Job Search

The Top 5 Ways to Stay Organized While Job Hunting

Job hunting is hard, plain and simple. Throw in a full academic course load, competing extracurricular activities and pretty soon you feel like the juggling flame thrower in the Ringling Bros. Circus. That is why you need to approach job hunting with a clear organizational strategy. You are going to be visiting multiple websites, filling out various applications through different platforms and connecting with several people, so staying organized is key. Below are what I have found to be the tried and true for staying on top of the process:

  1. Figure out if you are digital or paper oriented.
    The first step on the path of organization is decide whether you function better with paper- or digitally-oriented systems. Do you find yourself writing everything down in a planner and hole punching key assignments to place in a folder? If so, you are paper oriented. If you find yourself entering key appointments on your smart phone and sending voice reminders to yourself, you are digitally oriented. Figuring this step out is key as it is what you will build your system around (explained in the next step!) and rely on to stay organized throughout the entire job hunt.
  2. Build a system.
    Now that you have figured out which way you are oriented, it is time to build a system that will provide the foundation to your job search. As mentioned in the introduction, you are going to be exposed to a TON of information throughout your search. Having a system in place to capture and record all of that information is going to save you time and effort throughout in the long run. Your system should provide you with the ability to:

    • Easily fit job hunting in your day-to-day routine
    • Save valuable links, contacts and resources
    • Allow you to recall key information quickly

    If you are paper oriented this could be a notebook or folder broken down into sections for industry contacts, job links to specific websites, a calendar for key application deadlines, etc. Digitally oriented individuals often find it easiest to set calendar reminders on their phone for application deadlines and track job information in a spreadsheet on their Google Drive or an Excel file. Maybe you are a hybrid of the two!

  3. Set aside the time to research and input information
    While there are many resource available almost instantaneously with the click of a mouse, your job hunt WILL take time. It is wise to treat your job hunt like a 3 credit course with roughly 6 hours of research needed on you part. Just as set aside time to study for good grades, landing that first job takes time as well. As you conduct your research, be sure to keep track and input all relevant information into the system you built!
  4. Label everything appropriately
    As you begin to send out applications to prospective employers it is VITAL that you are labeling your resumes and cover letters appropriately. This means that you are saving your key documents in a folder with titles similar to these:

    • Resume_JohnDoe.pdf
    • JohnDoe_Resume.pdf
    • Resume_AccountManager_JohnDoe.pdf
    • CoverLetter_JohnDoe.pdf

    Notice that each documents is saved as a .pdf. This an absolute must if you are emailing or uploading your resume and cover letter. Saving these documents as a .pdf prevents formatting goofs from occurring when an employer opens your documents. We don’t need your name ending up in the middle of your work experience section, do we?

  5. Follow-up on your leads
    You have successfully built a job tracking system, blocked out time to research, labeled and sent off your applications, now you need to be sure to follow-up on those applications! You should have built into your system a tab that is for important dates or status updates for your application. Be sure to enter the date you submitted your application and see how long it takes to get a response. Each job and application process is going to be a little bit different, but it is important to follow-up and reaffirm your interest in any position you apply for.

If you need help with any of the above steps or are still stuck and wondering where and how to begin, stop into Career Services or email them at [email protected] to schedule a personalized appointment to help you in your job hunt!

Courtney Noonan is the Internship Coordinator in Career Services at Hillsdale College. She can be reached by email at [email protected].