Setting Your Job Search Goals


One of the most important steps in organizing your job search is to set weekly and daily goals and then to use your goals to plan for and schedule your daily activities. That way you can be sure that each day your work as a job seeker is purposeful and focused. 
The Goal Setting Process
1. Each Sunday you:
  • Set your job search goals for the week. 
  • Create your daily goals and activities for Monday so that you are ready to hit the ground running Monday morning. 
2. At the end of each week day, you will:
  • Review your progress for that day. Take note of what you've achieved and be sure to reward yourself for making progress. 
  • Review your weekly goal sheet to determine the goals you will set for the following day. If you haven't achieved all the goals you set for yourself on that day, you will transfer those to the next day. 
  • Write up your daily goals and activites for the following day. 
  • Create your schedule for the next day. 
Some Tips on Goal Setting
Before we show you how to set your weekly and daily goals, you need to understand a few basics about goal-setting:
Make Your Goals SMART!           
             Specific
                Measurable
                    Attainable
                        Realistic
                            Timely
SMART goals answer the question “How will I know if I achieved this goal?” Here are some examples of SMART goals:
  • I will refine my job search goal by identifying my strongest skills, my values and the best work culture for me to be successful in by the end of next week.
  • I will update my Linkedin profile to include Skills and and improve my professional summary. 
  • I will send three requests for recommendations on LinkedIn and I will write recommendations for 3 LinkedIn contacts.
  • I will attend 1 networking event this week and collect at least 3 business cards from potential contacts who know people in my industry. 
  • I will complete 10 online applications this week. 
Identifying Your Weekly Goals
Each week you will want to identify  at least 10 goals for your job search. You can identify more if you're feeling ambitious, but 10 is a good place to start. 
These weekly goals will guide your daily activities. Your schedule will primarily be focused on those actions that will help you achieve your weekly goals. 
We suggest that you set goals in each of these different areas:
  • Networking--Maintaining and expanding your personal and professional contacts is one of the best things you can do for your job search. The majority of people find jobs because someone they know mentioned an opening to them or put in a good word with a potential employer. Building your network and keeping it healthy is the number one area you should be focusing on. 
  • Researching target companies--It's critical that you start developing a list of companies you want to target in your job search and that you spend time finding out as much as you can about these organizations. Employers consistently report that they are more likely to hire people who take the time to understand their business and their organizational culture during the job search. This is also a good way to find potential networking contacts. 
  • Finding job leads--Every week you should include at least one goal around finding and applying for a certain number of jobs. In many ways, job search is a numbers game and you need to just keep putting yourself out there for potential openings. 
  • Personal branding--Today's job search forces you market yourself. You need to be able to stand out from other job seekers and be able to communicate succinctly and professionally about the value you bring to your potential employer. Personal branding goals include things like customizing your resume and cover letter, developing a "30-second commercial" for networking events, updating your LinkedIn profile and creating an online portfolio. You should always be working to develop your branding tools. 
  • Professional/Personal Development--Employers look for people who stay up-to-date in their fields and who continually focus on their own personal and professional development. You'll want to set weekly goals for yourself that will allow you to keep on top of developments and trends in your field and help you know what's going on in the industry. Also look for opportunities to develop additional skills. 
Depending on what's happening in your job search, you may want to set  more goals in one area and fewer goals in another. Try to set at least one goal per week, though, in each one of these areas. 
Download and print out your weekly goal sheet here. You can use this to keep track of your weekly goals. 
At each Career Club meeting, we'll be setting aside time to discuss your weekly goals and your progress so this can also help you stay on track. 
Setting Daily Goals and Activities
To develop each day's job search agenda, you will want to review your weekly goal sheet, identify at least 2 goals to work on for the day, and then create a list of the activities you will engage in to reach those goals. 
Let's say, for example, that you've set a goal to get 3 LinkedIn recommendations. The activities you would need to engage in to accomplish this might include:
  • Looking at your contacts to see who you want to ask for recommendations from. 
  • Researching how to ask for a Linkedin recommendation.
  • Writing personalized notes requesting LinkedIn recommendations. 
  • Logging this information so you can do follow-up a few days later if you haven't heard anything back. 
For each of your goals, you would identify the specific steps you need to take to achieve that goal--these are your activities for the day. 
With this information, you should then create a job search schedule for yourself so that you are clear about what you will be working on throughout your day. 
You can download and print out this worksheet to record your daily goals and activities. 
Your Daily Agenda on Google Calendar
Google calendar is an excellent tool for you to use in developing your daily agenda. You can schedule your activities and then have your agenda emailed to you each morning. Here'smore information on using Google calendar, which you can access automatically with your Gmail account. 
Additional Goal-Setting Resources
If you want to explore additional resources on setting goals, check out the links below:

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