Job Search by Teams
Job Search Management: A Team Approach
Being unemployed or looking for new employment is a time of anxiety. It may help to remember that everyone, at one time or another, has been unemployed. Don't let the anxiety you may be feeling become an overwhelming burden. To reduce anxiety remember that it takes approximately three months of diligent job searching for every $10,000.00 in salary. This general rule is true if the labor market is steady and in a progressive mode. So plan a diligent job search even in good economic times.
To help reduce your anxiety and keep your self-esteem up:
- Do not take time off or plan a vacation at this time. Instead set time aside to keep your body in shape and start the job search.
- Develop a budget and stick to it. If your debts are going to be a burden don’t stop paying your bills. Visit with the community service agency in your area to assist you with free credit counseling and budget management ideas.
- Consider taking a temporary job so some money will be coming into your household. Employers understand that your bills need to be paid.
- Design a job search schedule which simulates a 40 hour work week. Let people know that you are working at finding a job and not generally available for errands.
- Find a partner and develop weekly job search meetings to review progress, share information, and set weekly goals. An unemployed non-family member seeking the same general kind of work is best.
- Don't let your partner down, even when you find a job.
- Develop a positive attitude by promising yourself to do your very best.
- Keep a realistic job search focus; search for work that matches your skills.
Job searching can be effective if you focus your skills to the job market, develop a job search plan, use time management techniques, keep your job search active, and keep your body physically fit.
Building a Team Approach
One method to reduce the feeling of isolation when job seeking is to take the team approach. The team approach can be as few two people (you and another) or as large as fifteen. These larger groups are usually called Job Clubs, and most Job Services can help in developing a Job Club. Job Clubs are larger support groups with a trained leader to guide the group through job search skill building activities.
It is recommended that you take advantage of the public service or support programs that are available in your area. There are many government programs that may be able to assist at no cost to you, check your local yellow pages.
If you’re not into groups, but want to participate in a team approach to job searching, consider a two person team. The two person team approach will allow you to:
- Keep a professional outlook by having a weekly business meeting.
- Develop a neutral site to keep the job search meeting business-like and uninterrupted ( i.e., a quiet restaurant with a cup of coffee).
- Maintain a structured schedule that helps to monitor your job search activity.
- Assist another in the same situation.
- Measure the effectiveness of what you are doing to change your employment status.
- Realize that you are not alone by sharing and bouncing ideas off someone else.
If you attend a job search support group you can easily find a partner. Find someone looking for the same general type of work. If seeking a blue collar position, find someone who is also seeking this type of work. For a white collar position, then find that type of partner.
Find someone with a commitment to job searching, this will reduce the chances of getting someone who will not follow through on tasks. The team must have partners who feel comfortable with critically reviewing each other's progress, schedules, activities and efforts. An unemployed job seeker as a partner will foster the mutual goals that two unemployed people have in gaining employment. If you choose a partner who is employed, it is not team job searching; in fact it would be considered networking.
The team will need some ground rules and guidelines to structure the job search meeting. This structure will assist the team in maintaining a business atmosphere during meetings, stop complaint sessions, and create a system of mutual support.
General Ground Rules
- Be on time.
- Always conduct conversations in a confidential manner in public places.
- Determine a mutually agreed upon meeting time during the week and stick to it, do not change.
- Meet for approximately one hour.
- Dress as if you are going to a business meeting, limit discussion to job searching.
- Bring all tracking sheets for the past week and tracking sheets that have work for the next week.
- Bring your calendar planner.
- No friends or family allowed, this is not a social gathering.
- Pay for your own coffee, etc. If meeting at a restaurant, meet at a quiet time.
- Start and end each meeting with a hand shake, reconfirm the next meeting time even though it will be at the same time and place. (Practice these business skills.)
These rules allow the meetings to progress in a mutually supportive and beneficial atmosphere. Now that some ground rules are set, we should examine a meeting agenda. The agenda should always be the same and progress in the same order. Here is a sample agenda:
Job Search Meeting Agenda
- Open meeting with greeting and handshake (this is practice for you).
- Begin with a review of the past week’s activity (one person will review their tracking sheets, then the other). The goal is a general overview of past week’s activity.
- Discuss overall feelings on how the week has progressed. Each person will name at least two positive items and identify any barriers encountered.
- Brainstorm ideas to overcome barriers together, write ideas down while brainstorming. Review options listed.
- Review next week’s job search plan, share ideas, employer tips, and possible job leads. (Give tips on how to approach a lead if you have already made a contact. Review telephone scripts, read to each other if the need arises.)
- Close meeting by each summarizing job search tasks to be completed, write in weekly planner.
- Shake hands and reconfirm your next meeting time.
A Team Member Must:
- Be a good listener
- Be positive and on time
- Coach a team member into doing as many employer contacts a week as possible
- Be willing to share ideas and leads, and accept these in return
- Complete all tasks and be ready for meetings
