Playing "Whack a Mole" with your job search

Today I'm adding some new content to an article I originally posted on June 9, 2009 under the title, "Making Your Job Search Count." From the feedback on my original post it helped a lot of people, so I'm adding to and re-releasing it.

I recently went to the Puyallup Fair, and had success at my favorite carnival game. The game is played by placing a rubber frog onto a "launching pad" of sorts, and whacking the trigger with a mallet, which launches the frog into the air. Prizes are won by landing your frogs on the target. I hit the target with two of my three frogs, so I walked away with a fairly large stuffed animal - yep, a frog.

That mallet got me thinking how some people treat their job search like a game of "Whack a Mole." They chase this way and that, hoping that this next site for job postings will be THE ONE, the next place they post their resume will be THE ONE, the next networking meeting will be THE ONE, the next recruiter they meet will be THE ONE that holds the holy grail for them...

They come to feel exhausted, and totally out of control. One new client confessed that he has 53 versions of his resume. Exhausting! Not to mention, who are you when there are so many versions of yourself?

They are not seeing their job search as a process and controlling what they can. So they keep "Whacking at Moles," hoping to hit THE ONE.

In my experience only stuffed animals are won by playing "Whack a Mole." A winning job search is not so random; it is a process with four high level steps: Plan - Define - Let People Know - Assess & Decide.

Defining what you are looking for makes having 53 versions of your resume unnecessary. You are who you are, and if you think through what you want to contribute there is no reason to try to be everything to everyone.

And especially right now, hiring managers are smarter than that: if you are talking yourself into, and modifying yourself to appear to fit a position, I can guarantee that at least one of the other people who applied fits it more naturally. I maintain that you are the most marketable where your strengths match your preferences. Stick to that place to get better results.

Consider the Define phase of your job search complete with the creation of your "Define Deliverables": (you can even print this as a checklist)
__ Employment goals defined (I use a "6x6" model)
__ Resume complete
__ LinkedIn profile complete
__ Basic cover letter complete (ready to customize each time)
__ Elevator pitch complete
__ Soundbite lite (6 word definition) complete
__ Business cards printed
__ LinkedIn connections made through existing address book
__ References asked to serve, updated on your goals
__ LinkedIn recommendations given (trust me, you will receive them back)
__ Other actions that build your online credibility and brand complete

Counting and measuring is a way to control what you can in your job search. It can keep you sane and motivated when you feel that you're not making progress, by showing that you really are getting somewhere - even before you win the ultimate prize.

After creating the Deliverables that Define You, set goals and track your progress toward them. This is another place where people who know better fail to apply the same tools to their job search that they apply on the job everyday. A client who is a Project Manager recently confessed that he had fallen out of the habit of even keeping a "To Do" list. Augghh, he knows better, but is playing "Whack a Mole" instead.

A job search is a numbers game. If you want to win, put in the numbers and keep track of your actions to reward yourself and stay motivated until you see your end goal realized.

Measure actions toward your goal. What CAN BE CONTROLLED, and SHOULD BE MEASURED:

__ Hours spent productively on your job search. After setting goals for hours per per day or week, monitor and reward yourself. Want traction? If you are not currently working, spend 30 productive hours per week.

__ Outreach per day/week. Want traction? Set a goal of 5 per day of any of these:
__ Applications to postings
__ New connections in LinkedIn
__ Resumes sent to a contact
__ Meetings for coffee, lunch, drinks, a walk...
__ Requesting informationals
__ Associations joined, meetings attended
__ Volunteer activities conducted

__ Opportunities in play. Want traction? Set a goal of at least 25 open at any given time. These include:
__ Outstanding applications
__ Networking seeds planted
__ Referrals from contacts

__ Your conversion rate. if not within current market expectations, your conversion rate on any of the below helps pinpoint issues to work on.
__ Hearing anything vs. nothing after applying to a posting
__ Resumes submitted to phone screens
__ Phone screens to interviews
__ Coffees to introductions to a new contact
__ Informational requests to meetings
__ Interviews to next interviews - first to second, second to third, etc.
__ Interviews to requests for references
__ References called / background checks to offers

Is playing "Whack a Mole" with your job search leaving you feeling scattered and drained? Walk away from the arcade. Change the game, get a better result.

p.s. via YouTube, no kittens were harmed in the making of the "Whack A Kitty" video.