Six tips to get your job hunt organized

Nashville Business Journal by John Blank, Guest Blogger

The new year invites resolutions: lose weight, spend less, get organized. These are good initiatives any time of the year, but if you’re in a job search, you don’t have time to spare. Any resolution related to getting a new job needs to start now.


When you are organized you save time, and while in a job search time really is money.
Here are some ideas to help you manage your time and stay organized during your job hunt.


1. Create a strategy so you know what needs to be done daily. Be sure the strategy includes actual steps and numbers. For example, if you are going to base your search on networking with new contacts, know how many people you need to talk with each day and what you will say to them.


2. Define a dedicated job search schedule to determine if you work at it in the mornings, from 9 a.m. to noon, in the afternoons, or evenings after the kids are in bed. The set-aside time doesn’t matter as much as that you have a consistent schedule. When you set aside daily time for the search, you automatically begin to organize yourself around those hours.


3. Learn to say no. Would you schedule a shopping trip, getting a haircut or grocery shopping during work? Don’t do personal tasks during your time set aside for your job search. This means saying no to others who request favors during this time because they think you are just hanging out, and no to yourself when you’d rather do something else. The more interruptions you allow, the longer this will drag on. Put your job search and yourself first in the new year.


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Guest blogger John Blank is managing principal for Crosslin Executive Search.