Career Blog: Job Buddy, faithful job search friend

Finding a job search buddy is one of my favorite recommendations to help job seekers stay motivated and make progress during their job search.  A job search buddy could be a friend, spouse, career counselor or perhaps a fellow job seeker you met at a networking event!

This wonderful person can be helpful to you in a range of different ways.  Here are 5 great things you and your job buddy can do for each other.

 

1. Friendly Accountability. A job buddy’s most important role is to be a source of friendly accountability.  You tell your goals to your job buddy at the beginning of the week and then report your progress at the end of the week.  Your job buddy’s role is not to scold you if don’t meet your goals, but to offer friendly encouragement when you do!

2. Moral Support. Another important role is that of moral support and motivation.  Sometimes that means encouraging a job seeker who’s frustrated in their job search job.  Other times it means being there to talk about anything but the job search.

3. Second Set of Eyes. It’s always a good idea when you make any kind of change or edit to your resume, cover letter or linkedin profile to have someone else read it over and check for typos, grammatical errors or awkward phrasing.  And your job buddy can also make sure that you’re addressing your cover letter to the right company, a mistake which occurs more often than you’d think.

4. Fresh Ideas. It’s not uncommon for a job seeker to hit a point where they feel like nothing they do makes any difference.  While that’s usually not true, a job buddy can be a great source of new ideas.  Trying a new angle in your job search can help get you unstuck.

5. Networking Buddy. Your job buddy, especially if it’s a fellow job seeker, also makes a perfect networking pal.  If you’re a little intimidated when attending a networking event, it can help to know that you always have a friendly face nearby.  You can be each other’s networking wingmen!