Table Of ContentManage Your Job Search
Johanna Rothman
Thisbookisforsaleathttp://leanpub.com/manageyourjobsearch
Thisversionwaspublishedon2014-03-04
ISBN978-0-9854820-4-6
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinany
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Everyprecautionwastakeninthepreparationofthisbook.
However,theauthorandpublisherassumesnoresponsibilityfor
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informationcontainedinthisbook.
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distinguishtheirproductsareclaimedastrademarks.Wherethose
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©2014JohannaRothman
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Toallthejobsearchers:Ibelieveinyou.
ForMark,ShainaandNaomi,asalways.
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
Part1:LearntoManageYourJobSearchProject . . . 1
1 BecomeYourOwnProjectManager . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 StartUsingYourKanbanBoard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3 ReflectonthePastWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4 IterateandOrganize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Part2:ChoosingaCareer,Interviewing,andDecid-
ingonanOffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5 KnowYourPreviousJobPatterns . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6 WriteYourRésumé . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7 PreparefortheInterview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
8 DecideHowYouWillDecideonanOffer . . . . . . . 95
CONTENTS
Part3:BuildYourNetwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9 Network,Network,Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
10 UseSocialMediatoNetwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Part4:IterateThroughTheseJobHuntingTrapsand
Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
11 AvoidTheseTraps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12 TryTheseTips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Part 5: Special Circumstances: New Grad, Career
Transition,Over50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
13 WhatYouNeedtoKnowifYouAreinTransition . . . 148
14 JustforPeopleOver50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Part 6: What to do When Your Job Search Takes
LongerThanThreeMonths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
15 It’sBeenThreeMonths.NowWhat? . . . . . . . . . . 159
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
AnnotatedBibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
MorefromJohanna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Acknowledgments
IthankFredNothnagel,whorunsWednesdayisNetworkingDay,
anetworkinggroupforjob-seekersintheBostonarea,formyfirst
opportunity to speak about this topic. When we spoke in advance
ofthemeeting,hesuggestedItitlemytalk“GetYourNextJobthe
AgileWay.”
Well, that started my wheels turning. By the time I’d finished
preparingforthetalk,I’doutlinedthisbookinmyhead,andtested
it with the 20 or so people at the meeting. They had several “aha”
moments.
I thank my reviewers: Holly Bourquin, Shaina Druy, Brian
Edlund, Yves Hanoulle, Peter Harris, Bobbi Heath, Lori Howard,
Ruth Koch-Ashton, Gerry Kirk, Andy Lester, Ed Schweppe, Dave
Smith, Rich Stone, Mike Taylor, James Ward, Serhiy Yevtushenko.
I thank Rebecca Airmet, Nancy Groth, and Dave McClintock for
theirgreatediting.
Anymistakesaremine.
JohannaRothman,Arlington,Massachusetts
Introduction
You’relookingforajob.Maybeyou’vejustgraduatedfromcollege.
Maybeyou’vebeenlaidoff.Or,maybeyou’vedecidedthatit’stime
foracareerchange.Maybeyouwantabetterjob.Youmighteven
haveabetterordifferentreasonthantheonesI’velistedhere.
Congratulations!
It’s exciting and scary and unpredictable and overwhelming.
If you are anything like me, you can be optimistic one moment,
pessimistic the next. You can think you have it “all set” and then
yourstackofcompanybrochuresslidesoffthetableontothefloor
andyouthink,“Ohboy,Idonot haveanythingtogether.”
And,becauseit’sall ofthosethings,andyouremotionsflyup
and down, you just might need some help to find that emotional
balanceandintellectualfocustostayontrackwithyourjobsearch.
I’ve hired or consulted on hiring hundreds of people. I’ve
trained thousands of people all over the world about how to hire.
I’vewrittentwobooksabouthiring.ThemostrecentisHiringGeeks
That Fit. Many people think that finding a job is the inverse of
hiring.It’snot.
