Jump Start Your Job Search Part 2

Part 2 - Taking Care Of Business

Steps 11 through 17 are necessary for you to go the distance. Once your system is running, (see Part 1)these are the activities you need to do, but they’re not the most critical activities to finding that job.

1. Step 11: File for unemployment, but hope that you won’t need it. Hopefully you will be earning too much money to qualify before the government actually gets around to paying you. The reason I put this at Step 11 is I’ve never done it (in 4 of these so far, but you never know) and because you will have some downtime after you’ve completed the first 10 steps. Besides up until now, you will be too busy to take the time to do this. And, like I said earlier, if steps 1-10 go well, you’ll never collect.
2. Step 12: Exercise. Do it every day. Loose the weight you've been planning to. Write your goals down and keep an exercise log. It took me an extra day to finish this because I had to work out before posting. Anyone who notices the shape I’m in would know I haven’t been doing too well with this one. Check out this post from Military.com or exercises you can find on the web like these.
3. Step 13: Get and stay busy. There are basically two good ways to do this once you’ve made the initial pass to contact your network; either get a part-time job or volunteer. Volunteering gives you greater time flexibility, but the part-time job gives you income. Whatever you do, do it as well as you can, over deliver. Add value. People hire people who create value. Decide today you’re going to improve you value through your output and go do it. Make a difference in everything you do and you’ll attract the right people.
4. Step 14: Update your budget. I didn’t put this higher on the list because the first few items are the most important. Once you have your system working for you, it is time to take an assessment and make sure you have what you need to stick it out. Check out Dave Ramsey’s site (www.daveramsey.com) or Crown Financial (www.crown.org) or Kiplinger’s page (www.kiplinger.com). Other sites that show up on a quick Google search include Personal Budgeting (http://www.personalbudgeting.com/tips/tips.html) and About.com (http://financialplan.about.com/msubbudg.htm).
5. Step 15: Save money where possible. Spend as little money searching as possible. Try to avoid buying software or services if you can. If you must spend some money, consider spending it on your resume first since that’s the first barrier to getting an interview.
6. Step 16: Sell things you don't need. Use Craigslist (http://www.craigslist.org) because the price is right. Call this income. You could also search for jobs there, but most of what I’ve seen is high demand positions or lower income ones.
7. Step 17: Stay in touch with your contacts. When anyone gives you a name from Step 10, make sure you do 3 things and avoid one:

• Thank them.
• Contact the referral.Refer to step 10.Don’t ask for a job, ask if they know anyone who could use someone with your strengths and your goals.If they have a job like that, they’ll tell you.If not, you’ve got another person looking.Check Part 1 Step 10 for a bit more info.
• Follow up with the referrer, thanking them again and letting them know how the contact went.
• Avoid over contact.Your job situation is your biggest problem, but not theirs.You don’t need to follow up with anyone unless they tell you to, or unless you have a legitimate thanks or question about a specific person.

Be on the watch for Part 3 – Get Known On The Web which contains steps I’ve picked up recently. They were not part of my earlier job hunting activity. Until then, please comment freely below. As with all of this, I’m open to suggestions, comments and correction. Let me know if this is helpful or not and any other suggestions you might have.