Getting hired is practically a full-time job itself. Tailoring your resume for each position, filling out digital applications with the same information, and, hopefully, going to interviews. Finding a decent-paying job you’re qualified to do is, arguably, the worst part of the process.
You don’t have to job-search for 8 hours a day or apply to every position with the same job title. By creating a schedule, templates to pull from, and saying “Hi” to a few people, you can reduce the time spent searching for a job. In fact, when you spend too much time sending out boilerplate cover letters and resumes, you may be keeping yourself unemployed.
First, Create a Master Resume
A highly efficient job search doesn’t require rewriting your resume from scratch for every opening. And it doesn’t mean blasting out the same generic summary to dozens of employers.
A Master Resume is a comprehensive catalog of your entire professional and academic history. This is the storage/cloud you pull from when tailoring your resume for a position. Having everything in one place and organized speeds up the resume modifying process.
How to use a Master Resume effectively:
- Identify the employer’s priorities and the job postings’ keywords, expectations, and required skills, certifications, or technologies.
- From your Master Resume, pull experiences that match the job’s core responsibilities, skills in the posting, your relevant past achievements, and former projects that reflect the company’s needs.
- Imitate the posting’s language. If the posting used the words “cross-functional collaboration,” incorporate them in a way that highlights your abilities.
Save copies of your tailored resumes. If you’re applying to two very similar jobs, you may only need to change a bullet-point or two. Or, if you are applying for different types of roles, you’ll have templates to work from.
Create a Way to Track Your Process
Whether it’s an Excel spreadsheet or a pad of paper and pen, tracking your progress cuts down on time spent going through emails or call logs. For each role, you should have:
- Contact information
- The last date of communication
- Notes on the next step
For instance, you should follow-up two days after sending an application, email, or an interview. And having a written plan for what’s next prevents you from rethinking about the same task. Likewise, keep track of networking tasks, such as returning an email or sending a thank-you note for a referral.
Only Apply to Jobs Worth Your Time
Efficient job seekers don’t apply to everything. They filter strategically. Start by using job board tools to:
- Narrow roles by skills, industry, location, and experience level.
- Skip vague postings, underpaid roles, or companies with unclear expectations.
- Prioritize positions where you meet at least 70% of requirements and can clearly demonstrate value.
- Save roles that align with your strengths, growth goals, and preferred work environment.
Before applying, scan the description for measurable responsibilities and realistic expectations. These are the jobs worth investing time in.
Get to Know Someone Who Can Open the Door
It’s not what you know, but who you know. A referral by a current employee is like a golden ticket to getting the job. Hiring managers, recruiters, and team leaders have to choose the best candidate based on a one-page history and an hour-long interview. Having a colleague say, “You should talk to…” denotes trust and credibility.
Modern networking has certainly changed since the adage was first used. Many people connect with others through social apps. For instance, you can reach out to professionals on platforms like LinkedIn.
- Send a quick-connect note to a hiring manager.
- Ask for career advice from a fellow alumnus in the same industry.
- Inquire for company insight from a prospective coworker.
These connections can refer you, help you stand out from other applicants, or even tell you about a job that hasn’t been advertised yet. Professional relationships significantly improve the likelihood of being hired.
How Many Hours a Week You Should Be Job Searching
Do you spend as many hours looking for work as you did working? Forty, even 25, hours a week pouring over the job boards, refining your professional profile, and submitting countless applications is the fastest way to burn yourself out.
And, at some point, the quantity of time deteriorates the quality of your applications. The enthusiasm in your cover letters diminishes. You might even sound desperate in emails. And a spray-and-pray practice means more rejection and wasted time.
You May Only Need to Job Search for 5 to 7 Hours a Week
Breaking up the job-search process into smaller tasks can help you avoid being overwhelmed or making mistakes that put you into recruiters’ reject piles. Instead of finding an open position, updating your resume, writing a cover letter, filling out and submitting the application in one sitting, plan a weekly strategy that turns 60-to-90-minute tasks into a pipeline for interviews and job offers.
Most recruiters and hiring managers prep administration on Mondays, conduct communication Tuesday through Thursday, and strategize and wrap-up on Fridays. So, your approach should mirror their schedule.
An example of daily projects that flow like an assembly line:
- Day 1 – Search job boards for 3 to 5 positions that fit your experience and expectations. These are roles you’re qualified for and excited about. Research each company to discover objectives, priorities, pain points, and more information that you can utilize in your application.
- Day 2 – Use the information you learned yesterday to tailor cover letters and resumes for your targeted jobs.
- Day 3 – Review and submit applications with tailored documents. Update your tracker with the contact information and plan to follow-up after a week with a brief message reaffirming your interest in the job you applied for and highlight a skill or accomplishment that makes you a strong candidate.
- Day 4 – Network and follow up on prior outreaches, sent applications, etc.
- Day 5 – Interview prep is more than having a nice outfit and answers memorized to typical hiring questions like, “Tell me about your worst quality.” It’s also staying informed about trends and news that may come up in an interview. A post on a professional platform could open a discussion between you and others in your field; expanding your network.
