Is Tim’s Strategy™ Right For You?

So, Tim’s Strategy is a concept originally based on the analogy of plate spinning. If new to the idea, you can learn more about it: Do You Have a Job Search Strategy? and Tough Times For Job Seekers. But basically it’s about being efficient in your efforts and maximizing the use of the significant number of micro networks around you.

So, ask yourself these questions if you are looking for a job:

1. Do you feel efficient? Do you have favorite plates that you like to spin? Are some of those plates more fun than others?
If you are like a lot of job seekers, you have favorite plates such as recruiters, job search sites and (more recently) social networking sites. These are very gratifying to spin and most people spin them way too often and well beyond their value. If this is the bulk of your search effort, you need to broaden your strategy.

2. How do you measure the strength of your network?
Is it by how many job alerts you get each day? Is it by how many new friends you’ve added to Facebook? These are very small tactical wins in the larger effort and should be cautiously used to judge progress. To succeed in job search/networking, you need a well-defined strategy that includes tapping into all of your micro networks and using the most helpful ones most often.

3. Do you wonder if you are focused on the right things?
Should you go to coffee with an old co-worker or have an informational interview with a company you may or may not have as a target? Should you spend 30 minutes on Monster.com or 3 minutes? The goal of Tim’s Strategy is to help guide these and many other decisions faced by the pressure of a job search.

4. Is your strategy working?