I tried really hard at this last job. Whatever they wanted me to do, I did it and did it well.
So what?
I was working on a product line that was fundamentally flawed and they laid off practically everyone in the commercial group as they started over. No matter how hard or well I worked, my efforts amounted to nothing and now I've got a lot of scattered experiences that prospective employers who are looking for proven abilities don't care about. My hope was that I would have enough connections internally to get me to the next stepping stone and while I can keep hope alive, I'll assume I need to move on.
I need a job. The time off from the last job has been wonderful and I have a taste
for what it would be like to focus more on our home. Yet, there is the
reality of our personal fiscal cliff looming in early 2013
when my severance runs out. Plan A is to wow prospective employers with my awesome transferrable skills and get into marketing. Plan B is to find something I've been doing well, but don't care that much about, so I can have some security to work on a small business.
My job coach says that companies make the most hires in Q4 in expectation of new budget cycles
starting in Q1 so I should not slack off much longer. Applying for jobs should be my first
priority. And who knows? I might be able to negotiate something that works for me. I really like her because she is good at pulling me back to reality.
I started applying for jobs in earnest this week and already have been rejected from one.
Because job hunting is disheartening and rejection news does get in the way of productivity, it's imperative to structure my time. I know I am terrible at sticking to a schedule. How I apply structure is by having a one or two big things that need to get done in a day and being productive around them. I like using my calendar on my phone to remind me of appointments, but that's it. The rest is in my head or on whatever piece of paper I find in the morning.
I procrastinate, a lot. But I am productive because I procrastinate.
I know that when I have a very important priority, I will find ways to do everything but. I make the job such a big deal that my brain gets paralyzed. The task becomes so important that I
feel like everything has to be in perfect alignment before I take it
on. This is perfectionist thinking and completely why I am encouraging my kids not to be perfectionists.
So I try not to have many Priorities, usually one, but up to three in a day, and lots of things-to-do-eventually. In addition to being few, the Priorities are also pretty modest, like, write a blog post, or apply for two jobs.
In terms of weekly goals, I mix up my job hunt Priorities. In no particular order, they are...
1. Job applications (aim for 2 in a day, two days a week as early as possible before demoralizing rejection news comes)
2. Networking (aim to talk to 5 people a week)
3. Industry research
4. Document creation (Resume customization, cover letters, blogging, job hunting-related statements, lots of lists.)
5. Exercise (need to fit into all my work clothes when do land a job!)
I find procrastinating with small tasks is is enormously useful. I know if I can get a small task done, then completing my top
priority will eventually follow. This might
not be a strategy everyone should follow, but works for me. and is a much better way use of time than say, watching all four seasons of Battlestar Galactica in a stretch, getting to level 45 of Candy Crush, or scoring 761,500 points in Bejeweled Diamond Mine.
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