5 Job Hunting Secrets

How To MASTER Your Job Search

Are you looking for job search strategies that will accelerate your job search? Have you submitted your resume and cover letter countless times only to hear nothing back? If this sounds like you, keep reading because in this article, you’ll learn 5 job search strategies that will help you accelerate your job search.

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Before we jump into our top 5 job search strategies, remember that the key to a successful job search is in your professional network. If you want to improve the quality of opportunities available to you in your job search, it’s all about who you know.

In fact, research tell us that 80% of open positions are filled by referrals. So let’s jump into my top 5 job search strategies.

Tip number 1: Network with others in your industry.

First, pinpoint positions you would like to apply for or companies you’d like to work with. Then, do some research to find out if you know someone that works for the company or if you know someone that knows someone that works for the company.

Reach out to them, letting them know of your interest in the position of the company that you want to work for, and ask them if they would be okay putting you in touch with the hiring manager or human resource personnel.

Now, if you’re initiating a connection with someone you don’t know and have never met before, you want to do a customized note when you contact that person.

Your note could say something like this: Hi Sally, I recently received your email address from Mike. He tells me that you are the Senior Account Representative for Corporation XYZ. I admire your company’s vision and mission. I’m currently in the job market and would love the opportunity for us to connect. And then sign with your name. This is the first step to building a new relationship.

Tip number 2: Get your career documents ready.

Make sure your resume, your cover letter, and your Freerecruit profile are all ready to go.

You want to be able to quickly customize each item if needed and send it quickly when a position comes up. The last thing you want to be doing is updating your resume and Freerecruit profile at the eleventh hour.

This leaves room for mistakes such as spelling errors or grammatical errors. You want to leave yourself enough time to update your career documents and not rush the process.

Don’t forget to set up job alerts. This is very important! When a new job vacancy is advertised, we will send you a notification matching your criteria. This will ensure you are one of the first to apply for the job vacancy.

Tip number 3: Develop your 30-second elevator pitch.

Your elevator pitch is an essential resource in your job search. This is the quickest way to let others know of your accomplishments and your qualifications. This is also a great way to let others know what kind of problems you can solve.

Having a 30-second elevator pitch ready will give you more confidence when networking with others about job opportunities. The key to a great elevator pitch is to make sure it aligns perfectly with your resume, your Freerecruit profile, and your cover letter.

Think of it as your career story. Now here’s the cool thing: If you don’t have 30-second pitch, we created an article all about how to create the perfect pitch.

Tip number 4 – Conduct Informational interviews

This is by far our most favorite tips of all the tips we’ve shared with you today because it’s the one that has worked the best for us.

Informational interviews are one of the fastest ways to develop new relationships and find meaningful work. An informational interview is an interview you initiate based on a position you’d like to have in the future or industry you’d like to work in.

Target 2 to 3 people that are doing what you want to do. Reach out to those people and ask them if they’d be interested in an informational interview. Now, believe it or not, most people really enjoy talking about themselves, so don’t let this step intimidate you.

You can ask them questions like, what do you like most about your position? How did you get to where you are now? And what advice do you give me or someone just starting out that wants to move into that position in the future?

Tip number 5 – Follow up.

You want to keep track of all the connections you’ve made and the positions you’ve applied for and follow up. This is one of the best ways to fast-track your job search. We are all inundated with emails, phone calls, and text messages, so it’s really easy to forget about a conversation we had last week.

To keep yourself at the forefront of someone’s mind, follow up within a week or even two weeks. And then don’t let that be your last form of contact. You want to keep following up after that. And don’t just follow up to find out how that person can help you; make your follow-up a meaningful conversation.

Maybe the person mentioned a birthday they had or something they were doing with a family member. You can bring those types of things back into the conversation. Think of this as establishing your network and building those relationships.

Now this does take a little bit of time, so you need to be patient and let it follow a natural flow. To really speed up your job search process and to get it right when it comes to your resume, remember to register your online resume. Make your cv stand out from the crowd and include an awesome cover letter.