By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

During your job search, there are always a ton of things you could be doing. Unfortunately, there is not enough time to do everything you could possibly do. Therefore, it’s crucial to manage your time. This helps make sure you are doing the highest value activities that will get you closer to your goal of landing a new job. Let's look at a few helpful strategies.

One of the best time management strategies is the simple act of saying no. When you’re in between paid jobs, people may go out of their way to find ways to occupy “all that free time” you have. Being raised to be a nice, pleasant human being, I have a long history of saying yes to things I shouldn’t have. While saying no can be difficult, in your role as the CEO of You, it’s your job to prioritize your time wisely to help you achieve your goals.
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You might want to say no to doing extra volunteer work for your child’s school, church, or favorite charitable cause. You might want to skip helping someone landscape their yard, paint their house, or move. You might want to refrain from attending an additional school play, driving an extra carpool shift, or chaperoning one more event. In short, you get to spend your time in whatever activities bring you joy and/or get you closer to finding a new job. Ensure you align your time with your goals and do not take on additional tasks out of a sense of guilt, obligation, or good old-fashion task avoidance. 

One benefit of working for someone else (aside from, you know, the whole getting paid thing) is that it gives your life structure. When you’re in career transition, making yourself some kind of schedule is valuable. It doesn’t have to be rigid or rigorous. Having more structure is helpful when you’re struggling. Systems help because they give you some idea of what to do with yourself if and when your plans change. Even if you don’t follow your schedule to the letter, having structure around your time can help address your need for order and give you a sense of accomplishment. 

If I have a blank calendar, I have difficulty accomplishing anything because I have too little structure. Conversely, if I overschedule myself, I will be frustrated because I have too much structure. Blocking off time for dedicated activities is how I balance the two extremes.

During these time blocks, which are usually 1-2 hours long (for me), I focus on the task at hand. For example, during this time, I might search for new open positions, customize my resume for a certain role, or write a few thank you messages. Making an appointment with myself helps me get things done.
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I also block out time for fun activities. Whether when the roller skating rink is open, when my coffee group is meeting, or an hour to walk on a nice day, blocking off time helps me prioritize activities that bring me joy.

There are some things that I need to do multiple times in a day or a week or similar tasks that go well together. Work batching is a way to help increase your efficiency with these types of tasks. Here are a few examples of the kind of work I batch:

• Searching for open positions: I spend a half hour looking for jobs and bookmarking those that meet my basic requirements. If I’m not sure about a role, I’ll bookmark it for now and review more later.
• Prioritizing applications: I spend a half hour reviewing my bookmarked jobs. Then, I read them more closely, eliminate the less desirable ones, and select which higher-value job applications I will submit.
• Applying for jobs: I start with my basic resume, review the job description, personalize the professional summary and skills sections of my resume, then apply. I then update my status on my spreadsheet. I repeat this for the other jobs I will apply for in a given week.

​Grouping tasks tends to improve efficiency and boost productivity. 

Most people’s productivity decreases the longer they work on the same task. One way to use your time more consciously is by using a timer. For example, I set a timer for 50 minutes, then take a 10-minute break. This way, I have a set time to focus, but I also know it won’t last forever. In addition, if I’m spinning on a task and not accomplishing anything, taking that 10-minute break usually gets me out of that thought trap.
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During the 10-minute break, I switch gears. I stand up, stretch, or take a few deep breaths. Sometimes, I’ll even do a quick beta task, like folding towels, before returning to my alpha work. When my timer goes off and my break ends, I begin again. Breaks can work wonders to stop you from spiraling by helping you re-engage with a given task. 

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Finally having a job offer after your post-layoff job search is a call for celebration. Now, you can breathe a sigh of relief and start to build your new post-career transition normal. While you may want to shout from the rooftops that you've finally landed and start celebrating, I suggest you play it cool for a couple more weeks.

​In most cases, accepting a job offer will lead to you starting that job just as planned. On rare occasion, something happens and that job offer falls through. Just in case, I suggest taking a few interim steps between the time you accept your job offer and the day you start your new role.

