It’s good to let people know how your job search is going
One good thing about a job search is that you typically meet a lot of people. Whether it’s a bona fide networking event, or informational interviews, or actual job interviews, your contacts will grow exponentially of the course of your search.
Let’s mention the negative and get that out of the way. Not everyone you meet will be very interested in you and/or your search. The law of averages will dictate that.
Then there are rest of your contacts. These are people who – cross your fingers – possibly have something for you, or who can connect you with someone else who may be able to help.
News about your job search
The latter group are the ones you really need to be concerned with – mainly because they’ve expressed some concern about you and you need to recognize that and nurture that. Even if you just let them know that you’re still out there, still looking. They will want to know that.
Fortunately, in today’s digital world, keeping in touch with them couldn’t be easier. Emails. Texts. Facebook postings. They’re all good.
And, of course, the 600-pound banana in that room is to let them know when you find a new position. That’s something they definitely will want to know.
There are many ways to stay on top of all those contact. Creating a simple Excel spreadsheet can go along way to achieve that end. Creating separate columns with contact name(s), companies or organizations, phone, email, how your connection was made, etc. Anything and everything that you feel would be useful.
Then, include a “next action” column with a data as to when you’re supposed to follow up. Note: you may need two (or more) columns in this section to include how those individuals want to be contacted. When you open that file the first thing on Monday morning, you can “sort” your entries by your “next action” column and, viola!, you have a list of things to do for that week – and beyond.
Not only will this help you keep on top of keeping in touch with you contacts, it’s also an opportunity to improve your mastery of Excel. It’s all good.
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