Your Job Search Team

Start building a job search team of people you can count on for help. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg all have teams and/or boards for support and guidance. (Even Jesus had 12 guys helping him out.)

By Kevin Donlin, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing

Last update: May 22, 2006 - 9:49 AM

If you're looking for a job, think like a goose. Experiments have shown that geese flying in a V formation can travel about 70 percent farther than birds flying solo. Geese function more efficiently together than they do all by themselves.

Are you looking for a job all by yourself?

If so, know this: There's a limit to how much you can accomplish alone. But there's no limit to how much you can do as part of a team.

Think about it. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg -- they all have management teams and/or boards of directors for support and guidance. (Even Jesus had 12 guys helping him out.)

So, if you don't have a job search team of people you can count on for help, start building one today. Here are the people you'll need on your team ...

Job Search Partner Like losing weight or quitting smoking, finding a job can go faster and more smoothly if you do it with a partner. So find yourself someone to bounce ideas off of and be accountable to.

A good job search partner can do the following: * Review your resume and cover letters, to give you honest input. * Check in with you at least once a week to see how you're doing and provide encouragement. * Share job-search success stories from their own life or from people they know. Because you can't know it all.

Bill Gates has Steve Ballmer. Warren Buffett has Charlie Munger. You need a right-hand man or woman, too, to help you get more done in your job search.

Financial Advisor If you're between jobs and your income has taken a hit, don't panic. But do take steps to marshal your money, because financial worries can sabotage any job search.

That's why you need a financial advisor -- your accountant, spouse, older brother, whoever -- on your job search team.

Create a financial roadmap early in your search. The time to revise your budget is BEFORE money problems happen, not after.

Then, share your money plans with family members, especially if you're married (even more so if you want to stay married).

Determine how long your savings will support you without a job. This will tell you how many months you can hold out for an ideal position, and when you should seek a less desirable job to pay the bills.

Health Advisor Your brain is carried around by your body. If your body goes to pot, your brain will follow. And your job search will drag on for months as a result.

At the start of any job search, select one person to keep in contact with about your health. Write down your weight, resting heart rate and other key measurements, so you have a baseline to check on every few weeks -- this will tell you if you're putting on or losing weight, for example, and help you spot potential problems before they get out of hand.

No job is worth sacrificing your health for, so pay special attention to your body!

Spiritual Advisor Finally, be sure to find a spiritual advisor you can confide in to get your mind off of employment and onto matters of a higher order. Pastor, rabbi, shaman, spouse -- find someone who's not a bartender that you can pour your heart out to, if needed.

Because, you are not your job. You are a person first. And all people have spiritual needs, in addition to physical and financial ones. If your spiritual batteries run down, the rest of you will, too.

A good job-search support team will see things you don't, like a golf coach watching your swing. They'll be there with advice and encouragement -- and help you get hired faster.

Once you have that job, be sure to repay your team by treating them to dinner at the restaurant of their choice. Then, look for someone in need of a job whom you can be a team member for -- what goes around comes around.

Now, go out and make your own luck!

Kevin Donlin is President of Guaranteed Resumes. Since 1996, he and his team have provided resumes, cover letters and job search help to clients in all 50 states. Author of "51 Ways to Find a Job Fast -- Guaranteed," Kevin has been interviewed by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio and many others. As a reader of this publication, you can get a Free Job Search Kit ($25.00 value) at the Guaranteed Resumes Web site - www.gresumes.com.

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