Job Searching Tips in 2020

Let's just be honest, job hunting can definitely be such a daunting task in your career. Some people just stay in horrible environments just because of the daunting thought of having to go back to the job market and I don't blame them.  

But I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way. Please don't be complacent in a horrible work environment, in a hostile work environment, a place that you hate or a job that you don't like or a career that you just don't enjoy anymore, just because putting yourself out there looking for another job is going to stress you out.

1. Stop looking for jobs online

My first tip is to stop spending your time searching for jobs online. Did you know that almost 80% of jobs are not even posted?  

I know firsthand that there's a lot of jobs in my current company that we don't post because we have a wide network of people that we can reach out to immediately as soon as we come up with a job, and we fill it within five days. 

Right now you might be spending 80% of your time searching for jobs online and maybe 20% of your time networking if that. But you need to flip this around if you’re looking to speed up your job search. You should be spending 80% of your time networking, building connections and only 20% of your time applying for jobs online. 

2. Start networking

You have got to have a system to start networking and in order for you to do this effectively, the first thing I want you to do is to pull up a spreadsheet and start typing out all the names of the people that you might know, people that are in your industry or people who are connected to other people in your industry. Start just putting those names out there and then once you write all of the names out, I want you to categorize them.

 The very first bucket of people should be the ones that you trust the most that you know for a fact those people are going to get behind you and support you in your job search. You'll be surprised how many people actually are willing to help.  

Your spreadsheet should have columns with:

• Their name
• Their position
• Their company
• Contact information
• How you met them
• What is something that you admire about them

So once you’ve got that all finished you just need to start reaching out to them. If this is somebody that you haven't spoken to in a while, be very concise and direct as to what it is that you are reaching out for. Don't let them do the guessing game or leave room for people to assume why you're reaching out because this is going to hurt you in the long run. 

3. Familiarize yourself with job search engines

There are many different ways to find jobs but LinkedIn is my favorite. LinkedIn is such an easy platform for you to do many things, not just look for jobs but to connect with others and to see what's going on in the job market. Another platform that's also good is Indeed, it's a very reputable job board on the internet. 

 However, the first one that I want you to always look for is the actual company's website. Especially if this is a company that's very well known, that is the only place that they would post. For example, JP Morgan, UBS, Citibank, NBC, ABC or CBS, they most likely will only post on their own website. 

 Just continue to familiarize yourself with them, always search it, keep up to date with what is out there. 

4. Don’t forget to attach your resume

Of course, I know that this might sound like a silly type of strategy, but some people just fill out the application and not attach a resume. And if you don’t attach the resume the recruiter won’t know where to reach you, your work history, and that technically disqualifies you right away. 

So you always want to make sure that you're first of all filling out everything on the application, putting in your resume. 

TIP: Upload your resume as a PDF because sometimes when you upload things that are not PDFs, the formatting of it can be a little messed up depending on what type of system that recruiter is using. And always save it in this format: LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_RESUME

5. Be visible online

Building an online presence is not just creating an Instagram profile with selfies. What I mean is for you to make sure that you are getting yourself to be SEO friendly. So when people are searching for the role you’re looking for on LinkedIn your profile comes up. If you’re unsure how to make your LinkedIn searchable, read this post on creating a magnetizing profile. 

Also, you need to have an effective pitch summary for when people do come across your profile online, you can read how to create one in my other post about five things that you should know when you're creating an elevator pitch and how to make one.

If you want to learn more about the perfect resume, I have a free guide on how to get your resume noticed in 6 seconds. Access it here.