Happy Monday! Today might be particularly rough given yesterday’s national drinking holiday (Irish car bombs anybody?), so it makes sense that if you’re looking for a job, today might be lacking a little motivation. Because I am addicted to lists (just check out previous posts here), today’s list is ten things you can do that will take less than hour.
1. Prioritize your time.
Looking for a new job is a job in and of itself. If you’re already employed, in school full time, raising a family, or any combination of the three, it can be very difficult to find the time to do what’s necessary to land a new gig. The good news is that everybody has at least an hour a day to devote to these tasks – if you structure your day right.
2. Review and update your resume.
5 or 10 minutes should suffice. Look over the resume to make sure that it looks clean, has no mistakes and, most importantly, matches the type of job you’re searching for. Job searches and careers evolve – your resume has to as well.
3. Call your mom. Or brother. Or cousin. Or best friend from high school.
The idea is to reach out to people you haven’t talked to in a while. Not to ask them for a job, but to re-establish connections and lay the groundwork for recommendations that will pay off in the long run. Sending out blind resumes works, but having connections and getting introductions is many times more productive and rewarded. Plus, your mom will be happy that you called.
4. Send thank you emails.
Send thank you notes for everything – job interviews, casual conversations, recommendations, chance meetings on the street. Each email should take about a minute and puts you in front of that person, however briefly.
5. Fire up Twitter.
Finding a job in 2013 is a social activity. Twitter is swimming with recruiters, career experts (including @ResumeExpress), college career centers and fellow professionals just waiting to be networked with. Check out Susan Joyce’s comprehensive Twitter list for a great place to start.
6. Contact your college’s career center.
If you’ve attended college, chances are that you are eligible to use their career center at little or no cost. Career centers offer wonderful networking opportunities, career advice and hidden jobs that might not be visible elsewhere.
7. Follow up with leads from two weeks ago.
There’s a fine line between following up and being a nag. There’s no hard and fast rule for waiting to follow up with interviewers or other referral sources, but I have always found success with sending quick notes on the second Monday after last contact. It’s soon enough that you’re still current and enough time has passed that you don’t seem to be a creepy stalker.
8. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date.
I’m assuming you have a LinkedIn profile already (because if you don’t, I know I wouldn’t want to hire you and the same goes for many of my recruiter sources), so take a few minutes to curate your profile and make sure that the information is up to date and matches what is on your resume.
9. Read at least two article related to your search.
Pretty self explanatory – there are a lot of resources out there on the web. I’m betting that you’ll read many more than this – especially once you harness LinkedIn and Twitter to their fullest abilities.
10. Make a list of 10 things to do tomorrow.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
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