With all of the competition in the job market these days it’s imperative that you are ready to strike when the perfect position hits your radar. Get ahead of the competition by being prepared with the basic items you’ll need to have to act quickly.
- Create your resume(s) and cover letter(s) in Microsoft Word, and save each document as a PDF. That way you’ll have everything you need ready to either print or email on the spot! And better yet – take it one step further by storing those documents in the cloud (there are plenty of free places to store documents online, like Google Docs) so that you can access them anytime, anywhere.
- Update your LinkedIn profile because EVERYONE will be looking for it, and looking at it during your job search. Sound daunting? Don’t worry – we have a quick and easy checklist of everything that you should have on your LinkedIn profile. Easy!
- Make sure you have an updated list of references (preferably managers) for each position you’ve held in the past 10 years.
- Use / create a professionally named, PERSONAL email address during your job search. Gmail is a great solution for this if you don’t already have a personal email address. Keep your email address professional (NO “cutey86@yahoo.com”) and DON’T use your current work email address during your job search, as that shows a lack of discretion to employers.
- Be ready to send thank you notes immediately after an interview. Depending on the situation and your personal brand, either email or paper notes are great. The bottom line is that any type of thank you (even if it is email) is better than not sending a thank you note to the person/people that interviewed you. Time is of the essence!
What other tips have you found to be big time savers during a job search?