How to Find a Job for Summer

How’s the job search going? If it’s stalled out a bit, you’re in luck – it’s summertime! Which, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that you can stop looking.

But it does mean that you can take a cue from the changing seasons and change something up in your job search process.

Let’s start with the schedule. Why not bump your start time an hour or two for the summer, and take advantage of those cool, sunlit mornings? You can use these hours for exercise, or you can jump directly into job search. If you lay out your tasks the night before, you won’t have to wonder where to begin when you get up.

How about the setting? Are you doing everything from the same spot in your house? Maybe you can bring some work out onto the patio or porch to get a change of scenery. Or pack up for a coffeehouse to provide a sense of destination each day.

What about your networking? Now’s the time to call work acquaintances and offer to meet them for a lunchtime walk or sandwich in the park. You’ll still be fighting to get on their busy schedules, but appealing to their need for a break might buy you a slot on their calendars.

How about you? Are you a happy camper? That’s a tricky question to ask a job seeker, and even trickier to answer. Presumably, you’d be happy if you got interviews, and ecstatic if you got an offer. But while you’re waiting for those things to happen (and working toward them, of course), you still have to get through each day.

Here’s what I’ve noticed as a career counselor: The people who keep their spirits up do better in every aspect of the search. They make better decisions, meet more people, get better interviews…good luck seems to follow the happy person. That’s ironic, considering it’s the unhappy souls who really need the break.

There’s a lesson in here somewhere about making your own luck by managing your attitude. I’ll leave that to the motivational gurus and keep my focus on a simple fact: It’s summer! Do something fun every day, whether you’ve "earned" it or not. Go to a free event at the library, walk through the zoo, take a kid for an ice cream cone…just enjoy your day, every day and see if that doesn’t somehow help your job search too.