This isn't work for the faint-hearted. You need perseverance and patience.
You need backbone and a cast-iron psyche.
And you need to sell yourself.
You can make your own hours, but you'd better seek opportunity in every one. The pay? Your next lead, that follow-up interview.
Welcome to your job search. It's work that's as tough as any out there.
"If you're looking for a job, you've got to treat it like work," said Jasen Williams, director of career fairs for Ohio-based RecruitMilitary, which connects military veterans and employers. "You've got to be a good steward of the time you have."
Job Front visited the RecruitMilitary Career Fair at the University of Phoenix's Rancho Cordova Learning Center last week to talk with job seekers on the work they do to land their next job.
James Statham, is a tall, stocky aircraft sheet-metal worker and former Air Force sergeant who followed the job: Sacramento, Chico, then, last July, tiny Oscoda, Mich., a one-time military town on the shores of Lake Huron off Michigan's Lower Peninsula.
Four months later, he and 300 other contract employees were laid off. He returned to Sacramento, where he's been jobless since.
Here's his daily routine: Walk the dog. Hit the online job boards for two hours. Drive his wife to work. Then it's back to the Web and the phones to work follow-up calls and send e-mails.
"I keep track with who I talked to in the past 90 days. If I have an interview, I prep for that and make sure I have my clothes ready to go," he said.
"CalJOBS, sologig.com, USAJOBS -- that's pretty much my day," he said, referring to Web sites that list work for the state of California, contract-for-hire employers and the federal government.
"I go to fairs like these. I always make sure I have a list of resumes and references at all times -- phone numbers and addresses in my hands."
This isn't a part-time gig. After four months, Statham, 44, knows that all too well.
"I'm constantly looking for work. If you're not out there looking, you're not going to find it," he said. "It's tough, you have to seek and network to find the job that's open."
How should you plan your job search? How much time should you dedicate to finding that next job?
Plan your schedule like a workweek, said career counselor Terri Carpenter of Sacramento Works Inc.
"The ideal is to put 40 hours a week into your job search. You need to start your search on Monday like it's a regular job," Carpenter said.
A suggested weekly planner:
Monday morning: Organize your day. Make follow-up calls. Generate computer job leads. Afternoon: Send out résumés and e-mails. End the day with more follow-up calls.
Tuesday through Friday mornings: Network: "Spend time at a career center so you can stay in that work mode," Carpenter said. "It encourages motivation and hope." Get outside, meet new contacts, follow leads. Check listings of professional events. Take advantage of networking groups and association luncheons.
Afternoon: Mix it up. Business organizations and chambers of commerce often have free or low-cost evening mixers. "They get you in front of people," Carpenter said.
Friday: Wrap-up day. Follow up on your Tuesday-Thursday outreach with phone calls and e-mails. Plot your course for the next week.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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