“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit”
~ Aristotle
Job search success lies not in one-off activities – but instead doing things on a consistent basis. It’s about creating habits, routines. A ritual that you follow daily, weekly and monthly.
Here are some examples of what you could and should be doing:
DAILY RITUALS, HABITS AND ROUTINE
- Where possible, start the day with some form of physical exercise; a 20 minute walk, a run, a swim, hitting some golf balls at the driving range – whatever you fancy
- You’ll get an instant “hit’ of endorphins, feel good and be much more likely to be proactive in taking actions.
- 80% of job search success is in the follow up; so on a daily basis your first job should be to review your spreadsheet with open leads and applications to see who you can chase for feedback on resumes/CVs sent or follow up on conversations that you’ve had.
- Follow up with friends and contacts who you agreed to meet or who said they’d find contacts for you
- Please don’t sit in front of a computer all day looking for work. You should be speaking to people every day; whether ex-colleagues, ex-clients, friends, contacts or referrals.
- Remember, “activity creates results,” so on a daily basis, set yourself a target to speak with a certain number of people each day. Start small and build up the activity.
- ‘Keep in touch’ emails to people you spoke with a few weeks back, emails to share valuable information with contacts or update emails to contacts to catch up and update them on what you’re doing currently.
Review job sites/newspapers/trade journals for vacancies- Have a daily routine of looking at job sites and reviewing job alerts from websites you’re signed up to
- Make applications, record them on your spreadsheet and mark diary dates for when to follow up.
- Go to the tool bar at the top of LinkedIn and click ‘jobs’ and you’ll get through to the key word search.
Scan through Twitter for vacancies- Use Twitter Search (like you would a Google search) to find opportunities. Just go to search.twitter.com and do a key word search and you’ll get instant, real-time vacancy information.
Read at least one career/job search-related article per day- Scan through blogs, career sites, or go back and re-read one of the many articles on this blog posts.
You may well get that one new idea which will keep you going (or maybe re-read an old idea explained in a new way).
- Like a sales process, job searching is all about celebrating the “small wins”. The small wins are what keep you going on your bad days and weeks.
- So at end of each day, make a note of your top 3 accomplishments and get into the habit of giving yourself a little pat on the back (no matter how small).
WEEKLY RITUALS/ROUTINE
- On a Sunday or Monday, plan your priorities for the week ahead. Your top 3 priorities of the week, who you plan to call, who you plan to mail, who you plan to meet in the next two weeks (plan meetings 2 weeks ahead).
Spend at least one day a week ‘out and about’ for face-to-face meetings- These can be with ex-colleagues, ex-clients, friends, family – it doesn’t matter. Getting out of the house talking to people for lunch, coffee or drinks ensures that you:
a) Are visible and on people’s radar
b) Are giving yourself a chance to talk about yourself and practise your pitch with a safe audience and
c) Avoid getting depressed sitting at home every day.
If you’re currently not working, then start off with one day a week – but ultimately you’re aiming at meeting at least 3 people per day, two days a week. So you should have 6 people a week booked in your diary for the week ahead.
Contact X number of people each week- Give yourself a target at the start of the week for the number of people you will call to do some fact-finding to learn about roles, set up meetings or simply have a social catch-up.
- And as I have said before, start off by reaching out to your warmest contacts first to make things easier for you.
Go out socially at least once a week- Many job-seekers go into hiding; they avoid going to parties, dinners and generally become unsociable due to a slight dip in confidence. But when you’re job searching, you need to be more visible than normal.
- So try and get out at least once a week socially – dinner, drinks, coffee, film, party, wedding; anything you like.
And don’t go with the intention of ‘networking’ but simply to give yourself a break and the chance to meet and engage with people. You never know who you’ll meet and where a conversation could lead to.
Post a LinkedIn status update at least once a week- Share something useful/interesting on a LinkedIn status update related to your area of expertise or something you want to be known for. A link to an article you read, an upcoming conference you’ve heard about or YouTube clip maybe.
- It allows you to gently stay on people’s radar in a way that provides value (rather than being annoying).
- Scan through any groups you’re on and ‘listen in’ on discussions. If you think you’ve got an idea or resource that could add to a discussion, or help the person who asked the question, post a comment / answer.
- DO NOT try and market or promote yourself. Simply focus on being valuable and helpful without an agenda.
- These groups are frequented by recruiters – so if you do it consistently and in a way that demonstrates your expertise, you’ll find all sorts of people ‘looking you up’ to see who you are.
- Review questions being asked within the areas that you consider yourself an expert in and areas which you want to target. If you see a question you can answer or contribute to, then do so.
- Once again, focus on helping and being of value rather that promoting yourself.
Read the Sunday business papers- Most people would expect you to be up to date with what’s happening in the business world and also have an opinion on the major talking points of the day. So avoid being caught out in a sticky conversation in future interviews.
Weekly Skype call with other job seekers- Regular interaction with fellow job seekers will have a major impact on your job search. But given that many of the people you know may not be close by, Skype offers a free and easy way to connect along with an instant messaging tool that allows you to share links and resources
- So book a weekly Skype call with 2 or 3 other job seekers to exchange experiences, share ideas and keep each other motivated and going in a positive direction.
- Then going forward, hold each other accountable for taking actions, cheer each other on and share in each other’s successes and falls.
MONTHLY RITUALS/ROUTINE
Go and do something which either adds to your resume/CV or exposes you to new people and new experiences- Learn something you’ve always wanted to learn by taking a one-day workshop or an online course.
- Do some volunteering or charity work. In the UK, there is a super website which makes finding volunteer work really easy. http://www.do-it.org.uk/. I'm sure there are similar sites in the US, Canada and elsewhere.
- Write an article on something you feel confident about and share it with friends and professional contacts.
- Offer yourself as a speaker to the local school or college to talk about a business-related subject that they would find valuable).
- Approach your local church, synagogue or temple and offer to help out in some way.
All of the above give you exposure to new people, give you things to talk about when people say “so what have you been doing?” and show you in a good light when interviewing.
They also give you a sense of satisfaction which is so very important for job seekers.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO ALL OF THIS!
Remember, this is just a sample planner. You don’t have to do everything that’s on here. Just create a set of routines and rituals which fit your own unique circumstances and personal style. And then edit and adapt as you go.
It’s not what you do today or tomorrow which will help you find a job – but what you do each day and each week on a habitual basis. And given that it takes 21 days to create a habit, I challenge you to use the above resources to start building the habits and rituals to find your next job quickly.
What are your tips and experiences with creating rituals....? Feel free to share them in the box below.
By Sital Ruparelia
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