You may have run into a job possibility that looks ideal, and you have decided to put all your energies into landing it. Be careful, because a situation that looks as though it might jell in two weeks often might not materialize for a month or more, or never. Or if the opportunity does come through, it might be less satisfactory than you thought it would.
Pursuing one opportunity exclusively can be dangerously entrapping. If it doesn't work out, not only will you have wasted a lot of time, but you will also have lost the momentum of your campaign. Make a number of new contacts with possible employers every day. Even when the "ideal" job is about to be offered to you, you may run into something that is even better.
Because of the amount of work job hunting can entail, how effectively you're organized can make a lot of difference. You'll be working in a "foreign" environment. You might not have anyone to help you with the details (take phone messages, type letters, do your filing and record keeping). Low productivity in this area can greatly hamper your search.
Your routine will involve writing letters you hope will bring interviews, answering ads, doing research (on companies, industries, and individuals), phoning (for interviews, information, and following up), and interviews (for actual jobs, for information, and for referrals). Your principal needs are a place to work, a phone, someone to take phone messages. Find a base other than your home - maybe your former employer might let you use an office. Ask for it.
As a second choice, try to get office space from a friend - a professional or someone who runs a small business (all you really need is a desk and access to a phone). A less desirable alternative is a library.
Actually you'll need a library with good business services for research - and it's a quiet place to work. But if you have to use pay phones, make sure the operator won't interrupt - charge toll calls to your home number. Get an answering service or have a friend take phone messages for you.
Don't do your own typing - your time is far more valuable doing things that nobody can do for you. Find a good typist - you'll need that service - and the more you can do with form letters and dictating the better.
The old adage that you have to spend money to make money applies doubly to job hunting because each day's pay lost far exceeds the costs of services you may have to pay for. Outside sales people are experts at operating in this kind of environment - their tips on working habits, how to get in to see people, and developing effectiveness in interviewing can be helpful. Finally - and this is critical - establish a carefully disciplined work routine and stick to it - out of the house every day by eight o'clock and home by six. You have no one checking on you. You have no deadlines. Good sales people learn how to deal with this effectively.
In addition, in all your campaign activities apply the principle of overlapping. You have already learned that far too many jobs don't work out over a period of time.
