How to: Organise your Job Search

Looking for a new job can be a full-time job in itself, so being organised and keeping on top of your schedule can be make or break when it comes to your job search. If you have been looking for a job for a while, you may not know how long you will be looking for a role. It could take weeks or even months to find the right thing for you. If you have been looking for a while without much structure or organisation it can become stressful. Spending time to ensure you are organised is just as important as applying to jobs as this will save you time in the long run. It will also help you think about the process you are taking and what is working and what is not working when going forward with your job hunt.

Keep a schedule and create it around your long-term goals. Look at where you want to end up in the future. Think about what steps you need to take. Apply for less but more relevant roles. When you are desperately trying to find a new role, it can become easy to apply for lots of roles, but this will be harder to keep track of and your applications will not be as good as they will if you spend time on each individual application.

Use Excel to document important information about your job search, for example; company name, contact details, applied date, deadlines/ interview date, follow up dates and the status of your application. These are great basics to keep track of your job hunt, to ensure you are being as productive as you can be. By spending time to get organised you will save time in the long run. It will also help you spot what is and isn’t working in your job hunt.

Most communication in your job hunt will come through your emails, because of this it is important to keep on top of your emails. The most simple way to do this is to create folders in your inbox to separate the different applications. Keeping your inbox clean is also a big way to ensure you are being as efficient as possible with replying to your emails, making it less of a daunting task.

Searching for a job and keeping organised can be demotivating so to keep on top of your job search you should set clear guidelines of what you are looking for. Applying to fewer but more relevant roles is the best way to be successful in your job search as it allows you more time to work on those applications you really want. To avoid applying to every role you come across think about things like; working patterns, location, industry and the actual role. Make clear guidelines of what you are looking for and things you would sacrifice for the right role. Then only apply for those roles that meet your criteria.