How to know when it is time to change your approach to your job search
You are not working and:
- You live in Seattle and already have a tan
- You have not missed one of your kids’ softball or soccer games or practices, and they begin at 3:00 PM on week days
- You have planned for vacations and social events, but the rest of your schedule is wide open
- You have filled up punch cards from 3 different coffee retailers in the past month
- You have a new 40′ x 40′ garden and there are no weeds
- You are working out at the gym at 10:00 AM or 2:00 every day
- It takes more than 12 hours for you to respond to emails from employers or others trying to help you
- You are still taking nights and weekends off
- Your networking plan consists of linking with as many people as you can on Linked In, but you have no other strategy for following up with any of them
- You still think HR is the only advocate for you when you are pursuing a position
- You are 5 months into your unemployment and still applying for jobs posted on Craigslist.org
- You have been unemployed for 18 months and are passing up roles that pay less than your prior role (at your former employer of 20 years) because you are certain you are worth more in this market
- You have had more than 4 interviews but received 0 offers
- When someone asks what you are doing, your only answer is “looking for a job”
- You are hoping for an extension on your unemployment
- You think I am kidding
Taming a Random Search
There is a big difference between random acts and keeping an open mind. Random acts tend to take a person in many directions, without much discrimination or evaluation, and can use up considerable energy. Having an open mind will still allow a person to add new possibilities to the mix, but the outcome is based on a specific goal, with a focus on many elements related to that goal, and it involves careful consideration of the possibilities presented. Are you thinking it is only semantics? I don’t think so, so I’ll illustrate the difference.
When a person does not evaluate the reasons they have chosen to pursue a job, and are solely basing their actions on “needing a job”, they can be led down roads that are dead ends or end up with less than satisfying work/work places. Following all or any leads without a goal in mind, and without carefully considering how it fits into a life plan, is what I consider “random job search”. In my experience, when job seekers break out in any direction that leads to a pay check, the employment scenario rarely ends up in something satisfying or long term, and is only a short term fix or stop gap. When job seekers carefully consider their motives, the long term implications of decisions, and the potential benefits from each and every employment scenario (which may not be obvious on the surface), they ultimately end up spending less time and energy over the long haul. They end up with a workable situation that may even be temporary, but it is in alignment with their long term goals. The energy spent produces results that lead to a sustainable win over the long haul.
Does that mean you should ignore leads? No! It means you need to start out with carefully considered goals, and be willing to evaluate all leads from the perspective of what can be gained beyond the moment. Once you have a clear purpose behind the goals you have established, you can ask yourself these questions related to any new lead or possibility:
• What tools will the experience allow you to add to your kit?
• How will you be able to expand your network?
• How visible is the role?
• Where can you move inside the organization once this door has been opened?
• What similar organizations might look favorably on this experience?
• How would a short term assignment build a bridge to something more sustaining?
Taking a controlled approach to your job search may actually lead you to having more options than you previously thought were possible. It may also lead you to ways of bridging the gap on your resume in a more relevant manner, which makes it far easier to explain to the next employer.
If you have re-directed your search activities by setting a clearer goal, or considered new options than you had previously thought possible, please let us know.
