Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The 9 to 5 Job Search

One of the things that interrupts the life balance of many job seekers is the amount of time they put into the job search on a weekly basis - too much or too little with no happy medium.

If you're currently unemployed, my suggestion is to put in a 35-40 hour week on your job search during traditional business hours.

  • Job search Monday through Thursday and try to take Fridays off. Give your weekends to your friends, family, and loved ones, and dedicate your Fridays to self-care.
  • Self-care is vital in a job search because without it you will drift into burn-out. Your interviewing will suffer as will your resume submission output and you're more likely to take a less-than-satisfactory position because you're sick and tired of the search.
  • Use your Fridays to work out, play, read, or pursue your personal interests. By investing in yourself once a week you can ensure you have the energy, focus, and determination to stick with your search over the long haul.

If you're working full-time and job search as well, the latter will have to be a part-time effort at best.

  • Aim for quality and consistency over quantity: Put in 2-3 hours weekly on your search and use that time to focus on the most important tasks at hand.
  • Consistent job search output week after week will produce a stream of interviews, provided, of course that you're using stellar self-marketing documents and submitting them to the right kinds of positions using the right strategies.
  • You don't have to put those 2-3 hours in all at once. Rather, feel free to spread them throughout the week whenever you can fit them in. If you've chunked down your job search activities into bite-size pieces then it will be easy to find things to do in 15, 30, or 60 minutes at a time.

By setting clear goals for yourself you can keep your job search on track and your life in balance.

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