Amy Lindgren
If you’re a recent college graduate without a job, my sympathies! Although job hunting is almost never a preferred activity, there’s something about a post-graduation search that feels extra discouraging.
It probably doesn’t help to know that this summer’s market is shaping up to be more difficult than in recent years past. While it’s too early to have solid data for the whole season, anecdotally we know this: If lots of companies are laying people off, while government agencies and nonprofits are dealing with reduced funding, while employers of all stripes are slowing their hiring to cope with the volatile economy … even without a summer’s worth of data, we can say things aren’t pretty.
And that’s all you’re going to hear from me on that. I’ve learned through multiple job droughts that there’s no use reviewing the laundry list of woes when you have a problem to solve. Which, if you’ve recently graduated from college, is that you need a job.
In last week’s column I presented 13 ideas for using time productively if the market isn’t cooperating with your search. From starting a small business to self-crafting an internship to volunteering, there are multiple options that will add to your skills and marketability. (One thing I left out was military service, so consider that the 14th choice.)
With only a few of these ideas being fully immersive, you can still conduct a job search simultaneously — the process just needs to be streamlined to fit a tighter schedule.
Speaking of schedules … one of my bigger surprises as a career counselor came years ago when I started to see that most people seemed to have no timeline in mind for completing their job search process. They were working diligently but without a deadline, as in: “This takes the time it takes, and I hope I have a job soon.”
That’s a formula for burnout, but not for success. Without a plan and a strategy, it’s too easy to fall into half-hearted search habits, including entire weeks without activity.
To see this idea treated as a mathematical formula, check your browser for C. Northcote Parkinson, a British naval historian who wrote in a 1955 essay for The Economist: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” He built on what quickly became known as Parkinson’s Law with another formula defining the growth of bureaucracy via the new addition of government workers.
But I digress! I’m endlessly fascinated by how our innate human nature works against so many of our higher goals. In this case, the willingness to believe that job search outcomes can’t be controlled leads job seekers to accept an endless process with diminishing returns.
With this in mind, I’m presenting five steps for a streamlined and productive job search, which can be conducted alongside another major activity, such as the career-builders from last week. For a streamlined job search, you need:
• 1. A deadline. In most cases, I rely on 90 days (or 12 weeks or three months, if you prefer). Whatever date is 90 days from when you start is the deadline for your job search.
• 2. A primary job target. You’ll move faster with a somewhat narrow target. That’s why “entry-level social media marketing” is better than “marketing” and both are better than “a job somewhere.”
• 3. A list of organizations to contact. For the above social media marketer, this could be larger nonprofits (because too small may mean no staff). Or it could be companies in a certain space such as retail or hospitality.
• 4. A résumé and cover letter that fit the target, at least generically. These can be modified for specific opportunities, which will be easier if they are somewhat targeted to start with.
• 5. A daily schedule of two to four hours, Monday through Friday, devoted to job search. Two hours will be enough, if you do them.
This is where Parkinson’s law applies: If you only have two hours to complete a daily goal of three outreaches, you’ll need to hustle. But if you have “all day” to complete your three contacts, you may never get to them at all. Human nature again.
In a related point, if you have a deadline to meet, you’re more likely to build in checkpoints and revise your process if things aren’t working.
Next week we’ll complete this mini-series with a review of strategies for college graduates living with their parents who are hoping to launch independently. Even in a tight economy, this is quite doable, but the key is planning.
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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.
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