Job Search Progress Chart: Definitions of Categories

TOTAL HOURS in job search this week
The total number of hours you spent in job hunting in the last seven days, including research, educating
yourself on effective job hunting, talking to people, applying to posted jobs, administration, e-mailing, and
everything else you did in your search, whether or not you regarded those activities as productive or successful.

EMPLOYER CONTACTS

JOB POSTINGS - # you responded to
The total number of individual job postings that you responded to, regardless of where they appeared.
DIRECT EMPLOYER CONTACT – initial
The total number of employers you contacted without an introduction or posting, either by phone (cold calling)
or by e-mail/snail mail (direct mail). This category includes only the first contact with each. Voicemails,
e-mails and letters with no response are all counted. Completed job applications count as contacts here.
Making an initial contact with a staffing or search firm is counted here, since they are an outsourced part of
the employer’s staffing function. If you actually had a conversation with someone, count it in JOB SEARCH
CONVERSATIONS, below.

DIRECT EMPLOYER CONTACT – follow-up
The total number of employers you attempted to follow-up with by phone or in writing, after an initial cold
call or direct mail contact. This includes only second and successive contacts. Voicemails, e-mails and letters
with no response are all counted. If you actually had a conversation with someone, count it in JOB SEARCH
CONVERSATIONS, below. Please note: this is follow-up with Decision Makers that you have NOT spoken with.

JOB SEARCH CONVERSATIONS

GEN’L NETWORK- job search conversations with anyone not at a targeted organization
The total number of job-search related conversations you had with anyone who is not currently employed in
one of your target organizations. Successive conversations with the same person are all counted here, as are
two-way conversations with staffing or search firms.

TARGET MISC.- conversations with misc. insiders
Conversations with anyone inside a targeted organization who is not a peer or Decision Maker.

TARGET PEER- conversations with insiders at your level
Conversations with anyone inside a targeted organization who is more or less at your level.

DECISION MAKER (& above)- initial contact only
Conversations of any length – in person or on the phone — with a person who could be your next boss, or
with that person’s boss or anyone above them. Count only the first conversation with that person in this
category. Count all successive contacts in the follow-up category, so that this number is the number of different
Decision Makers you’ve talked to. An e-mail exchange in which each party sends three or more e-mails is
counted as one conversation.

DECISION MAKER (& above)- follow-up contacts
This is where you count all successive contacts with Decision Makers contacted above. Research shows that
job hunters who re-contact each and every Decision Maker every two to four weeks find jobs more quickly
than those who do not do this. These follow-up contacts do not need to be conversations. While conversations
are much better if you can politely get them, these can also be contacts with no response, just like
Direct Employer follow-ups.

JOB INTERVIEWS

# of Decision Maker conversations that were job interviews
This is a sub-category of Decision Maker contacts, so any actual job interview – no matter how you got it —
is counted in both categories. Initial post-interview follow-up is usually in writing and should be carefully
thought out. If you are not selected, continue to do Decision Maker follow-up as above. You were a finalist.
They liked you. Let them off the hook for not selecting you. Do not put them on the defensive. Continue to
tell them how you would still like to work there, should another opportunity arise. This is just as important
as other follow-up.