The job search or career transition is more noise-filled than at any other time in history. Every device, every information channel, and every person in your life vies for your time and has the ability to distract you from your new core business… finding a new job.
Here are a few distractions every person in career transition should consider.
Maury Povich
I don’t know when Maury changed to the Jerry Springer model for influencing our culture for the worse. I do know that Steve from the Jerry Spring show has his own show with the same model. Its impossible to look away when these shows are on. Time suck. Don’t turn on the TV.
Social media can be a big help in your search. It can also take up all your time. Figure out the return on invested time you get from LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and then dedicate an amount of your time to these tools that makes sense. No social media tool will ever make up for face time or phone time with your contacts, so don’t use social media as a substitute for the best job hunt tool ever – human contact.
A lot of people think the end of their career search is hidden in the list of jobs on indeed, dice, CareerBuilder and monster. It’s not.
Most jobs aren’t even posted there. More job hunters are competing with you because they are looking at the same list of jobs.
Small companies aren’t using job boards because they get too much response from them. Instead, they’re not even advertising and using their employees and network to find the right people. Most people would rather hire someone they know anyway.
TechCrunch is pretty cool. I’ve learned a lot of cool stuff there. There is a need and a place for blogs, newsfeeds, etc. in your search. I’d suggest making the time you spend on these sites focused. Look for technologies based in your area that can lead you to jobs. Look for people in your area starting up new ventures. Just like with Twitter, figure out your return and dedicate an appropriate amount of time to reading blogs and newsfeeds. A good guideline for FOCUSED study would be 10% of your time. This includes reading up on local businesses and studying local technologies as well as learning about career transitions and what others are doing.
You Pajamas
This is the worst time-suck there is. Set your alarm clock as if it were a regular business day. Get up, get ready for the day like any other work day. This is your job. Treat it like your job.
I have an admission to make. I’m a World of Warcraft virgin. I’m also a Starcraft virgin. I’m sorry. I hope you’ll forgive me. I do love Halo, though. If I let myself, I’d play all day everyday and I’d finally get past a skill level of 20 on Lone Wolves multiplayer.
Games suck you in. Do yourself a favor and don’t buy a new one until you land. If you’ve already got some, setup a reward system. You get to play as much as you like after putting in a 6 hour day and doing your caulking…
Caulking
Likely, you’ve got a “honey do” list a mile long. You’ve been able to put it off, with work and all… now you have no excuse. Your significant other may not understand your time constraints right now. I recommend putting 6 hours a day into your job search. Spend the rest on WoW or honey-do lists. Make sure to get your significant other’s buy in.
Have a great weekend off and we’ll see you bright and early on Monday for the next week of your transition!
