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Career Center - Tips and Advice
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Five tips to stay focused on your job search
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The hottest jobs in tech right now
4 passive job search tips you didn't know about
How to charge your career through endorsements
The Digital Rules of Recruitment
6 stand-out new Mobile App features of 2014
The Verdict is In - Professional Networking is the Key to Better Jobs
The roller coaster ride of job search in emojis
Professional Networking: How to network like a pro
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How to create a personal website to showcase your skills [Infographic]
A beginner's guide to choosing the right career [Infographic]
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Why studying and part-time work go hand-in-hand
What Hong Kong graduates need to know about finding a job today
Career Advice: FinTech or Traditional Banking?
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Top 10 tips to power your job search in 2017
5-step guide to job hunting during the holidays
How to maximise your time on job sites
4 things to know before accepting a Startup Job
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How to apply for the same job twice
Match your skills to your next job
5 skills you need to land a tech startup job
5 reasons why no one will take you seriously at work
5 perfect jobs for book lovers
How to get a job in HK's booming tourism industry
Step-by-step guide to getting your dream job in 2018
5 exciting companies that are hiring in 2018
5 unusual jobs in Hong Kong
Tips to find a job in a tough market
These are the digital jobs of the future
How people with disabilities can master their job search
Got these skills? Hong Kong is looking for you!
4 job description red flags you should know
Five tips to stay focused on your job search
Share Now
Excerpt from Six Fundamentals to Building a Lifelong Career, an Amazon Kindle E-Book Exclusive
By Doug Hardy, Special to Monster
Monster's
Six Fundamentals to Building a Lifelong Career
ebook teaches the daily habits that all workers need to take command of their careers. In this excerpt, author Doug Hardy discusses one of those habits -- staying productive when you're looking for a job.
Each time you interrupt a focused work task, it takes many minutes to get back to the level of concentration and effectiveness you had before the interruption. You might consider yourself an excellent multitasker, but recent studies show that people misjudge how well they perform when dividing their attention among many tasks (and the people who believe they are most effective at multitasking are least productive, when tasks are measured impartially).
A
job search
demands a lot of different tasks, so how in the hyperlinked world are you going to keep focused? Again, the answer is good time management. For most of us, that means blocking out a space and time when you won’t be interrupted. It also helps to follow some basic habits that keep you from distracting yourself. Here are five:
1. Get Off the Grid for at Least an Hour a Day
That means closing your Web browser (or temporarily disabling it on the computer), not answering the phone (again, unplug it or power down your cell), and turn off distractions like TV or radio. While all the instant communication tools today are incredibly helpful in a job search, they can interrupt the thoughtful work you need to do. Give yourself some time to focus.
2. Check Email No More Than Three Times a Day
While all the instant communication tools today are incredibly helpful in a job search, they can interrupt the thoughtful work you need to do. Give yourself some time to focus. Email has a subtle built-in urgency because it arrives minute by minute. Most job and career emails require thoughtful consideration, and I have never known an employer who said, “I’ll only look at replies that arrive in the next three hours.”
3. Start a Small Activity-Switching Ritual
Stretch, take five slow breaths, snap a rubber band on your wrist, say aloud what activity you are finishing and what activity you are starting. This is purely an awareness-raising exercise, and it makes switching a conscious choice, not an unconscious reaction.
4. Track Your Activities
Keep a notepad handy and note the time and activity every time you switch. Share the list with your partner -- another consciousness-raising exercise.
5. Divide the Day into Uninterrupted Time and Free-for-All Time
If you think of a must-do activity during uninterrupted time, write it down and return to the note during free-for-all time.
These disciplines take effort but the result is gaining those hours of focused time. As with many jobs, the few hours of truly focused effort is where most of the work gets done.
(Doug Hardy was editor-in-chief of Monster.com. An expert on human capital topics and author of eight books, he was recently named No. 10 on HR Examiner's Top 25 Online Influencers in Talent Management.)
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