Finding a job is dependent on other people. It is an emergent
project, where you cannot predict the end date. You create oppor-
tunitiesandtakeadvantageofserendipity.
Ifyouarelookingforajob,thisbookwillhelpyoucreateyour
systemforfindingajob.Then,withyoursysteminplace,youcan
iterate on deciding what job to lookfor,what yourrésumé should
look like, what companies to target, how to interview, and how to
getfeedbackoneverything.
Thisbookwillhelpyou.
Yourjob:Findfulfillingwork.
Myjob:Showyouasystemthatworks.
Part 1: Learn to
Manage Your Job
Search Project
Doyoulikelookingforajob?Almostnoonedoes.It’soverwhelm-
ing. You already know you’re going to get rejected from jobs that
youarequalifiedfor.Ifonly youcouldgetinthedoor…
But, managing the rejection in a job hunt is part of your job
searchproject.And,sadly,that’sthepartoftheprojectthatmostjob
seekers miss. If you create a project, or a system, you canmanage
your job search, and keep yourself moving, right onto the next
potentialopportunity.That’swhatthisbookisabout.
Yearsago,wheneveryoneadvertisedintheSundaypaper,you
hadjustoneplacetolookforjobs.Now,thereareindustry-specific
and general online job boards to find and peruse. You need to
becomeanetworkerextraordinaire,onlineandin-person.You’llbe
making decision after decision, each of which will seem to affect
yourcareer.
When no one responds to your résumé, it feels like a direct
punch to your self-esteem. Don’t be surprised: we identify closely
with our work. When no one responds to your résumé, you feel
personally rejected. When someone asks you for a phone screen
or an interview, you feel great! You add these emotional highs
and lows to an already intricate, non-linear project with many
interruptions and what do you get? A complex project where you
canbecomeeasilyoverwhelmedandloseyourfocus.
Introduction 2
How many times have you wished for “magic” in your job
hunt?Or,maybeyou’ve“hopedforthebest”?Nope,youknowthat
“magic”isnotgoingtohappen.And“hope”isnotastrategy.How
doyoumaintainyourprogressandyoursanity?
You can succeed with an open-ended big project like this. The
keyistobreakyourjobsearchintosmallchunksofworkthatyou
canaccomplish.Youalsoneedtotrackthosechunksofwork.
We’llusetwoprojectmanagementtoolstoaccomplishthis:the
“timebox”andthepersonalkanbanboard.
ATimeboxiswhenyousay,“I’monlygoingtoallowthistaskto
takethismuchtime.ThenI’mgoingtostop,nomatterwhat.”You’ve
boxedorlimitedthetimeforthatwork.Timeboxesareusefulwhen
theworkcantakeforeverandyouwanttostopfornow,andassess
whereyouare.
One-week timeboxes provide a cadence, a rhythm, for your
work. That cadence helps you maintain your focus and overcome
procrastination. The timebox also forces you to break your work
intosmallerpieces.Thathelpsyoucompletespecifictasksandfeel
asenseofaccomplishmentandprogress.Thatfeelingisinvaluable
inhelpingyoufocus,workonyournextstep,andfeel good about
yourprojectandyourself—especiallywhenyourself-esteemissuch
abigpartoftheproject.
The personal kanban board helps you determine how much
work you can do right now. (Kanban is Japanese for “signboard.”)
Akanbanboardisaplacewhereyoucanseeandclassifycardsina
specialway.Thepersonalkanbanboardhelpsyouseependingand
upcomingtasks—especiallythosethataredependentonsomething
outsideyourpersonalcontrol,suchaswaitingforaresponsefrom
anemailorphonecall.Itwillalsoprovideyouwithfeedbackabout
whether you have over-committed yourself or can take on a bit
more. It will help you to not commit to more work than you can
actuallycompleteinasingleweek.
I have noticed that I need both the structure of the big one-
week timebox to help me organize my time, and the visualization
of the small tasks on the personal kanban board when I work on
