Continually on the Lookout for Work

Job search is an everyday, ongoing process. Obvious, right? Yet, is that true for many of us? Are we continually looking for work every day of our unemployment? Think of the New Year's Resolutions we make- quitting smoking, losing weight, and- yes- changing jobs/careers. How many of those do we maintain beyond a few weeks? It's difficult to break out of our routine and make a non-everyday habit a continual one.

But job search demands this. Are there strategies we can "employ" to keep us looking for jobs or working on our job search every day? Perhaps. The trick is to come up with visual, tangible reminders- Post-It Notes used to be the most popular form of a reminder (and they are still popular), but now you have technology as a valuable tool for reminding you that you have to work on job search- searching for jobs, applying for jobs, etc.- every single day.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Sign up for a site like SimplyHired.com that will send you new job listings every day. As a test, I signed up with this site, and they have sent new listings every day for the past 7 months.

2. Set up in your Outlook Calendar a reminder for the morning, such as "Don't forget- work on your job search today!"

3. The Post-It note. Yep. Use them all over my desk. They can be overused (if you have too many, none will stand out), but they still serve as positive reminders.

4. Your mobile phone is obviously a very important tool for many things- so make it pertinent to your job search as well. Use reminder noises, messages, etc- whatever you can come up with.

5. Create a tangible, handheld symbol. Now, this sounds a bit goofy, but it's similar to the sobriety bracelets used by alcoholics. My personal handheld symbol is a penny that I've kept since 2001- it sits on my desk and reminds me every day that I need to continually seek opportunities to land new clients (as a business owner).


Those who invest the most time in their job search are typically the most successful. Investing more time starts with a commitment to everyday action. Everyday action for things that aren't always going to be everyday tasks requires reminders, and these reminders can be beneficial in keeping you continually on the lookout for work.