Job Search AccountabilityA presentation on how to facilitate reviewing and

mentoring members' job search progress at weekly meetup groups.

Ron McClure, President Emeritus

Agenda● Hand Outs

– Weekly Plan– Accountability Worksheet

● Purpose● Review Weekly Plan Work Sheet● Review Accountability Check List● Case Study● Exercise● Feed Back

Job Search Accountability

SacProNet trains and mentors members on the best practices in job search.

The members are responsible for putting forward the effort to find a job.

A common weakness of most job search groups is monitoring members activities to ensure they are on track and progressing.

This presentation is about motivating and guiding members in getting organized, planning, setting goals and objectives, and working toward meeting those ends.

Purpose● Job search is a demanding process. It is stressful

waiting for something to happen.● Getting and staying motivated is a major issue.● Identified as a common problem with EU Chapters,

Sunnyvale, Manteca, and Job One. ● How do you balance your time between your job

search, personal time, and family time?● How do you plan your job search, track your progress,

and record job search results?● A key component of a successful job search is holding

yourself accountable for your time & actions.● Purpose of meet up groups is to support and to guide

members through the job search process.

Templates● Weekly Plan Work Sheet

– The purpose of the Weekly Plan Work Sheet is to guide members through the planning process for the coming week.

– Plan your work, work your plan. Visualize your week.

● Accountability Check List– The purpose of the Accountability Check List is to guide the

review process.

– An objective review and lessons learned. A reality check.

– To hold members accountable for their action plan.

Process Flow● Maintain a monthly calendar with all known and

recurring events of interest.

● Develop an action plan for the coming week.

● List all known activities already committed: family activities, gym/exercise, interviews, professional meetings, webinars, volunteer,etc.

● Estimate hours committed. Calculate hours available for job search activities.

● Determine weekly job search focus: by industry, by region, by job type, general search, open.

● Allocate time and dates to job search activities.

Process Flow● Accountability review

● Review prior week's activities with an accountability partner.– Preferably toward end of week.

– Record time and counts of all events and activities.

● Determine “Lessons Learned”.– What went wrong, what went right.

– Self reflection of week's activities.

– Adjust plans for coming week. Set goals.

● Discuss action items for next week plan and set priorities.

● Record action items onto the Weekly Plan.

Plan your work, work your plan● Weekly Plan.● Summary section. Record already committed hours. Time committed to the job search process, time reserved for personal and family time. Yields result of uncommitted hours available.● Detail section. Estimate and list known activities that require your time. List all activities that are known now.● Set priorities. Remember: 100:10:1 Rule, 85% Rule.

Weekly Plan

Planning Activities● Record activities already scheduled or committed:

family, personal, and job search.– Exercise/Gym, Church, job interview, scheduled meetings,

family get together, home maintenance, children events, cover letter & applications, and volunteer activities, Linkedin, etc.

● Estimate activity hours and calculate free hours available for job search.

● Determine focus/target of job search.

● Record activities that you want to complete in line with your focus.

● Leave “open time” for unexpected events.

Accountability Check List

Determining Accountability

● Use Job Search Accountability Worksheet

● Best done with an accountability partner at end of week. Getting an objective perspective on your results.

● Record actual time and events that took place over the past week.

● Compare estimated versus actuals.

● Record lessons learned. How to improve the upcoming week's results.

● Discuss and set focus and goals for the coming week.

Metrics● Measurements of success

– Interviews (formal/panel, informational, telephone)

– Resumes and cover letters submitted

– Applications filled out on job sites

– Time spent researching jobs

– Time spent researching required professional skills, knowledge, and techniques.

– Calls made: follow up and for member support

– Follow up emails and calls to previous contacts

– Networking events attended

– New contacts made

– New endorsements or references

Metrics● Measurements of success continued.

– Linkedin. Researching jobs and giving recommendations.

– Time spent ratio. Personal/exercise, family commitments, and job search.

– 85% of jobs come from networking events. Priority should be on attending networking events.

– Promote your personal brand. Write professional articles, blogs, and give presentations.

– Attend educational classes, Webinars, and skill training to enhance your knowledge and employment opportunities.

Rewards

● Give yourself a special reward for weeks well done. This reinforces a positive behavior.

● Make sure you transfer your action plans from the Accountability Review to your Weekly Plan.

Case Study

Case Study

The End

● Conduct Exercise. – Each member complete hand out and note items

that need to be changed or topics not covered.

● Get feed back. – This is a process improvement. Incremental

change to improve a process.