Your Computer Is Not Your Friend

Some days your computer feels like a great friend.  Doing all that work for you.  Humming along.  Keeping you company on those long days during job search.

But it’s not the great friend you think it is.  It is dastardly.

It can destroy your focus.  Lock you down in a false state of perceived productivity.  And provide the freedom to pursue jobs which you should never have applied for in a million years.  You can spend hours each day wasting your time.

Searching vague terms.  Hoping that one of those searches will turn up something hot.  A new lead.

For example, if you scan Google for the top searches by job seekers, you get something like this:

• jobs in california
• marketing jobs
• sales jobs
• search job
• new jobs
• part time jobs
• management jobs

The result of this search process for most is a dark cave.  A rat hole.  A full day of hopeful progress.  That just maybe.  The next click will drop you into a bath of warm light.  A great job lead.

Not likely.

Of course you can find jobs.  But not with an endless progression of clicks.

I encourage people to get out of the house a minimum of 4 hours a day for networking.  And some of these same people struggle to envision what they could possibly do.  Out there for four hours. Who would meet with them?  What events are happening?  “What if I’m all alone out there?”

Now here’s where the computer comes into play.  And adds value.  When used with a specific purpose.  Some examples:

1. Emailing (along with phone) to set up and confirm meeting times and places.
2. Signing up for job alerts using specific search terms on Indeed.com, Monster.com, HotJobs.com and the like.
3. Learning about upcoming networking events in your community each day or week (MeetUp.com).
4. Participating in LinkedIn groups and using LinkedIn to network for known openings.
5. Joining groups on Facebook to learn from and talk with other job seekers or career experts.

To summarize:  Use the computer for good.  Get out of the house 4 hours a day.  Every day.

Unless you have a better idea . . .

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