GTD and Job Search 2024 - Overkill

 I am a huge fan of David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. The process has been widely diagrammed, so I will spare the time and jump straight to the point.

For the 2024 Job Search the GTD process is heavy handed.

My Tips:

Treat your inbox like your physical mailbox.

Once a day go get your mail. 

Make a single decision: Is this job alert email actionable? 

If NO - Put it in the trash immediately. Don't put it on the counter (in a folder) to check later. The second touch is a waste of time. 

If YES - Apply for the role immediately (unless you are using time-blocking to schedule your applications). 

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You may find the trash bin catching many of the inbound messages.  

Do you have a quick criterion of the roles that would be good targets? Are you considering: Company, Work Location, Role, Career Level, Pay and other requirements? If the email message doesn’t fit when you do the first review, it will not change when you review it again later.

My recent "trash" examples include roles for programming or development (not my skill set), on-site roles in distant places (Austin is great, WFH is better), roles for government or educational entities (pay is too low).  

Are you throwing away nearly every email message?

·     Review your Alerts to make sure you are getting quality input.

·      Add new Alerts to expand your options.

·      Review your criteria to make sure you are not searching for a Unicorn (perfect job, perfect location, perfect pay, perfect everything). 

Good Luck on your search. 

~Xolo