Planning a strategy for job hunting

Planning a strategy when you are searching for work is essential and if you are serious in your commitment to finding work then you should plan on spending around 30 hours a week looking for work. It is worthwhile exploring all the avenues you can in your search and pay more attention to methods which give the best and quickest results in the shortest time possible.

Options you should consider when looking for work are the internet, employment agencies, newspapers, contacting employers directly, unemployment offices and job centres. You should use as many different options as you can in your search because this will give you a much wider scope, some tips to help you get the most out of your hunt are:

* Persistency – if you keep attending interviews and aren’t successful then keep trying and don’t give up, be persistent in your search and keep applying for jobs and attending interviews, you will eventually succeed.

* Apply to both big and small companies – remember that while the larger companies might be better known and well established the newer smaller companies are still growing so you should check with the smaller ones too and not forget about them.

* Research companies – before you attend interviews you should do a little research into the particular company you are attending the interview for, find out what achievements they have gained in the past and what their hopes are for the future and make sure you let the interviewer knows you have done your homework during the interview.

* Get into a schedule – while you are looking for work treat it just as you would a job, set out certain times when you will search for work online, looking through papers and visiting the job centre. Keep a written account of the jobs you have applied for and when and who you contacted.

* Let people know you are looking for work – the more people who know you are looking for work the better, a lot of interviews are acquired by word of mouth and if people don’t know your interested then you might miss an opportunity.

* Send out thank you notes – if you have attended an interview then wait a couple of days and send out a thank you note for attending the interview, this will show the company or interviewer that you are polite and thoughtful and it will also keep you in their minds.

* Enlist support from family and friends – job hunting can be a particularly stressful time so if you can, get plenty of support from family and friends, they can also help with proof reading your resume and help in searching through adverts for positions if there are many on a daily basis.

* Contact potential employers yourself – some employers don’t advertise positions but instead only advertise them internally, it is worth going to companies and asking specifically if they have openings.