To Vacation or Not to Vacation ? . . . . . That is a question that frequently comes up during a lengthy job search.
It can be a challenge to keep your search moving forward when the people
you need to meet and network with are unavailable. People in the
companies you want to meet are on vacation. That interview you’ve been
patiently waiting for is delayed by a vacationing member of the
interview team. A referral you’d like to meet and network with is . . .
you guessed it . . . on vacation.
What do you do?
Might as well take a week off and go on vacation too. After all, it’s only a week!
Right?
Wrong?
Why? Because when it comes to vacation - 1 week = 3 !
In reality, when you take a one-week vacation, that week off – and away from your search – will actually cost you three! Yes, that's 3 - weeks away from your search. And, probably more! Why? Think about it. Recall vacations you've taken in the past:
1. First, there is the week before your vacation that you spend thinking about, planning, and getting ready to go on vacation.
2. Second, there is the actual week of your vacation - your time away.
3. Third, there is the week after your vacation which you spend trying to get back into the swing of hunting for a new job. This week becomes a mixture of recalling your vacation's highlights -- "Hmmmm. ..last Tuesday I was . . . " and trying to rev your search back up. Unless you set appointments for the week of your return, prior to your departure, you are back in the loop of trying to connect with your network and settings appointments for the following week or next. Anyway you look at it, a lot of time can be lost.
In addition to the time lost from your search, other phenomena can also occur that is detrimental to your search for a new job or role.
1. You get out of the habits of productive job search. You put into place habits to organize your business day and it's been a struggle to: get up at 6:00 am., be at your desk at 8:30, identify your 2 -3 networking calls the night before so that you have 3 network contacts ready to contact each day, etc. But you’ve done it!. However, take time away from these productivity habits, and you find they’re easy to lose and hard to regain.
2. You begin to fall off "their" radar screen! How? You haven’t been in contact with "them" - your network. When they don’t hear from you, every 3 or 4 weeks, they assume the obvious: “You’ve landed your dream job," and they don’t need to worry about you any longer - at least in the context of assisting your search.
3. And, the big, big co$t – your pipeline dries up. Minus your daily networking activity, new leads to both jobs and people dry up. Upon your return to your job of finding a job, while not exactly starting over, you do have the “dry spell” of no or few appointments and interviews while you pump up the pipeline -- again.
So, to vacation or not to vacation? Think about the cost to your job search in taking that time away as you decide if time away is worth the cost.
For additional information on marketing yourself and your capabilities, please refer to the many articles found under the Articles tabs of the AJC–Career Strategy website.
____________________________________________________________________________
nancy@ajcglobal.com
www.ajcglobal.com
AJC
- for Your Career Path
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-c-gober/6/14b/965
