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CARLSBAD, CA – As the economy improves, job hunters who don’t jump back into the market with both feet soon will need much longer to find new employment, reports CareerCast.com. In fact, habitual procrastinators can derail their job-hunting efforts by putting off until tomorrow what they should be doing today.

“Smart job seekers know to strike while the iron is heating up,” says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. “But if their to-do lists keep getting longer and they delay in writing a cover letter or making a follow up call, the opportunity will be gone.”

The most prevalent type of job-seeker procrastination is caused by a fear of failure. Procrastinators avoid important job hunting and networking efforts by busying themselves with routine tasks. They may have trouble concentrating, voice all kinds of excuses or complain about obstacles that stand in the way. Procrastinators often tend to overestimate the difficulties involved while underestimating their own abilities to resolve them. As a result, they vacillate, delay or give only a half-hearted effort to finding a new job.

Perfectionism is also a cause of procrastination. Many perfectionists put off tasks because they fear failure, but in contrast to other job hunters, they tend to set exceedingly high standards and overambitious goals. Perfectionists can also have trouble setting priorities and determining which tasks require minimum or maximum effort.

There are a number of ways to overcome procrastination, according to CareerCast.com, including:

Delay gratification - Do the objectionable tasks during the first two hours each day, then accomplish the easier tasks in the remaining time.

Identify action steps - Identify specific actions, then organize the tasks and establish an action plan. For example, research job openings, potential employers, and people in your industry, then compose emails and cover letters to them.

Just do something - If you're having trouble getting started, make an opening move of any kind—update your LinkedIn profile and request new contacts; create alerts on job boards; or subscribe to an online industry publication.

Create small victories - Finding a job can take many months. If you start to get discouraged, motivate yourself by creating mileposts along the way, and then reward yourself each time you reach one.

The Swiss-cheese method - When faced with the overwhelming task of finding new employment, you don’t need to commit a big block of time all at once. Think of several easy tasks that can be done in 10 minutes or less.

“Once you learn how to overcome procrastination, you’ll find that you’ll make more progress in your job hunt and still have time for the things in life you enjoy,” says Mr. Lee. “Don’t let procrastination derail your good intentions.”

For more information on procrastination and how you can overcome it, visit http://www.careercast.com/career-news/how-beat-your-procrastination-problem

About CareerCast.com

CareerCast.com, created by Adicio, is a job search portal that offers extensive local, niche and national job listings from across North America, job-hunting, career-management and HR-focused editorial content, videos and blogs, and provides recruiters with the ability to post jobs directly to more than 800 niche career sites. CareerCast.com also compiles the Jobs Rated Report (www.jobsrated.com), where 200 jobs across North America are ranked based on detailed analysis of specific careers factors.

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Media Contact:
Beth Brody, Brody PR

609-397-3737

beth@brodypr.com