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When you are out of work, or working at a job that you wish to change, finding a new career opportunity quickly may be a high priority. In order to find work in a competitive market, it’s important to know how to maximize your opportunities when searching for employment. Understanding effective job search practices can help you decrease the time to find a new opportunity. In this article, we provide 17 tips to help you find a job as soon as possible.
17 Tips for finding a job ASAP
When searching for a new career opportunity, these tips can help you find a job ASAP:
1. Treat it like work
If you are unemployed and feel the need to find work as quickly as possible, the best approach is to treat your job search like it is your full-time job. By committing the hours you would otherwise spend on a job to looking for new work, you provide yourself with significant time commitments for your job search. This allows you to give each potential application your full attention and can help you identify more opportunities by undertaking more searches on job boards or making more professional contacts and inquiries.
2. Set your goals
Having clearly defined goals for a job search can help make your efforts more effective. Goals may include timeline-based efforts or goals related to the type of job or compensation you are seeking. The more clearly defined your goals are, the more focused you can be during your search. This allows you to devote your time only to those jobs that are most likely to meet your needs so that you can find your next opportunity more quickly.
3. List your wants and needs
When classifying what you are seeking in an employer or position, it can be beneficial to separate those items which you absolutely need from those which you would like to have, but are not mandatory. This can help you better identify potential job opportunities to pursue, by ensuring you do not exclude a position for failing to meet a target that is only a desire and not a requirement. Keeping additional jobs eligible expands your opportunity and makes it more likely that you will find a job quickly.
4. Be flexible
If timeliness is your highest priority when searching for a new job, you may benefit from expanding your list of suitable options. By considering opportunities that may be outside of your previous work experience or your first choice for a new employment opportunity, you can significantly increase the potential employers available to you. This can be helpful when trying to find a job as soon as possible.
5. Assess your skills
When trying to find a job fast, using your time as efficiently as possible can play a significant factor in helping you achieve your goal. One way to focus your attention on the right job opportunities is to have a strong understanding of your skills and capabilities. This makes you better suited to identifying job opportunities that align with your abilities, in order to raise the likelihood that each resume you send out leads to advancements in the hiring process.
Related: 16 Skills You Need To be Successful at Work
6. Look into temping
If you need to work immediately, working for a temp agency can be an excellent option. When temping, an agency finds placements for you that may be as short as one day or may extend for a period of months. Finding a temp job is an excellent way to earn income while searching for work. This allows you to continue a career search while providing you with paychecks until you find your next career opportunity.
7. Consider an internship to work opportunity
Beginning work for a company through an internship is an excellent way to find a long-term career opportunity. Both paid and unpaid internships may offer the opportunity to transition into full-time employment at the end of your term. When considering an internship possibility, research the company offering the position in order to determine how frequently their interns receive the opportunity to work for the company after their internship ends. A company with a track record of keeping interns within the company may be an excellent opportunity to find work quickly, particularly when they offer paid internship opportunities in the interim.
8. Research job listings
Examining job listings for positions similar to those you are seeking, particularly ones with corresponding locations or experience levels, is an excellent way to learn what employers are currently looking for in your chosen field. Note any skills or duties that appear across multiple job listings. This is a sign they are integral to the role and show that you should work to build them if needed so you can feature them prominently on your resume.
9. Update your resume
When browsing job listings, you may encounter jobs that fill quickly. In order to ensure you have the potential to apply for these short-lived opportunities, it’s important to keep your resume updated. By having an updated resume ready, you can quickly make a copy and adjust your resume as needed to match a job posting, enabling you to get your application sent in for consideration before the company fills the position.
Related: Resume Basics: Types of Resumes, Examples and Tips
10. Use your contacts
One of the most effective ways to find new career opportunities is to leverage your existing professional and personal contacts. By directly asking those in a position to help you if they know of any opportunities, or if they would be willing to provide you with a recommendation when applying for positions, you can maximize the benefit that your contact network provides. This allows them to help you in any way they can and enables you to increase the speed of your job search process.
Related: The Benefits of Networking: 14 Reasons To Start Your Network
11. Find a hiring specialist
Finding employment can be a complicated task, which is why there are professionals who devote their entire careers to the process. Having a network connection working in human resources or hiring at a company can be an excellent opportunity. Working with a professional recruiter offers similar benefits to a broader range of potential work opportunities. A recruiter seeks to pair workers with job opportunities and can help you find open positions you qualify for in order to work as soon as possible.
12. Value long term fits
When seeking employment quickly, you may still have the ability to consider additional factors, such as the long-term suitability of the position. If your accelerated job search provides you with more than one potential employment opportunity, choosing the option with a better fit can help you avoid a similar job search in the future. This may even be the case when the more suitable long-term option provides fewer short-term benefits.
13. Remain calm during formal contact
When contacting a potential employer, it’s important to not allow any urgency in your search to come through in your communications. By remaining calm when sending a cover letter or email and speaking with a representative of a potential employer, you present a professional tone to your prospective employer. This can help to make you a more appealing candidate and find a job sooner.
14. Practice interviewing
A formal interview with a potential employer often plays a key role in determining who they hire for the position. The more comfortable you get participating in interviews, the more effectively you can compose your responses during a formal interview. Practicing your interview skills with a helper allows you to gain experience responding comfortably to questions. It’s often beneficial to research the most common interview questions for the type of job you apply to, in order to understand the questions you are most likely to face so that you can prepare effective responses.
Related: 13 Tips for a Successful Interview
15. Send follow-ups
Remaining at the forefront of a potential employer’s consideration is an excellent way to raise your chances of earning a position. Sending a follow-up immediately after an interview to thank your employer for the opportunity shows professionalism and provides them with another reminder of your interest. You may send additional follow-ups after several days, provided the period they suggested they would contact you has elapsed. Reaching out before they expect to make their decision can have a negative effect. Because of this, it’s beneficial to be patient before sending a follow-up other than your initial thank you response.
16. Embrace the potential for rejection
One of the most challenging emotional factors of a job search may be the potential rejection of an employer. Try to remember that many companies seek to fill just one position, so it’s often normal to be turned down by multiple employers before being hired. Understanding this can lower the stress associated with applying to jobs and help you become comfortable seeking a greater number of opportunities. By maximizing the applications you send, you maximize your chances to find a job quickly.
17. Be positive
Another important consideration that corresponds with the potential for rejection when applying for new jobs is to maintain a positive attitude about yourself and your efforts. Finding a new job can be a challenging task, particularly in a competitive job market. Providing yourself with the understanding that it may take multiple applications to find the job you are seeking allows you to maintain high morale throughout the job search, which allows you to perform at your best and increases your chances of impressing an employer and earning a new job.
“17 Tips for Finding a Job Asap.” Indeed Career Guide, 29 July 2021, https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/how-can-i-find-job-asap.
