Summer is over, the kids are back in school, and the holiday season is fast approaching. Did you ever stop and think to yourself “I don’t have time to search for a job now” or “I will start looking for a job again after the holidays”. You are not alone in this mentality concerning your job search. Consider this: how many viable job opportunities will you miss if you put your job search on hold for a few months? Whenever you make a decision to go down one path, there is always the path not taken. In the case of your career, there is the job not taken simply because you put the job search on hold and never got that offer for a new job. Here are some tips to help you conduct a proactive job search this holiday season:
- Develop your objectives concerning your job search. Determine how much time you want to spend searching online, submitting your resume, sharpening your professional skills, and doing career-related research. Once you have an idea of what you want to accomplish, it makes achieving the goal that much easier.
- Create a time table and identify your commitments for the week. Select and block out specific times during the week to conduct your job search. Treat your job search as a commitment that carries just as much weight as other commitments you have for the week like your tennis date, vacation, dentist visit, or child’s football game. If you are a morning person, block out 1-2 hours in the early morning so you can do research or submit your resume to all the new postings that went live overnight. The early bird gets the worm!
- Prior to conducting your job search during the time you blocked out, make a list of what you plan to do. You can allocate time to contacting a resume writing service to create your resume, conduct research on companies that interest you, follow up on resumes you submitted, or leverage networking opportunities. If you have an idea of what you want to do during your job search that day, you can easily allocate your time to being productive and achieving your goals.
- Give yourself a mini-break from your job search so you can re-charge your batteries where your job search is concerned. It is much better to take 4 days off from the job search rather than 4 months.
The key to proactively conducting your job search during the holiday season is to treat it like any other commitment you have in your life. Your job search is not disposable or something that can be done on and off when you have time. If you have that attitude, you will never have time because something else always comes up. There will be many valuable job opportunities that will be missed simply because you could not find the time to look for them. Your career is an essential component of your persona. It is as much a part of your life as your family, exercise regimens, vacations, and social engagements. It requires the same attention and nurturing that other commitments in your life do. During the holiday season, make your job search a priority and you will be landing the job of your dreams in no time!