Balancing School and Job Search

March 16th, 2005 | No Comments | Posted in Job Search

I have become concerned lately with the amount of time spent on job search activities in class. While I understand the most students’ number one priority is finding a job, I fear that job search activities are interfering with completing the course curriculum.

I want to be flexible and allow students to work on job search activities in class, but I want class assignments to be completed too. Students typically enroll in our program because they are lacking the computer skills needed to find employment. If job search is the main focus of the course then students leave the program still lacking the skills necessary to find a job.

Conducting a successful job search while furthering your education requires time management skills; here are a few suggestions:

Set aside two to three hours of uninterrupted time per day to search the employment opportunities, send resumes, and follow-up on interviews. This time should be outside of class; it’s really best to try and get your research done first thing in the morning.
Create several different “generic” resumes that outline your different skill sets. Create template thank you and cover letters. This way you’re prepared when that perfect job opportunity is posted; you won’t have to spend a day writing a resume.
Some employment sites, like Resumes 2 Work, have RSS feeds that you can subscribe to.
If you don’t have Internet access at home an you need to visit the job boards in class set aside one hour a day for searching the job boards. I would recommend that you do this at the end of the day to avoid “exceeding” the hour time limit. Time management involves setting a schedule for yourself and sticking to it. If you have to quit before you are done you will be more eager to get things done the next day.
Try to schedule interviews and other appointments before class. If you have to schedule an interview during class hours, schedule it at the beginning of class or at the end of class so you don’t miss the entire class.
Journal your activities; write down what you did during the day, how much time you spent on a task, and how you felt about your progress. Review your journal to see how effective you were at accomplishing your tasks.
Prioritize: Make a list of the things that you need to accomplish. Prioritize the list and set a time limit to get the task done.
Be on time! You should be on time to class, to interviews, and to other appointments during the day. When you’re late for one activity your entire schedule is thrown off. While 15 minutes may not seem like a lot, over a week that is an hour and 15 minutes, a month five hours; 15 minutes here and there starts really adding up. When you arrive at class, login and start your assignments; email and other personal projects should be done at break.
Learn to say no. When you’re unemployed it’s easy to over commit yourself. Friends and family have a tendency to ask you to do things they wouldn’t normally ask if you were working. It’s ok to say “I’m sorry, I don’t have the time.”

You need to remember why you signed up for class in the first place; most likely a lack of skills was impeding your finding employment. It won’t look good on your resume to be in class for six to eight months without acquiring any new skills.

Here are a few additional articles and tips on job search and time management:

Please feel free to add your time management/job search tips to the comments.