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In Order Blog

Organizing Your Job Search

Whether you just graduated from school and are looking for a first job, are switching careers or companies, or going back to work after your kids start school, searching and applying for work is a necessity. Unfortunately, job hunting can also be extremely stressful.

Between keeping track of resumes, sorting through endless online listings, and preparing for interviews, job searching can be very overwhelming. To make the best use of your time and resources, it is important to keep your job search organized; this will keep your stress levels down.
Here are 4 ways to keep your job search organized:

1. Make a Plan
Having a solid plan in place makes it easier to keep your job search organized. Start by listing out the type(s) of jobs and companies you’re searching for and any location, salary, or other requirements. After you input your search requirements into your industry or alma mater job database, bookmark the results page so you can easily return to the search to see new postings without reentering all of the information.

2. Keep Spreadsheets

Creating spreadsheets can help you keep track of what jobs you’ve applied for as well as the networking connections you’ve made. For example, to keep track of what jobs and positions you’ve submitted applications for, you could create an Excel spreadsheet that has columns for: the company or organization, job title, the contact person if listed, how you heard about the job, the date you submitted your application, and if you got an interview. To keep track of your networking and contacts a similar spreadsheet could have columns for the person’s name, position, company, how you know them, when and how you reached out to them.

3. Save Resumes and Cover Letters In A Specific Folder

Organize resumes and cover letters in a designated folder

Organize Your Job Search

Keep all copies of your resume and cover letters saved together in a folder on your computer. Label the folder something like “Job Search 2017” so you can easily find them. It is important to also clearly and accurately name the different versions of your resume and cover letter, such as with your name and the company or job name, so you can easily find, use, or reference them again as needed. Just like you should save your digital copies in an easy-to-find place, create a physical file in your file cabinet so you don’t lose any hard copies resume.

4. Prepare for Interviews
Hooray, you’ve gotten an interview! To make sure you are prepared, organized, and not hassled the day of, do all of your interview-prep the day before. That should include everything from printing hard copies of your resume, to compiling your research on the job and organization, to creating your list of interview questions, to prepping and laying out your interview outfit. You don’t want to realize an hour before your interview that the shirt you wanted to wear is dirty or wrinkled or that you tore a hole in your tights. Preparing the day before means that you’ll have time to deal with any snags that come up without feeling harried.

Best of luck finding your dream job!