If you’re looking for a job but don’t know how to organize your time well, it can be a struggle.
Good time management helps you deliver tasks by the deadline, stay engaged in your activities, and increases your chance of getting the job that you want.
Without time-management skills; life can get messy. It’s tough to keep a healthy work-life balance, manage priorities and engage in any extra-curricular activities when you can’t keep track of your time. The same goes for the job search–an already muddy and difficult process. This can prevent you from succeeding in finding the right role for you.
You deserve a career that brings you purpose, growth and prosperity. And especially now with this competitive and challenging job market we are currently in— it takes some serious focus to land that right gig.
Here are the most important time-management tips I have discovered as a job seeker.
1. Stay consistently motivated and productive.
You have to stay confident and forward-thinking if you’re going to effectively manage the job search.
If you’re constantly trapped in ‘what the heck happened’ or ‘how terrible that interview went’, you’ll have trouble moving forward. And it can be very difficult to get yourself out of a job-hunting-rut after you’ve lot your confidence and mojo.
This is a big way time gets wasted in the process; frustration and dissapointment.
It sucks. I get it. But you have to keep going.
Wake up, drink your coffee, and embrace opportunities as they come. Believe in yourself. Don’t overthink it, just apply, take the interviews and keep moving forward.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice in the process.
You don’t have to handle everything on your own, and often it’s better not to.
Getting job-help support when you need it is a good thing. Say for example you’ve got a few different cover letters to write, but job searching is super urgent. You can actually work with an essay writer to help you write a good cover letter and resume. Give them the necessary directions and they work with you to create polished job materials.
You can also send drafts of your cover letter or resume over to friends or mentors to take a look at while you work on job prospecting. It’s ok to ask for help on these key materials, and often doing so moves you along in the process more quickly.
3. Focus your time, and learn when to say no to outside distractions.
Looking for a job might look easy, but we all know it’s not.
There are so many distractions and competiting priorities. Scrolling on social media, browsing through TV channels or calling a friend are just some of them. You may even still be working full-time or part-time at another job while hunting. So time can be super tight.
This means you have to make some difficult decisions in order to make the job hunt a time priority.
To avoid distractions, you have to learn how to say no.
When that urge to open your phone arrives, when your friend calls trying to get you out for drinks, when someone turns on the TV; say no.
Choose the future instead of the present.
Focus. Your biggest job right now is finding a new job.
For more on saying no — Mastering the Invaluable Art of Saying No
4. Stay organized and pace towards your goals.
You must know where you’re headed to get a satisfying job. If you don’t know what your preferences are, what you’re actually looking for, and what needs to get done–how can you get started on anything?
Constantly consider the components of your ideal role. Research job descriptions. Compare that to your own skills and future objectives. Organize an approach for moving forward.
Keep these goals in mind throughout your entire search, so you can best spend your time focused on the outcome you are really seeking.
Pro Tip: Make a list of all the job applications you’ve already applied for, add in the pertinent information and mark their statuses. A google spreadsheet is a great way to keep track of all of this information.
5. Don’t spend time applying for jobs you don’t really want.
Any job looks great when you’re job hunting – you’ve got to remember that this is not true.
It’s the illusion of the moment. Make sure you know how to prioritize. As I mentioned before, know your likes and dislikes and only apply for the jobs that make sense to you. You don’t want to waste your time or that or a hiring managers.
6. Take breaks and stay healthy.
Don’t forget to take breaks while browsing for jobs. At some point, you’ll be fed up with applying for too many positions and this could lean to burnout or complete dimissmal of the quest. Mental health is essential.
It’s important to keep up healthy practices like exercise, a nutrient-rich diet, and a good night’s rest. Starting a meditation practice is always helpful as well. Keep your brain and body healthy, and try not to get yourself mentally bogged down with the search.
For more on meditation — How Meditation is Slowly But Surely Changing My Life
7. Be realistic.
You are looking for jobs because you want a long-lasting job. So, be realistic about your wishes and intentions for the future when considerting real opportunities. Avoid the templation to get trigger-happy or desperate because the process feels overwlheming. All that does is cause you to lose time in the long-run.
You know what you want.
If your goal is to start traveling the world one year from now, don’t sign up for a job that doesn’t allow you to do that. If you know you need a certain salary to support your financial goals, resist the urge to settle or take the first opportunity that comes along.
Take the time you need to prioritize these factors not just as a you search for jobs but also as you consider offers and long-term opportunities.
8. Choose carefully.
Once you’ve got some offers lined up, don’t let the company be the only one that checks you out.
Make sure you’re checking them out.
Block out TIME with your impressive time management skills to really consider and evaluate the offers you have in front of you. Do your due diligence. Research the companies and their benefits. See what past employees had to say about them.
In the end, you’re picking them as well, even if you are the one looking for a job.
Remember that.
These are your choices. It’s your search. It’s your process.
It’s your career, and it’s your time.
Own it. Manage it. Champion it.
Get the job you deserve.
You’ve got this.
Justin Osborne is a writer at essay writer, he loves to share his thoughts and opinions about education, writing and blogging with other people on different blogs and forums. Currently, he is working as a content marketer at essay writing service.