Sometimes, job searching can stretch for long periods of time. For any person having to pay bills, even a month can be too long to wait. Besides this being a difficult time financially, there is also a lot of guesswork involved. Figuring out how to land a job can be even harder than an interview for some people. This is where your job search strategy needs to be on point. Did you know you should have a plan before even starting to apply to jobs? If your job search is taking to long, we have some steps you can take to create a plan and speed things up.
Narrow Down Your Search
Key words are the most important part of your job search strategy. After all, using the right words is half the battle of finding the right job. Say you want to get a job as an assistant. If you type in that word, your results may take days to get through. Or if you look via a hiring platform, you may get secretary openings. Depending on your skill level, that may not be what you want either. In order to narrow down your search, try adding specific tasks or positions. For example: Fashion Assistant. This keyword is more direct and weeds out most secretary postings.
Job Qualifications
The next thing to consider as part of your job search strategy is your job qualifications. What you have done, and where you have worked does not need to dictate what you do next. Instead, you should examine the skills you have developed from these jobs and compare them to what you want. Sometimes this does not align; you may lack the skills needed for a certain job or not have a required certification. When this happens, you may want to consider a career change and start applying for entry level jobs, find volunteer work, or even intern positions to help get you the skills needed for that ‘dream job’. Examining your résumé for key skills and certifications are great ways to help you land a job.
Look At Your Resume
Once you have narrowed down your search, and examined your job qualifications, its time to look at your resumes format and keywords. Applicant tracking Systems (ATS) will automatically scan your resume for the right verbiage: if it isn’t there, it will toss your résumé out. As such, having relevant job experience and skills are a great start to getting the job you want. However, if your job search is not yielding any results, then its time to look over the way your experience and skill set are being presented. Often times, people use templates that make their resume look entry level. Other times, job seekers simply don't include enough info on a resume to set off algorithms from the ATS. Both of these mistakes can be terrible for visibility. If all else fails, you can always hire a resume writer or career coach.
Follow Up
Lastly, as part of your job search strategy you will want to follow up on any leads.
This can be as simple as calling prospective employer, or sending a follow up email. A follow up is a simple way to get your name into the head of your prospective employer. Doing this can make a big difference in whether or not you get an interview, which increases your chances of landing a job.
The hardest part of getting a job is finding the right one. If your job search is taking too long, there a few things you can do to help speed up the process. Regardless of where you are at in your work experience, you can land a job. All you need to do is build up you job search strategy.