A trap that job seekers often fall into is spending too much time and effort looking for jobs. That may sound counterintuitive, but it’s absolutely true. As with all things that you do, you want your job search to be as efficient as possible, so that you can spend less time and effort looking for opportunities and more time and effort connecting with potential employers. Use the following tips to help you get more out of the job search process.
Schedule It Like a Job
When you are out of work, it is tempting to look for jobs around the clock. Typically, however, the extra time you put in early in the morning or late at night is just wasted effort. Your time is better spent looking for jobs in a focused way during a set schedule. Treat it like a job and pick your “on” and “off” hours.
Organize Your Time
The more systematic you can make the job search process the better. Determine in advance how much time you will spend on each type of activity – looking for jobs, networking, working on cover letters etc – and be sure to get your priorities in line. If a company has shown interest, they should be your first priority. Similarly, actually talking to people – either in person or over the phone – should trump anything you do online.
Keep Your Space Clean
Even in the digital age, a job search tends to produce a lot of clutter. Commit to keeping whatever space you work in as clean and organized as possible. Regularly throw out documents you don’t need, keep the documents you do need neatly filed and accessible, and try to digitize as much as possible. You would be surprised how much time you waste just trying to find the right resources.
Use Apps
The old saying tells us to work smarter, not harder. There are a number of apps and other online-based tools that you can use to help make your job search more efficient. Set up Google alerts to automatically send you information about companies that interest you. Use one of the countless tools available to save links, web page text, or images for quick future reference. Be sure to use LinkedIn to your advantage. There are a lot of elements to your job search that you can essentially automate to save time.
All of the strategies mentioned above can help, but the single most effective way to add efficiency to your job search is to take on a partner. When you have the resources of a specialized staffing firm at your disposal, you can find better jobs faster and improve your chances of securing an interview. If you’re ready to conduct a smarter kind of job search, contact RennerBrown.