Searching for a new job is often considered a full-time job and can become overwhelming.
While there is a variety of factors that influences the length of your job hunt, the one factor you can control is how you go about your job search process.
For those who have been job searching for one day or one month, here is a guide towards helping you build a successful job search plan to land the job of your dreams.
1) Reflection
Before applying for a job, take some time to consider what kind of job or company you want.
For instance, do you want to be a part of a company that has a social responsibility aspect or an organization that provides a work-life balance?
Making a list of what you want and don’t want in a company can help you find a job that aligns with your lifestyle and values.
The reflection stage should also include a review of your career so far, focusing on identifying your top skills and strengths.
A great way to complete this step is by creating various lists of companies you might want to work at, your experience, and what you are looking for in a business.
2) Building a Schedule
Before starting any other phase of the job search strategy, begin by creating a schedule. It’s easy for one to find themselves overwhelmed by all the steps of a successful job search, in addition to their personal life.
The schedule could be setting aside three hours a day working on a cover letter or resume. If possible, try to choose a timeframe that you can be consistent with and is when you are the most productive.
3) Research
Now comes the time when you use all the information you gathered from the first step and apply it towards finding your dream job.
In your research, Indeed recommends researching a company’s
- Benefits Package
- Current Leadership
- Company values
- News mentions
4) Writing your Resume and Cover-Letter
As a seasoned professional, you will already have a strong resume, but you must be strategic to make your resume and/or your cover letter stand out.
With companies using artificial intelligence to select candidates, you must make sure you include keywords from the job description in both the resume and the cover letter. To learn more about resume writing, check out this blog post.
5) Stay Organized
Now that you have written the resume and submitted the application, great! But as you hit submit for multiple companies, be aware that it is easy to lose track of where you applied.
Therefore, you should create another list including the company’s name, job title, date application was sent, and a contact name for future reference.
It’s important that you don’t want to find yourself talking to a recruiter and forgetting where or what you applied for.
6) Network
A critical aspect of finding a job is networking. Be vocal about your desire to find a new job. This includes talking about your job search with friends, family, and LinkedIn. Even stating that you are “Open to Work” on your LinkedIn profile, might have recruiters reaching out to you about possible opportunities.
Also, connect with previous colleagues and see if they are or know someone who is hiring. According to CNBC, “80% of jobs are filled through networking.”
Networking will also allow you to practice talking about your skills and experience, which you will need to do in your interview.
7) Interview
When you get to the interview stage of your job search, it becomes another separate process you will have to undertake. This includes company research and mock interviewing. For more info on the interview process, check out our articles “How to Ace your Online Interview” and “How to Answer Five Tough Interview Questions.”
Additionally, make sure to follow up once you are done with the interview.
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If you get offered the job after the interview, congratulations, you have completed your job search. However, you might have to adjust the steps and send out more applications for those who didn’t.
In conclusion, remember that everyone’s job search strategy is unique and while this is not the only way to find a job, we recommend this guide to help you land a position that is aligned with your goals and expertise.
To help you with your job hunt, we have created this checklist below which outlines the steps to have along throughout the process Job Search Strategy Checklist.