Here’s a starting checklist of items, broken down by specific focus areas, that may help you in tracking your job search activities.

Set your career goals and job search strategy

• Understand what you’d like and love to do and also what things you want to avoid doing in your career. Maybe use a Myers-Briggs test or Career Leader tool to guide you
• Develop your long-term career goals and understand why those are your goals. Where do you want to be in your career in (say 3 to 5 years)?
• Define the skills you need and skill gaps to achieve your 3 to 5 year career goal? What are you already good at and what do you still need to develop? (do a self-evaluation and let others help you evaluate it).
• Define types of jobs you’d like to have next and how each type would fit with your goals. You should have 3 to 5 types (e.g. product manager, product marketing, online marketing) in mind because many different jobs can help you develop the same skills and this will give you more options in the market.
• Define detailed characteristics of your ideal next job. If you don’t know what’s important to you and what you’re looking for, how will you know when you find it?
• Analyze your financial situation. How long will you have before you stress about your finances and before your financial situation becomes dire?
• Define your plans A, B, and C and when you’ll implement each (in parallel or in sequence)? Plan A is for ideal situation. Plan B (e.g. get a job with less responsibilities and/or lower pay) is for getting by and buying time. Plan C (e.g, move to another state or country for work or sell the house) is for survival if no other option exists.

Package yourself for your job search

• Ask people who have the job types you want. If you want to be a marketing manager at a high tech company next, then figure out who you may know or how you can find someone with that job. Ask at least two people for their advice and guidance. Find out what it takes to do the job and what it entails. It can help you position your skills in your resume and interview or perhaps show you that it’s really not the job you thought it was.
• Develop your story. What makes you think you’re qualified for each of the job types you hope to pursue. What makes you unique if others also have similar skills? What experiences do you have and why is it logical for you to want this job now? Note them in a Word doc. You can then use it in your cover letter, email intros, and interviews.
• Practice your story. Share your stories with others and see if they buy into it. If they don’t, perhaps the hiring company won’t either. Find people with those job types. Also, ask people who know your skills well. Maybe they can help position you even better.
• Create a resume for each job type you are searching. Yes, it should be tailored. You want to make it as easy as possible for the hiring company to see why you may be qualified for the job.
• Build an online presence. In this day and age, your online “resume” could be as important as the resume you have on paper. Google yourself and find out what other people see about you. Is it consistent with your story? If not, start modifying descriptions of yourselves online (Linkedin, Google profile, etc.).

Apply for jobs based on your career goals and plans

• Apply for jobs the usual way (e.g. Monster, Jobs.com, Craiglist, company website, etc.). It’s important to cover the basics, although this should not be your only avenue. I heard of a woman who send out her resume 2,000 times already and had not gotten a job yet. Just think of how many other people are doing the exact same thing you’re doing.
• Find creative ways to get your application in front of the hiring manager. Use friends, contacts, your barber, cold call – whatever you have to do to get your application in front of the right people. HR folks are NOT the right people.
• Write a tailored cover letter / resume for each job application. Really think about what they’re looking for and use the keywords from their job description in your cover letter and resume. Your cover letter / resume should answer why you’re especially qualified for this job.
• Practice mock interviews. No one is naturally good at interviews. Ask people to help you practice behavior questions, questions about your resume, case questions, salary questions, etc. You’d be surprised how much you learn and how you really come across. You should do at least 2-3 mock interviews per job type.
• Research & prepare. Before interviews, research the company thoroughly online and also with friends and contacts.
• Go to interviews. This seem obvious, but even go to the ones that you’re not sure is a good fit after researching them. It’s a great way to practice your interview skills. Who knows, they may surprise you.
• Don’t wait for them to get back to you. If you thought you were weak in one area or didn’t cover an important area in an interview. Email the interviewer as part of your thank you and address those areas. Perhaps also follow up with a call if appropriate. If you’re not sure how to do this, ask for help and practice with someone first.
• Learn from your experiences. If you didn’t get a call back after an interview, make sure you learn something around how to improve. Email and/or call your interviewer and ask for feedback. Be humble and professional but be persistent since you have nothing to lose. Also, do a self-evaluation around what might have gone wrong or go over what happened with someone (that have more job search skills) and ask them. Whatever you do, try to learn from each and every experience, because otherwise, you’re just doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. This is the definition of insanity and a waste of time.

Network, network, network

• Tell everyone you know you’re looking for a job: friends, contacts, and even your hairdresser. Have your story ready about what you want to find next and you never know who may just have a lead for you on a job opening. The best way to find a job is through an introduction.
• Go to networking events (industry, function, alumni, job search, etc.). This isn’t the time to be shy. Your “job” is to market YOU as a product to key people who may have leads for jobs and good advice for job search. This is also where the story you developed  for yourself earlier comes in handy. The more people you meet, the more opportunities you may find that are NOT on job boards.
• Ask for help.  Think of people in your life that may be better than you in doing job search and ask them for help to improve your skills. You may ask one person to help you with cold calling, another with interviews, another with thinking about your story, etc. While this “job” is NOT a team effort, you can still ask many people to support you in your individual pursuit of a good job/career.
• Follow up with people. If you meet people at events that could help you in some way, follow up. I know it’s uncomfortable, but it’s very useful for your job search effort. Learn how to finesse asking people for help (e.g. information interview, career advice, etc). Avoid just asking people for job leads directly. It can come across like you don’t care about them at all and only in terms of what leads they can give you.
• Thank your contacts / friends for help.  It’s amazing how many people forget this.

Make job search enjoyable (this is probably the hardest section)

• Develop a coping mechanism for “low” times. No response or negative response from companies is the nature of this “job.” It’s nothing personal, but most of us will take it this way. Develop some ways to dig yourself out of feeling “low.” For example, you can… 1) read inspirational books like “Awaken the Giant Within” by Tony Robbins, 2) have an affirmative statement like “I’m enjoying the journey of finding a job” or “one step at a time.” 3) distract yourself by watching something funny or going out with friends, 4) talk to someone,  5) find a song that inspires you (mine is “There’s Hope” by India.Aire). Everyone can find what works for them.
• Reward yourself. In any regular job, if you worked really hard you may reward yourself with a nice dinner or a weekend away. This is the same. Define rewards for yourself when you reach certain goals in your “job.”
• Have regular downtime. Don’t do job search all of the time. You’ll burn out fast. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself. If you plan to do job search Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 with a one-hour lunch break, then maybe you can give yourself permission to not think about job search on most weekends or evenings. You’re the boss, after all!

Closing the Deal

• Learn how to evaluate jobs and companies and how you can accurately judge whether you’re a good fit or not. Prepare questions to ask to find out more about the company, your boss, the team, your responsibilities, etc.
• Develop salary negotiation skills. Many people leave money on the table because they don’t know how to do this well. This could be a topic of many more posts.

As you can see, like any other job, there’s plenty to do and lots of skills to develop. You can either do it reluctantly or you can choose to take the reins and start mastering your job search skills one step at a time. Good luck out there!