Let’s face it, looking for a job is a full-time job. You can’t just expect a perfect job opportunity to land on you while you are sipping ice tea from a beach resort. In fact, many job seekers choose to (and should) spend a full 35-40 hours each week on their job search. If you’re unemployed and need to get a new job immediately, you want to invest all of your time into job search to be more focused and productive. However, if you conduct your job hunt while being currently employed, it can be difficult to carve out time for effective job search.
Today, we are going to show you 3 valuable tips to make the most out of your job search!
Create a job-search schedule
Your first step is to plan the specific time that you’ll spend job-hunting and mark it on your calendar. Having a specific block of time set aside will help you concentrate while staying on schedule for your job search plan. Plus, this will help you plan all the other things that matter in your life — quality time with your family, working out, cooking, get-together with friends, and attending other events. If you don’t start planning things out, and only perform your job search when you “have time”, you can easily become frustrated and lose motivation.
If you feel most productive in the morning, set your alarm for an hour or two earlier than usual and commit to applying for jobs as you sip your coffee. If you prefer job search during some after-hour quite time, schedule a two-hour time period at night after your family went to sleep. You can schedule your job search for whichever time of the day or week, just make sure that you set it for when you are most focused and productive.
Job ready = having all your documents ready
Before you start hunting for the perfect position, you can save some valuable time by assembling all of your materials in one place beforehand. It’s indeed worthwhile to schedule a particular block of time on your calendar to prepare all your documents, at the beginning of your search. First, collect your personal information in a spreadsheet that you can easily reference when filling out online applications. Include previous job titles, durations, and responsibilities, as well as the contact information for your references, so you can save some time from digging through your phone’s contact list to find it.
You should also prepare several different versions of your resume and cover letter, depending on your career interest. Unless you’re extremely keen on applying for a very specific position, you will most likely look around for a variety of roles within a wider field. This way, when you spot a specific position that you want to pursue, you don’t need to start everything from scratch. You’ll be able to pick the most appropriate version of resume and cover letter, make minor adjustments to tailor it to the job posting, and submit—making the application process a breeze.
Special tips for employed job seekers
For job seekers who are currently employed, you’ll need to schedule your job search in the non-work hours and make the most use of them. Try get up earlier than usual, make good use of your lunch hour, or turn your “me time” every night into an effective job-search session.
Moreover, you need to be extremely cautious about conducting job-search activities during work hours or using the company equipment. Be careful about receiving phone calls during work hours from prospective employers. If you don’t want your current employer or coworkers to know that you are actively applying out, never direct job related calls to your office line. Many employers monitor their employees’ e-mail and Internet use, so be careful there as well. If during work hours is the only chance you get to conduct your search, don’t go overboard and keep in mind the consequences of getting caught in the act. Also, to balance between job-search time and current work hours, consider taking vacation or personal days to conduct your job search.
As the largest career college in Canada with 50 campuses across the country, Academy of Learning College attributes the growth in our success to identifying the gap between the formal education available and the realities of the working world. We fulfill the needs of learners by developing customized programs for each student, while meeting the requirements for convenient and effective training at an affordable cost.