Job search: organisation and persistence

Whether you’re currently employed and want to move, or out of work and need to get a job, there are certain things that are worth considering in order to be successful. In many ways, your time is your most valuable asset. That means that anything you can do to achieve your career goal as quickly as possible is absolutely key.

With that in mind, here are some key things to incorporate into an effective job search that is underpinned by organisation and persistence:

Have a clear outcome

This goes well beyond saying to yourself “I want a job by the end of April”. I’d suggest that you’re really clear about what exactly the job and organisation you want looks like. What are all of the elements, such as the people, the role, the culture, of the next job that you want? This will help you navigate towards what you want, and help you avoid wasting time on firms that simply don’t match up. It’ll also help you with your due diligence, which is so necessary before you sign the contract. 

Know your WHY

This is all about your motivation for moving to a new firm or getting the next job. Having a strong purpose will give you the emotional fuel to remain persistent through good times and bad during your job search. Much has been written about motivation; what we can say here is that having a strong reason for what you’ll gain and what you’ll avoid will give you plenty of drive. Have it written down and refer back to it often. 

Track your prospecting

Having decided on your target audience and being clear about why they’d want to employ you, you need to use a number of channels to get in front of hiring decision makers. I believe that there are as many as nine possiblechannels. Some of them are a little bit niche and not applicable across all contexts. 

Use as many as you see fit and keep track of the target, how you reached out, when you did, and what the response was. Also, note all of your follow up attempts. This needs to be closely documented. Having all of this in a spreadsheet will allow you to track your prospecting activity and clearly determine what strategies are - and are not - working.

Track your interviews

Knowing the firm, date and time, who you met, what was that person’s view of the role, what questions came up, and how well you answered them, is critical. First, this will help you be prepared for any subsequent interviews at the firm if you get invited back. Second, every interview should be seen as a learning experience. You should be aiming to become better and better at presenting yourself, the more interviews you have. These notes will help you discern what you’re doing well and what needs to be improved. In turn, this. should inform your pre-interview rehearsals.

Set weekly tasks

Whether you’re currently in a job or not, no week should go by without some progress. So on Sunday afternoon, or whenever you do your weekly time planning, set yourself a range of achievable tasks and schedule them into your programme. Then check-in at the end of the week to see how you’ve done.

Momentum is critical

Working with an accountability buddy who’s also on a job search journey is a great way to achieve and maintain momentum. You can hold one another to account, celebrate each other’s victories (even the small ones) and share ideas and tactics. You can also work together on things such as interview practice. Of course, you could also engage with a Career Coach who has been a guide on this path for many others in the past. I discussed the benefits of a Coach in my previous blog here.

Learn and adjust

In addition to learning from each interview experience, it’s also a good idea to notice what is working well in your job search and keep doing that. If there are areas that aren’t working so well, then either find ways to improve the quality of your actions or stop spending time on them. Notice the results you’re getting from all the actions you’re taking and adjust accordingly. 

I hope you’ve found this useful. Organisation and persistence are absolutely critical for any effective job search. If you’re in the midst of a job search or are about to embark on one, let’s talk. You can book a call to discuss your job search strategy here.