One of the hardest jobs can be searching for a job. It can take full-time hours and strain your resources. Being unemployed or looking for a new job can be extremely demoralizing and stressful.
However, there are several ways to make it easier.
With the right techniques, you may be able to shorten the time it takes you to find and land that new job. Here are some great job search hacks to help you get that job a little bit quicker.
Apply on the Company’s Site
Instead of applying through a job aggregator like Indeed, go right to the company’s site to apply. Most business pages will have a “careers” link that will show you all of the current job openings.
Keep Your Resume Updated
If you haven’t looked at your resume in a while, don’t just throw the same one out there. Take a look through it and see if there’s anything you can add. You may have more skills than the last time you updated it.
Make Sure You Fit
You may not have to fit every single one of the requirements, but you should fit most of them. If it’s a job you want but you don’t have the skills or qualifications to meet any of their requirements, it’s probably better to spend your time continuing to search for jobs.
Network
Sometimes, you can find out about new job openings by networking with others in the industry. There may be jobs that would be hard to find without this direct knowledge of them.
Use Keywords
These days, many companies use AI to sift through the resumes they get and weed out the ones that don’t match the requirements and job description at all. Make sure your resume uses some keywords that pertain to the industry and the job listing.
Have a Few Resumes
It can be helpful to have a few different versions of your resume that are tailored to slightly different positions. If you’re looking at several types of job openings, this can help you to apply for more of them in less time and with more precision.
Personalize the Cover Letter
The resume that you’ll submit is about you. When you write the cover letter, that’s about the company. It tells them what you have to offer to them and how they could benefit from hiring you. A new cover letter for each application is generally needed.
Be Ready to Sell Yourself
When you’re looking for jobs, it’s the worst time to be humble. When you see a job description, think about how you can sell yourself as the best person for it. This will help you to write the cover letter persuasively, and it may encourage you to add more to your resume.
Don’t Try to Apply in Person
The Boomer advice is often to show up in person to show them you’re serious about the job. However, this is annoying to the vast majority of businesses. They want to see resumes and cover letters- not job hopefuls making small talk.
Get on Job Email Lists
There are many sites, like Indeed and Glassdoor, that allow you to create a job search and get emailed every day with the latest ones. This can help you get to a new job listing quickly and to find more listings.
Hold GPA
Unless you have a 4.0 from college or another type of school, don’t list the GPA on your resume. It isn’t helpful to you to list a 2.5, even if you graduated. When in doubt, skip it.
Set a Number of Applications Per Day
There are always job listings out there for your position, and you will generally need to apply to a lot of them. It can be helpful to give yourself a daily target for how many you will apply for.
Use AI
You can help the process get done faster by using AI where you can to help you with all of the resumes and cover letters you need to create. A program like ChatGPT can help you create a cover letter, though you need to be sure to edit it and check it for accuracy.
Dig Into LinkedIn
LinkedIn may not have the cache of a social media site like X or TikTok, but it’s a great place to network. Make an effort to connect with people in your industry so you can find out about job openings and what certain companies are looking for.
Be Realistic
It does take a lot of work to search for and land a job, but there are only so many hours in the day. If you’re setting a goal of applying with personalized resumes to 50 openings a day, you’re setting yourself up to fail. Speed is important, but so is the quality of the jobs you find and the materials you send in.
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