Job Search Game Plan
Open just this to run your whole search — week after week.
You're the Executive of your search.
Think like the founder of a one-person company. You don't do every job yourself in a single day — you decide which jobs get done this week, put on the right hat for each, schedule them, and keep the operation moving. This page is how you run the business.
The Three Plays
Your three strategies for finding opportunities. Full protocols and scripts live in your strategy guides — this is your quick refresher.
Fishing
Hunting
Farming
Choose Your Roles & Goals
Each week, the Executive decides which hats to wear and sets one clear goal per role. It's a menu, not a mandate — staff three or four, not all seven.
| This week? | Role | This week's goal | Target how much / by when |
|---|
Run Your Week
Block your roles into real time. Put the hardest reps where your energy is best, and anchor each day with a quick tracker check.
Track Your Status
Your tracker is a separate Google Sheet — one simple list, one tab per Plan. It remembers the pipeline so you don't have to. Open it daily.
| Strategy | Company | Role / Target | Contact | Status | Follow-Up By |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunting | Patagonia | Program Coordinator | Maria Chen | Following Up | overdue |
| Fishing | REI Co-op | Programs Specialist | — | Applied | Fri |
| Farming | Conservation Alliance | (visibility) | Dana Lewis | Nurture | +3 wks |
This is just a sample. Your live sheet has the full columns (Strategy · Company · Role · Link · Contact · Status · Last Touch · Follow-Up By · Notes). Make it yours — if your brain wants a "Next Action" or "Advocate / Referral" column, add it. The base stays lean.
Your Action Scorecard
This is the scoreboard that actually moves the needle. It doesn't measure interviews or offers — those you can't control. It measures whether you did the work. Score the actions, and the outcomes follow.
| Role | This week's goal | Target | Done? |
|---|
Keep Your Momentum
On an off week or a low-motivation week, you don't need a perfect week — you need to not stop. Pick one role and do its smallest version: one application, one message, one follow-up. A body in motion stays in motion. Inertia is heaviest right before you move, so the win that matters most is simply not letting the streak hit zero.
Get Back on Track
No search runs clean for six months. The system isn't "never miss" — it's "always restart." Here's the weekly ritual, and the ramp back on.
- Update the tracker — log this week's activity and statuses.
- Fill in the scorecard above — did each role hit its goal?
- Clear every overdue (orange) follow-up.
- Choose next week's roles and set each one's goal.
- Block next week — protect the search time first.
The Restart Ramp — beat the inertia
No search runs clean for months. Fell off for a week? Two? That's inertia, not failure — and inertia is always heaviest right before you move again. You don't "catch up." You just take one small action to break the stall. One role, one small goal, and you're back in motion. The streak restarts at one — and one is enough to be moving again.