Have you ever noticed that the urge to find a new job usually comes with a rush? You’re either unemployed and in a rush to find a way to pay your bills before you fall behind, in a hurry to leave a job that you hate before they can get a chance to fire you, or you hate your job or coworkers so much and just “can’t take it anymore” and need to leave ASAP. That “urgency” means that you’re probably not interested in creating a 2 to 3 week preparation plan. You probably just want to apply to a few jobs each day, well that’s what you plan to do. Once you start finding your first few jobs you “brush up” your resume and complete one or two unnecessarily looong job applications. You conduct another job search and realize that you have to “brush up” your resume again, and complete a few more unnecessarily long job applications. After all of the work that you put into your job search, you begin to wonder why no one is calling you to offer you a job interview. At this point you feel discouraged, worried, and you just don’t have it in you to keep wasting your energy applying to jobs.
We don’t have any control over employers but we do have control over how easy or complicated we make our job search. Racing to the finish line is not the best approach when it comes to conducting job search. Executing a well thought out plan will not only get you better results, but it will also make your job search less chaotic.We created a two week plan to help make things feel less overwhelming. Whats even better is that you can also apply this plan to any type of goal.
- Make sure that you aren’t adding too many things to your plate
If you think about a job search, there are several goals that you’ll want to achieve such as perfecting your resume, preparing for job interviews, or submitting a specific amount of job applications each day. If you were to take each component of the job search process and turn them into individual goals then the process can be carried out with ease. Before you decide to jump into your job search and start submitting job applications think about what you’re going to need. Consider your job search as a recipe, and consider each step as the ingredients. If you’re baking a cake you have to make sure that you at least have milk, eggs, sugar, and butter. What are the main ingredients for your resume? Like a cake, each person’s ingredients will vary but everyone will need a list of their past employers (company name, date range, etc), or a resume. Do you need to improve your interviewing skills? Are you going to need a new suit? Make a list of your “ingredients” and list the most important ‘ingredients” first. Try to keep your list short (3 to 5 “ingredients”) - Pick one goal and break it down into a maximum of 6 or 7 steps
Once you have your list of “ingredients” or steps, pick one goal and write down 6 or 7 things that you need to do in order to complete this step. You don’t need to overthink this process. If you’re going to update your resume you would need to a) look up relevant keywords b)rewrite job descriptions for previous jobs c)add your most recent employment d)update your contact information - Determine your pace
This plan is designed to help you achieve your goal over a two week period. If you only have 2 to 4 steps that need to be completed then you should take 1 week to achieve your goal. Feel free to take two weeks if you wish to work at a slower pace. If you have 5 steps or more then you have the option of taking 1 or 2 weeks to achieve your goal. - Create a schedule.
Now that you’ve created your recipe (goal), know your ingredients (steps), and know how long you want to take to put it all together, you can create your schedule. If you are taking 1 week to complete your goal then you should focus on completing 1 step each day no matter how tedious it seems. When you break down your goals it can be tempting to squeeze in an extra step when you realize how quickly that you get things done but do remember that we are are not running a race and that its okay to take your time. - Set reminders
If you’re forgetful like me then make sure you create reminders. I have to create reminders for my reminders because I tend to forget that I’ve read my reminder which means that I forget to do the thing that the reminder is supposed to prompt me to do. Whether you choose to use a wall calendar, sticky pads, or your phone, make sure that your method will push you to tackle your step of of the day. - Execute, Execute, Execute!
Now that you have a plan in place tackle each step one day at a time. We’d love to know how things are going. Tag us on Instagram (@thecareerconqueror) to share your progress and we’ll be glad to share your story!