Audit Your Active Pipeline
For career changers managing a pipeline is particularly important because your search requires more touchpoints than a standard job search. Relationships and referrals matter more than cold applications which means keeping track of every conversation and following up consistently is what separates successful transitions from stalled ones.
For career changers managing a pipeline is particularly important because your search requires more touchpoints than a standard job search. Relationships and referrals matter more than cold applications which means keeping track of every conversation and following up consistently is what separates successful transitions from stalled ones.
Step by Step
Open your job search tracker and go through every application and conversation you have had over the past four weeks.
Categorize each one: Active: You have had at least one conversation with this company and there are clear next steps. Waiting: You have applied or followed up and are waiting to hear back. Stalled: You have not heard anything in 14 or more days and have already followed up once. Closed: You received a rejection or have decided this opportunity is no longer right for you.
For everything in the Active category write down the specific next step and the date by which it needs to happen.
For everything in the Waiting category check whether a follow-up is due. If it has been 7 or more days since your last contact add it to today's follow-up list.
For everything in the Stalled category send one final brief follow-up today. If you do not hear back within a week consider it closed and move on.
Tips For career changers the conversations you have built through networking and informational interviews are often more valuable than cold applications. Make sure those relationships are being followed up on consistently. Do not let promising conversations go cold because you got distracted by new applications. Active relationships are your most valuable asset in a career change search.