Picture the scene; you’ve reworked your CV to within an inch of its life, nailed your cover letter and been applying for jobs left, right and centre… but unfortunately nothing’s happening. You’re not really hearing back from many companies – and the scarce few who have replied are hardly forthcoming with any information regarding why they don’t want to take your application further.
At a time like this, it’s easy to doubt yourself and feel like you’ll never get a new job – but in reality that’s probably not the case and in fact all you really need to do is to take a step back and reevaluate your strategy. You never know, you could end up changing your fortunes just by making a few simple tweaks to your job search strategy.
1. Reevaluate Your Job Sources:
When it comes to trying to find a new job, there are literally hundreds of places that relevant jobs could be hiding – and it’s pretty likely that you’re only looking at a few. If you’re struggling to find the right job, it might be worth having a think about which job boards and platforms you’re using and seeing if there are any more that might be relevant.
Remember, while generalist boards eg. Total Jobs are great for quite common vacancies, it’s niche boards that tend to have the more specialist vacancies for each sector – so it’s definitely worth doing a bit of digging to see which job boards and platforms have the most relevant vacancies in your sector right now – and signing up for any which look interesting.
2. Refresh Job Alerts:
We’ve said it before and I’m sure we’ll say it again before too long but setting up job alerts on job boards is one of the most effective ways of staying on top of new vacancies – but sometimes there comes a point when the job alerts you’ve set up just don’t seem to be working so it’s definitely worth having another look at them.
If you’ve set up job alerts for keywords eg. ‘PPC, it’s worth doing a bit of research to see how common this phrase actually is in the jobs you’re looking for – for example, with PPC jobs, a lot of companies might choose the job title ‘Paid Search Manager’ instead – so it’s definitely a good idea to set up job alerts for all variations of the phrase.
Similarly, a lot of jobs don’t actually get advertised with a salary, so if you’ve chosen job alerts with the salary “£20,000 – £29,999,″ it might be a good idea to alter this to ensure you’re not missing out on the ideal vacancies which might just have a ‘Highly Competitive’ salary.
3. Re-upload Your CV/Make Your CV Searchable On Job Boards:
If you uploaded your CV to a job board a while ago, it’s highly likely that it’s ended up in its CV database – so it’s definitely worth logging into any old accounts and uploading your new, most up-to-date CV. Why? Because employers love searching CV databases to find relevant candidates – and by only having your old CV uploaded, you run the risk of being overlooked for the perfect role!
That said; not every job board will automatically add your CV to their CV database – so it’s definitely a good idea to log into your account and ensure your CV is searchable for potential employers.
4. Consider Who You Actually Want To Work For:
It’s all very well and good applying for any job that comes along which meets a set of criteria but so far, that tactic hasn’t worked out too well for you. With that in mind; it can definitely be a good idea to take a bit of time to consider which type of companies you actually want to work for and why. Once you’ve got your list together, follow these companies on key networks like LinkedIn and Twitter (particularly if they have dedicated Careers accounts) and make a point to check the careers section on their website once a week.
Similarly, if you’re not sure of exactly who you want to work for but know what type of company you want to work for eg. charities or universities, it’s definitely worth signing up for job boards who are dedicated to advertising these specific kinds of jobs e.g. Charity Jobs or jobs.ac.uk.
5. Consider New Networking Opportunities:
The old ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ phrase is definitely a bit of a cliche but in some situations, it’s true and the only way to increase who you know is to increase your professional network. In addition to trying to make new connections on LinkedIn, it’s a good idea to look at what other networking opportunities are available in your local area or within your niche.
Do a bit of research to see if there are any job fairs within your sector coming up – or whether there are any breakfast clubs or Meet-ups scheduled which might be attended by anyone who already works at the type of company that you’re hoping to work for. Even if you don’t end up getting a job out of it this time around, the contacts you make now could come in handy later in your career.