Saving Stuff

Looking for a job: Time saving tips

Published: Dienstag, 6. Mai 2008

Looking for a job has got to be the most daunting and time consuming task there is.  There are many reasons why you may be searching for a job whether you've been made redundant, you're really unhappy in your current role or you just need something more challenging.

Job section of newspaper Hours and hours on the Internet...

Unfortunately I was recently made redundant and as I was in my probationary period was not given any notice.  With a young family to support and a mortgage to pay I began to panic and spent hours and hours on the Internet looking for a job via job websites, signing up with recruitment agencies and reading through the job vacancies section in the local papers.  This obviously took up so much time and to be honest completely drained me and I didn't really feel I was getting anywhere.  However there was a lesson to be gained from this experience and I found a few ideas that really saved me some time.

Before you start looking for a job the most important thing to do is to make sure your CV is up-to-date.  It's also handy to have another pair of eyes to check over it and give you advice.  Once you've cracked this, print up a few copies so that you've always got it to hand when needed.  I would also advise saving a copy to CD or a memory stick to keep on you, you never know when an opportunity may arise.

There are so many job websites and recruitment agencies that it can be quite overwhelming.  I would suggest speaking to a few friends, especially ones that have got a new job fairly recently and ask how they found out about their job.  Recommendations can save you so much time.  Pick a handful of the bigger job websites, register with them and upload your CV.  Don't forget to tick the box so that recruitment agencies and companies can view your CV when they're looking for suitable candidates to fill job vacancies.  Also choose which email alerts you wish to receive as this will mean that you won't have to sign in each day and trawl through all the jobs adverts to see what new ones have been posted because the suitable jobs will come straight to your email inbox.

One of the first things people say when they know you're looking for a job is to "get down that job centre".  If you've got Internet access at home don't waste time going there because all their jobs are online anyway.  If you're looking for a job within a particular trade make sure you select agencies that specialise in your area of expertise.  Don't waste your time signing up with an agency unless they are trade specific or they're advertising a job you'd like to apply for.  I signed up with a few agencies that didn't have any suitable jobs advertised and I've never heard back from them!  To be honest I've found that the better jobs tend to be advertised through agencies rather than newspapers.  Again most jobs that are advertised in the papers tend to be online these days.

I hope my tips have helped you save time in finding a job!