On Getting Things Done and Being Good Enough

Lately I've been interning with the Career Services office at the master's program from which I just graduated. If you can put aside the laughable irony, it's been a pretty neat gig for someone looking for a full-time position. I sit through these sessions a year later, much more prepared to market myself and am reminded of the best lessons I was too scrambled to retain last year.

But let's be real here: the job search is a struggle. I've not met many people who really have fun finding a new job. I feel lucky to have been exposed to such wonderful services and people willing to help me along the way, but it still isn't easy.

After graduating from Meredith in 2010, I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing and where I was going. Plus things were still pretty rough in the job market. I felt like finding a job was a full-time job and I easily got exhausted and burnt out from all the work and, eventually, the rejections--or worse, the silence!

So when I eventually made it to Fuqua as a student, I stumbled into one of the greatest career search sessions that shook up things.

Steve Dalton, the current Program Director for Daytime MBA Career Services, showed up and convinced me that he gets it. From his work with other students struggling to do everything right and coming up short, he developed an easy to follow system that breaks down the biggest difficulties associated with finding a job: making a LAMP list.

LAMP is an acronym and the 4 steps of Dalton's system:

Step 1: List. List out companies you know of or come across where you're searching.
Step 2: Advocates/Alumni. Using LinkedIn, find people you know connected to your companies. The closer, the better.
Step 3: Motivation. How badly do you want to work for them?
Step 4: Position. Do they have any openings you could fill right now?

After Dalton's presentation, I bought his book The 2-Hour Job Search and read it over my winter break. Dalton takes all the uncertainty out of the job search and reminds you, it's just about getting things done and being good enough. When the recruiters and employers know you're there, it makes things easier on them. Their time is valuable so the less work they need to put into finding someone to join their team, the faster they can move on to other things.

Now that I'm working on my own LAMP list, I feel it's a whole lot easier to stay focused and to settle all the doubts.

Full disclosure: No one paid me for this post. I genuinely believe in and recommend Dalton's ideas and book. Need proof?

Finally excited to get back on the job search path thanks to @Dalton_Steve and his #2HJS! Thanks so much!
— Samantha Cibelli (@samanthacibelli) August 13, 2013