen table won’t work. You need somewhere the entire household understands is your thinking spot (except the cats, who won’t respect your boundaries anyway).

Even the computer itself can be a poor work environment.

Have you ever gone online to “look up just one thing,” only to be sucked into the news feeds or social media? Next thing you know, 20 minutes have gone by, and if you are like me, you can’t even remember what you were searching for in the first place.

Apps like LinkedIn offer great automation tools to streamline your job search, but they can be just as distracting.

Your schedule.

Second, there is the problem of lacking a set schedule.

When you are searching for a job, it’s all on your own time. There are very few outside forces dictating deadlines or work hours. If you already have a job, it can be even more difficult to carve out time for the job search, as your evenings, weekends, and early mornings may already be filled with family or personal commitments.

If you are unemployed, there is a subtler trap that your family or friends cause. You may be asked to help with special projects, especially since you have all this “free time” because you aren’t working right now.

Sometimes, you might even sabotage yourself in this way.

I have worked with clients who would rather scrub their toilets than attend a noontime networking group or search through online job ads. After all, cleaning the bathroom gives you a tangible result! Many job seekers take that bait because it actually feels productive, unlike job searching in a vacuum where they get very little feedback.

Moving forward on a job search takes time.

Without a strategic plan and a time commitment, a job search is just a wish!

To keep your job search on track, you need to implement tools to make your job search as efficient as possible. However, nothing will happen without a clear commitment to the hunt.

Without a strategic plan and a time commitment, a job search is just a wish!

Adopt a management mindset

Strong managers practice solid strategies for success.

As a job seeker, the keys to being an effective manager are:

1. Establish clear GOALS based on what you want
2. Develop a work structure based on your preferred WORK STYLE
3. Know real-world job search key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge your effectiveness and increase your motivation.
4. Implement PROVEN STRATEGIES to keep your search moving forward

Your Job Search KPIs

How can you be sure that your job search is effective? Let’s look at our key performance indicators (KPI) to gauge our return on investment (ROI.)

Target Resume ROI:

You want to land between 1-3 initial or screening interviews per every ten resumes you submit.

Resume Rejection Time

One of the best indicators to gauge your resume’s effectiveness is the rejections. Specifically, how fast do rejections appear? If you get an automated rejection within 24-72 hours, the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) screened you out.

            Yes, I know, most of the time, you won’t receive any feedback at all. So, when is it time to call an opportunity completely gone and dead?

HR Screening Timeframes

If you haven’t heard “boo” in a month from when you applied for the job, they are probably moving forward with other candidates. However, if you are targeting large companies or positions in the executive suite, that timeframe may be closer to two months. Government jobs? We know of people who haven’t heard anything for six months!

            It is critical to track your application dates, follow-up dates, and the like. Watching timeframes is one of the best ways to use deductive reasoning to determine if your resume is working or not.

Do you want to know even more effective job search strategies?

Check out our award-winning Down & Dirty Job Search program to land a great job in less time. Offered as online courses, group coaching, and private coaching packages, we help professionals take the guesswork out of their job search.

https://www.personaltouchcareerservices.com/down-dirty-job-search