Looking for a job is both a time consuming and often frustrating exercise. From hours spent trawling online jobs boards, to time spent sending off CVs and completing application forms and then perhaps never even getting as much as an acknowledgement in response from the agency or employer. And the longer you look for a job, the harder it seems to get.

Therefore it is can be easy and perhaps understandable to get demotivated and disheartened when your job search is seemingly never getting you anywhere. One of the best things though that you can do in order to stay focused and which can make all the difference is to organise your Job Search.

So, here are our Basic Top Tips to doing just that….

Plan and Prepare

Firstly, make sure that you have your CV and Cover Letters ready. Remember though that these are basic templates since it is always best to adapt and tailor these for each specific job application. Decide where you are going to look for jobs, from which specific jobs boards, recruitment agencies, through to which newspapers on which days etc. Also if you are looking for a job in a particular industry, decide which specialist recruiters, niche job sites are you going to look at. Also identify if there are any networking events that you should attend and when and where they are happening.

Manage Your Time

It is neither practical nor is it productive to spend every single hour searching for a job. It may be much more worthwhile to dedicate 2-3 hours every morning to actively looking and applying as opposed to sitting all day long, getting more and more frustrated. Decide what time works best for you and then stick to it. The more you create a timetable and therefore a structure for yourself, the more you will stay on track. Of course, this timetable will have to be flexible. After all, if you are called for interviews etc, your job searching that day time slot that day will have to move. Try and manage your time just as you would when you are working.

Register for Job Alerts

Registering for job alerts from specific job sites or from job search engines such as Adzuna, Indeed and JobRapido can help make your job searching
much more efficient. You will generally get email alerts as soon as jobs that you have expressed an interest in become available, either in certain market sectors or specific locations. Receiving these emails will help free up your time to undertake other types of jobs search or even better to complete your job applications.

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Set up Bookmarks or Favourites

Make sure that you store all the jobs boards, company sites and careers blogs etc in your Favourites section. This will obviously again save you time, but will also help keep you on track and organised.

Create a Tracker

When you are applying for lots of jobs, it is critical that you keep on keep a record or tracker of what they are.. How you do this is entirely up to you. Whether you create a spreadsheet, use a diary, a manual filing system or an online personal organiser, the key thing is to do it. Include all details of jobs you have applied for such as dates applications sent, which CV submitted, employer / agency contact details etc. Having a tracker like this will help you to accurately keep track of what you have been doing but will also help you plan and schedule things such as following up on applications etc.

We hope that some of these basic tips will help you put some structure back in your job search. We would love to hear though of what things have worked for you – everything from what types of tracking system you use through to how you manage your job search time. Feel free to let us know via the comments section below.

Need more help on how to Search and Apply for Jobs – you might want to check out TheEmployable ebook. 

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