Managing your job search is a complex project. You need to plan for it an an agile and lean way.

1. ManageYour Job Search
Johanna Rothman
New: Hiring GeeksThat Fit
@johannarothman
www.jrothman.com
jr@jrothman.com
781-641-4046

2. © 2013 Johanna Rothman
The ProblemWith a Job Search
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It’s a big complex project
It’s overwhelming
Your emotions are all over the place
It’s so easy to get interrupted
It doesn’t end until you have an offer
in hand
Which means you have to iterate

3. © 2013 Johanna Rothman
Why Learn a New System?
A complex project requires a
system that breaks down the
complexity into something that
works for you
You need to prepare for your
success
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Plan to Iterate
How you look for a job
Where you look for a job
On your resume
On your networking
On everything
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We Have a System for Iteration
It’s called “agile”
Helps you get feedback
But agile is built for cross-functional teams
You are not a team; you’re a person
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You Need a System for Flow
Personal kanban helps with flow
Helps you see small achievable steps to get to the next
place
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You can use personal kanban inside
one-week iterations to manage your
job search project
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Let’s See an Example
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A Possible FirstWeek for a Newbie

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A Possible SecondWeek
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Keep Iterating
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You might iterate on your resume:
Write draft 1
Get review from Sally, John, and
Dan
Do several other things in order
(1, 2, 3) while you are waiting, such
as request references
Later, write draft 2.That would be
a separate sticky

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DecideWhat’s Next
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You decide what to do next week
based on your accomplishments and
what’s important now
You don’t over-commit
You write down everything you
need to do
You retrospect to assess your
progress

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KeepYourTodos Small
We like to make progress
We are not good at multitasking
The way to keep your spirits up and to
make progress is to keep your todos small
You won’t get confused with an
interrupting phone call
You can make progress with small
chunks of time
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Retrospect
Many ways to reflect
Plus/Minus/Change
Proud/Sorry
Facilitated Conversation
MindMap of your week
Quantitative data of your week
Five whys
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Tips to MakeThisWork
You can finish every todo in
two hours or less
You can finish the week’s
work in the time you have
for your job search
Your todos are independent
from each other
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AvoidTheseTraps
Keep going
Perfection is the enemy of the good
Don’t beat yourself up
Don’t have too much work in
progress (todos in the In Progress
column)
Know that you will never have the
perfect resume
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What Questions DoYou Have?
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Let’s Stay inTouch...
ManageYour Job Search on leanpub
Hiring GeeksThat Fit on leanpub.com, Pragprog.com,Amazon
Much more on www.jrothman.com/blog/htp
Pragmatic Manager:
www.jrothman.com/pragmaticmanager
Please link with me on LinkedIn
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