How to manage your job search over the holidays
Maddy Weiss | Unsplash
A gentle reminder that even when the job market is slow (or slowing down for the holidays) there are still things that you can do behind the scenes of your job search:
Get clear on what you want
If your search has been dragging on for a while and lost its focus, go back to the drawing board and reconnect with what it is that you want from your next role. The type of companies that you want to work for, the people that you enjoy working with, the role that you want to play.
Action: Sit down away from distractions – think about what you really want and where you want to put your energy next year
Get in the mood
Ten years ago, I radically changed my career with a simple tool. You can read about it here:
Action: Make a mood board for your career, dream a little, dream big
How to feel confident
Job hunting is a risky business. You risk putting yourself out there and being ignored, overlooked, knocked back and even rejected.
You need confidence to go to market. No surprise this is one of my most-read blogs:
Action: Write down 20 reasons why a company should hire YOU
Fix up your CV
Clear out the jargon, declutter the waffle, strip back the text-dense paragraphs and make it easy for a recruiter to read and follow.
How to write a CV that a recruiter will want to read
Action: Review and sharpen up your CV so that it represents you and positions your expertise
Make friends with LinkedIn
Easier said than done – I know!
Tidy up the experience section because that makes a very handy profile that you can share as a PDF.
Clean up your headline so your expertise is defined.
If you’re creative, switch to creator mode so that you can share images.
How to use LinkedIn for your career
Action: Get your LinkedIn profile into decent shape so that you can stop hiding!
Gamification
Gamification: the process of turning an activity or task into a game or something resembling a game.
Action: Give yourself goals, break them down into bite-sized pieces, experiment with the Pomodoro technique, co-working, and try to be more curious and strategic with your search.
Stay on track
Running out of leads in the middle of a job search is inevitable – it happens to everyone.
In the early days of your search, you felt motivated and excited about a fresh new start, but as time passes the last thing you need is additional pressure and stress.
The most frustrating part is that you know there are jobs out there!
You need a strategy and a tracker to help you focus, plus it will help you to maintain a professional distance when you’re having a bad day.
Action: Make yourself a job search tracker – prove that you mean business!
Give yourself a break
Job hunting is tough – putting yourself out there, researching, prepping, overthinking, second-guessing, and trying to understand what that recruiter's feedback really meant – it’s a lot to think about.
There's probably not a day when you don't question whether it's you, your CV, the market, recruiters, or something that you could have done differently.
Read my blog: Redundancy – behind the scenes
Action: Give yourself a break, take a pause, and then make a fresh start
BONUS
Everyone’s busy and too tired for coffees at the end of the year so send your seasonal wishes and read my blogs about networking:
Why networking is good for your career
How to network for your career
About me
I’m Tracy, Career Consultant, and Executive Headhunter, I help senior-level executives and C-level leaders land great jobs with 1:1 job search coaching. I work with clients around the world from my London-based Zoom office.
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