Are You Doing Your Homework Today?

Are you doing your homework today or are you just hanging out? Where’s your head this weekend concerning your job search? Today you should be focused on developing your plan for next week. Who do you need to contact and meet for coffee next week? How many resumes did you get in front of people this last week? How many would you like to get in front of a decision maker next week? This is not your day to rest. You can do that once you get the job offer in hand. You are either serious about your job search or you’re not.

I met a very nice gentleman last week at the job fair I attended. He had a great resume and cover letter. Everything was very well written. His work experience was good, no gaps until now, but he has been in the hunt for a job for more than a year. He has not had his phone ring for an interview in more than six months. My first question, “How many jobs are you applying for every week?” His answer “four”. Here’s the deal – Four jobs per week is not a serious attempt at finding a job. It is not even close. Like sales, the number of contacts matters. Finding a job is a numbers game. So if you are serious about finding a job in this market, you must penetrate the industry or organizations that you have an interest in. Four, five, six, seven, eight, …. resumes/contacts don’t come close. You can make those numbers in one day.

Every weekend while you are in the job search can be set aside to work on your homework. Part of your homework session should be developing your job search strategy for your upcoming “work week.” The other part of your homework session should be set aside to evaluate your job search from the previous week. What did you do well? What could you differently that will ensure that more people have an opportunity to review your resume, your skills and abilities?

Here are a few things to help you get started:

1. Retrieve job descriptions and identify key skills and abilities that the organization is looking for. Compare your resume, your skills and abilities. Do they match? If not, you might want to consider updating your resume. Update your resume as it is consistent with who you are and what you can bring to their organization.

2. Make a list of 50 or more people who you know. Your assignment is to contact each one of the people on the list. Let them know that you are in a job search. This is one of those times that I will recommend that you have a 30-60 second speech that clearly articulates what you are looking for and what you are asking them.

3. Research job fairs, job expos, organizational job fairs that you may want to attend. Schedule them for yourself for the upcoming weeks.

4. Determine your schedule for the upcoming week. Challenge yourself to get up early every week day. Get out of the house and get yourself in front of as many people as possible that can help you connect with people that are decision makers.

5. Set aside time in the upcoming week for follow-up with companies that you made contact. Follow-up with people you met with during the week. Write and send thank you notes.

Today you have homework to do. The test for your assignment will be in front of you first thing Monday morning. And you will have a test every day until you get a job offer. My recommendations above are just that, recommendations. If they don’t work for you, find out what does and use the weekend to assist you with your preparation for the following week. Rather than sitting in front of the computer daily, pushing your resume out to various organizations, I am suggesting that you use the week days to get out and in front of people. And use the weekends for planning and developing a strategy for the upcoming work week. Go do your homework!

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