When I talk to anyone from college graduates to corporate executives about their efforts to find their next career moves, I ask them to show me their job search tracking. How do they capture their job descriptions, websites, contact information, applications, and follow up? Most stare at me as if I have three eyeballs.
On the other hand, when I talk about this common gap in process, others say, “but that’s just common sense.” YES, it is common sense, but the majority of job seekers isn’t applying that common sense and has no tracking system. As a result, the job search suffers.
Are you making these mistakes?
Mistake #1: Starting a tracker then dropping it within weeks, believing “I got this and no longer need the tool,” or just plain forgetting about it. I see this over and over again. Yes, it’s work. No salesperson likes to enter their sales activity in a customer relationship management (CRM) software for their company. Yet you are selling yourself to companies and there are a lot of steps required to take a job opportunity from cold lead to an interview. The ONLY way to manage every step is to log every move you make, and follow up religiously. NOTE: You don’t get to stop using your tracker until you begin the first day of your new job!
Mistake #2: Incomplete tracker, being lazy and trying to use only some of it. Later, you will need some key information that you didn’t populate. Shortcuts don’t work. Period. You may think all you need is the link to the job description and the date you applied. You’ll remember that a friend, Sam, told you about Bob, who might have a position and then Bob sent you to Susan. Three months later, after interviews and job offer, will you remember to send Sam and Bob and Susan a nice bottle of wine, thanking them for their support?
Mistake #3: Just not doing it. Period. By the way, how are those yellow sticky notes working for you? Or the random folders on your PC full of word documents and the “favorites” in your web browser? Not even close to a process.
When you wake up every morning, do you have a list of 10 things that need to be done to follow up on your pipeline or do something new? I guarantee you this list will be generated from your great process AND you will feel better, emotionally, about your job search because you will be busy. You will see and feel the progress forward.
Are you using any of these excuses?
Excuse #1: “What I did during my last job search worked just fine.” That was then, this is now!
Excuse #2: “I’m not a spreadsheet person.” Well, first, good luck in any future position where you may be asked to be comfortable with a spreadsheet!
Excuse #3: “Job searching is all about relationships, not tracking tools and lists of things to do.” I just heard this one last week and was shocked!
Remember, CRAP comes in two forms: mistakes and excuses, both of which will sabotage your job search efforts and slow down your progress. You can do this! Download the best job search tracker and other tools here so you can get started or re-start on the right foot. https://www.danamanciagli.com/tool-downloads/
