Job hunting is incredibly mentally taxing. There’s a lot of pressure. You compare yourself to others; you feel unqualified and maybe experience imposter syndrome.
That’s how I felt when I was job hunting.
Through college, I did some job hunting to find internships. I applied to a handful of places and heard back from almost everyone. It was a bit of a shock when I started applying for jobs after college and was only invited to interview for one job!
During March of my senior year of college I started seriously job hunting. I had just decided to defer my admissions to graduate school, and I had no idea what I was going to do. Getting a job after graduating was necessary, so I started applying to every job that sounded interesting.
I applied to research jobs at universities, marketing jobs at small agencies and big companies, data analysis jobs with financial institutions, writing and design jobs with magazines.
I felt lost. Now that I wasn’t going to graduate school I had more freedom with what I could do with my career. But what did I want to do? Over the course of a month and a half, I applied to more than 40 jobs.
It was stressful. I spent every day on LinkedIn searching for new job postings to apply to. I spent hours perfecting my LinkedIn profile and my resume and writing cover letters to highlight my most impressive experiences.
Through my job hunting process, I started comparing myself to my peers who were also graduating. They were all going to graduate school or getting entry-level counseling jobs, and I was frantically applying to every position possible with no idea what I wanted to do.
I felt like an imposter applying to many jobs because my experience wasn’t exactly what they were looking for. I curated my college internships to help me get into a master’s in counseling program, so after I decided against that, my experiences didn’t fit many roles.
Finally, after applying to loads of jobs, I heard back from one that invited me for an interview. My interview went well and I landed that job, a part-time research coordinator job at a university.
In the future, I will be going through the job hunting process again, and I’m glad that I went through it already because now I know what to expect. I learned a lot through my job hunting experience and some things I wish I did differently, but I think there are some things you can do to improve your job hunting experience!
Ask Yourself What You Want To Do
The first step of any job search is to ask yourself what you actually want to do. What is your ideal job? What type of company do you want to work for? Do you want to work full-time or part-time? Do you want to work remotely or in person?
This may seem like an obvious first step, but these are all questions that will help you to narrow your job search when you begin actively looking for jobs. It can feel overwhelming when you first start your job search because there are so many jobs out there. Narrowing down your search will help you find the jobs you are uniquely suited for and the jobs that best match your preferences!
Perfect Your Resume
Maybe this makes me weird, but I really love crafting resumes! I get genuinely excited when my friends ask me to help them with their resumes; I can’t explain it!
Having a high-quality resume is one of the most essential parts of job hunting. Make sure your name and contact info are at the top of the resume. Craft different resumes for different positions. For example, when I was applying to jobs after college, I had one heavily research-focused resume version and one more creative-focused version.
The goal of a resume is to highlight your experiences and what makes you suited for a specific job, so make sure that message comes across in your resume!
Stick around for a future post about how to craft the perfect resume!
Networking
I’m just going to say it. I hate networking. It’s awkward and uncomfortable for me, but I know that people find a lot of success through networking.
LinkedIn is an excellent place to network! You can add people you know from school or previous jobs to your network, which expands the people you reach with that platform. I say this as a person who has 102 connections on LinkedIn… not very impressive. It’s hard to put yourself out there and network!
If you’re still in college, career centers often hold networking nights where you can talk to people in different industries. This is a great opportunity to create connections with people who may help you find a job in the future.
And don’t forget about your professors! Professors are a great way to find jobs and opportunities because they usually have many connections in their field! Don’t be afraid to ask your professors for help if you are struggling to find a job or don’t know what to do after you graduate. During my job search, my professors were an enormous help and helped me with cover letters and my resume!
Utilize Online Job Searching Websites
If you happen to find a job through networking alone, congratulations! However, you will likely need to expand your search beyond just the people in your network. In this case, the best thing you can do is utilize online job searching websites!
Websites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and GlassDoor are some of the best websites for job hunting! These websites let you search for specific jobs or companies, and you can filter your search for location, job type, and a whole bunch of other criteria!
When I was job hunting, I primarily used LinkedIn. I found their website to be the easiest to use, and it was where I found the most jobs in my industry. But try out different websites, find what works for you!
Track Your Progress
It can get confusing when you apply to a bunch of jobs at the same time, so it is vital to keep track of your progress.
The easiest way to do this is in a simple spreadsheet. Just write down the job title and company you are applying to and the date that you applied. I also found it helpful to include a link to the job posting for future reference. Then have a final column to track the progress of the application. Did you get denied the job? Did they schedule an interview with you?
This is also good to keep track of jobs you’ve already applied to. For example, when I was applying for jobs, most of them were at the same two institutions and had the same title. It got very confusing, but accessing links to the specific jobs I already applied to helped me keep track of everything!
Try to Stay Positive
I know it can be challenging to find a job. It may feel like you’ve been applying to hundreds of jobs and never hear anything back. It can be discouraging when you put so much time into the job-hunting process and get no rewards.
But it is important to try and keep a positive mindset. Try and remind yourself why you are searching for a job in the first place. Are you seeking out a better job than the one you currently have? Did you just graduate college, and you’re searching for your first job? Are you changing careers? Were you laid off from your last job and now trying to find new work?
Find your why. Why are you job hunting? Remind yourself of that why when the job hunt gets discouraging because it likely will become discouraging at some point!
I applied to over 40 jobs when I was searching for jobs after college, and I only got an invitation for an interview from ONE! I got dozens of rejections, and I didn’t hear back from even more! Pushing myself to apply to more jobs every day was mentally exhausting, but I had to remember that this was the next step in my career. To figure out what I wanted to do after college, I needed to have a job to pay the bills.
Everyone feels dejected and disappointed during the job hunting process, it’s all part of the experience. The way you are feeling is normal! Job hunting is difficult, but if you stick with it and keep working at it, you can find a job you love!
The next step after job hunting is job interviews! HERE are my job interview preparation tips AND a free download that includes the most common interview questions!