'Tis the season to be job searching

Abridged: St. Louis Today

ST. LOUIS, MO -- If you choose to keep searching for a new job during December, the following strategies can help you stay committed to the task. Manage your time. If you let it, time can swallow you up. That's why companies place so much emphasis on time management and productivity. But it's really not time that you need to manage, it's you and your ability to accomplish the task.

Schedules, deadlines and to-do lists can keep you focused in your job search. Every week, schedule a set amount of time for job search activities and holiday fun. For each activity, give yourself a scheduled start time and a completion deadline. Then, hold yourself accountable. During scheduled job searching time, don't be waylaid by easy distractions, such as spending too much time checking email, hanging out on social media sites like Facebook, browsing the internet, researching companies or chatting with friends under the pretense of networking.

Before engaging in any activity, ask yourself, 'Is this activity moving my job search forward?" If the answer is "no," drop it and move on. To be truly effective, it's important to limit or eliminate non-productive activities. Additionally, it's important that you keep job tools up-to-date. Read trade publications and magazines in your niche area of interest. Regularly refresh and review your online resumes and professional profiles, such as the one you have posted at CareerBuilder, Monster or Dice.com. Doing so will help your resume rise to the top in employer-initiated searches rather than staying buried in cyberspace.