At the end of February, I accepted an L&D Manager role where I would build the training function from the ground up in a fast-paced startup environment. I was very excited about the opportunity, and happy that my job search--which was then clocking in at about 5 months--would be over soon. After a disjointed, a little all over the place hiring process, and an offer that took a couple of weeks to come to fruition as promised, I happily accepted and had a start date of mid-March. 

Soon, I did my "hooray I got a job--more details later" on LinkedIn. I didn't mention the company's name at this time since I had not yet started. I learned that lesson after announcing a job that I had accepted and not yet started--and later learned that the company had not yet notified internal candidates that they hired someone external. 

I was excited to have a two week gap between when I accepted the job offer and my start date. A week before my start date, I got a call from the recruiter for the role telling me that there would be a delay in my start date--and he wasn't sure how long. A few days later, I talked with the hiring manager and learned more. They were going to hold off on my start date until numbers had come in from the first quarter. She assured me there were no real concerns that I would start, but it was more when. I asked if this role was really going to happen, and I got sufficient assurances that the job would, indeed, start within a month or two at the latest. She would keep me posted on updates.

The longer I waited, and the fewer updates I heard, the less confident I was the job would happen. Of course, I'd already announced that I had a new role and taken y LinkedIn profile out of job search mode, so I lost a couple of months of job search time waiting for a start date to materialize. The assurances became less frequent, and less convincing, until I got a call from the recruiter with apologies because the role was not actually happening.

...and now I had lost 2 months of job searching time and had to restrategize and restart my search. ​

Remember, in most cases, accepting a job will lead to you starting to work for that company shortly thereafter. Even so, remember to act in your own best interest just in case the role does not pan out. Here are suggestions for you to consider:
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• Rethink your standard operating procedure for what to do when you receive a job offer. I suggest keeping your social media accounts in job-searching mode until you start your new role. During that time, especially an extended wait, continue to talk to other companies, apply for additional positions, and interview. Then, after you work at least a day and as long as a week at your new job, update your LinkedIn and announce your new role. 

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• When accepting a job, consider your next steps if the offer falls through. The act of thinking through that possibility will help ease your anxiety.

 

• When the conditions of the job offer change, reassess. When changes to your start date or any aspect of the job offer become apparent, evaluate that information alongside other data you have about the role and projected start date. Make your decisions accordingly.

 

• If your job offer is rescinded, take time to feel your feelings before moving forward. If you don’t take a moment and process your emotions, they will come out sideways at just the wrong time. Take time for self-care.

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• Plot, scheme, and relaunch your search. If you find yourself in a position where you have announced your new role and the offer is rescinded, formally restart your job search. Begin with a new LinkedIn announcement stating that the position you previously accepted is no longer in play and ask for assistance finding a new role. Then, start doing those right things again.

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Employers are trying to find someone to solve the unique problems their business has. Recruiters and hiring managers will want to make sure that candidates have the skills and competencies included on their resume. Let's look at a few ways employers might verify candidate abilities during the hiring process.

While assessments have value, they may not help employers find a better candidate. Assessments can be useful when they are used to verify skills relevant to performing a specific position well.  However, some assessments may be checking for skills not required for a given role.  In addition, some assessments are not intended to be used during the hiring process and may introduce irrelevant or biased information into the hiring decision.

As someone who works in the field of learning and development, I expect a potential employer to ask to see my portfolio. In many cases, during the application process, they will ask for a link to an online collection of work samples. On occaision, potential employers will ask for reccommendations on which of my work samples they should review more closely that align with the specific skills for any given role.  I'm also ready to talk an employer through my work samples and highlighting my process in developing those materials. 

I also expect to be asked to demonstrate my ability to present content to a group. On many occaisions, I've been asked to deliver an interactive 10-15 minute presentation on the topic of my choosing to a panel of interviewers. 

For a manager role, I've often been asked to put together a 30-60-90 day plan outlining my initial onboarding and how I would identify and prioritize projects.