Job Search Goal Setting & Project Management

I’ve been working on a goal-setting presentation geared to job seekers for the last couple of weeks. Midway through my preparations, I realized that if someone were to approach a job search as a project in need of management, rather than just applying for as many jobs as possible in an ad hoc manner, they would be far more successful. In other words, the job seeker needs to approach their job search as a Project Manager would approach a critical project.

I stopped and thought “Wow, a stalled job search has all the issues and problems of a project that is behind schedule and in danger of failure.” The elements of any project are:

• Mission statement, with goals and objectives
• Clearly defined requirements
• Selecting people for the project team
• A breakdown of work
• Schedule with milestones and realistic deadline
• Listed risks and opportunities
• A written plan with mitigations for risks
• Accountability or status meetings
• Cost control and resource management

No wonder so many job seekers drown in all the work to be done. It’s daunting, especially if you see yourself alone, with no one to share the burden of job hunting. But you’re not alone, there are people, resources, groups and organizations there to support you in your job search.

Some people hire a coach to help them better manage their job search. Others have outplacement resources and others utilize job clubs, accountability groups and support ministries to reach their goal.

So the quick lessons are: a good Project Manager would not take over a critical project with a helter skelter attitude and expect to be successful. And no Project Manager would attempt to accomplish a project all by themselves. You should have a plan and shouldn’t think that you have to find your next job all by yourself either.