Focused Job Search Plan

These days I am thinking that career searching as a part of life... I have only ever worked for two companies, and both of them I didn't really look all that hard for the job. Over the past year, I have noticed almost all of my friends have gone through some type of job change. Also, quite a few of them are currently unemployed, which works really well for a mid-week night out on the town! A lot of them are hitting it hard, and others not so much. It takes a lot of stamina and motivation to continually job search. 

Although I am no expert, but what keeps me motivated is I have set and written out a vision for my life 10 years from now. It is specific, in that it details how much money I want to make, and what type of job, friends and where/how I want to live based on things that I value. I also have a list of 5-10 values, much like a company has value statements, and these values help guide my choices in terms of where I want to put my energy in terms of commitments I make to myself and others. Based on the 10 years from now projection, I have written 5 year and 1 year projection. From there, I have created a commitments list that details what I want to do to achieve that 1 year projection. Knowing that my current commitments (i.e. actions) are getting me towards my end vision really keep me motivated. 

A couple of other things that keep me motivated are really believing that I will achieve the 10 year vision. When I really believe in something, my mind comes up with interesting ways to achieve that belief, and I create more commitments towards more goals. 

Below are my current commitments for the career search. Note, this is now a month into my job search, and some of my previous commitments included updating my linkedin, creating this blog, researching alumni connections, getting business cards, etc. 

Commitments: Career Search

-read PE Hub, WSJ and twitter feed daily (wifi) XXX

-review contacts tracker and complete follow-ups (wifi) XXX

-apply to jobs on e-financials and Queen’s weekly (wifi) XXX

-research other private equity firms in NY and apply for positions that specialize in energy, ITsec based on PEHub, DealBook and WSJ articles(wifi) XXX

-review Canadian pe and vc firms, create a list I want to target (laptop)

-create a list of private equity / venture capital meetings, training and conferences. Register for relevant and add speakers/organizes to contact tracker for outreach  (wifi)

-reach out to korn ferry, heidrisk & struggles, ludwig, vlaadco recruiters (wifi)

-write a blog post every other day and then post to twitter, linked-in, etc (wifi)

-reach out to professors and ask about resume advice and informational contacts (wifi)

-Summarize the Career Leader in Post MBA Journal ()

-update Edgar’s linked in profile (laptop + edgar), target (wifi)

-find other Canadians in NYC that work in industry (wifi)

Legend: 

XXX - Priority / do almost every day. 

(etc) - What type of resources I need to do the commitments

All the best, 

-BSM.