The Seven Traits of Highly Effective Job Seekers

I’ve written this post with my core market of HR professionals in mind but for the most part it can be applied to anyone. Job hunting really shouldn’t be difficult but for some reason it really is, so here are my top tips:

1 – Have a search plan.

It sounds too simple but the best way to be effective is to know exactly what roles you wish to look for, then build simple Boolean search strings for those roles. Don’t forget to use synonyms for jobs such as HR Manager vs Human Resources Manager to capture both! Then use these searches in multiple job boards and get the job boards to email you their job alerts.

2 – Add tangible achievements to your CV.

This is soooo important.

Maximise your chances by adding tangible career achievements on the first page. Add them in an Action and Result model with the results ideally in % or £ terms.

I see so many CVs with only actions listed, such as "Completed a large scale transformation project" or I see CVs with only the result "Saved the company £200k"

But I rarely see Action AND Result such as "Devised and led the implementation of a new self-service HR system which gave back 50% time to the HR dept to work on proactive added-value tasks and reduced costs by £200k"

3 – Your CV does NOT have to stay within 2 pages!

There, I said it. The 2 page CV is a load of nonsense.

Yes, people don’t tend to read lengthy CVs and yes they focus on page 1 most of the time but this does not mean that if you have 20 years of high quality experience and rafts of achievements you have to squeeze them all on to 2 pages. It is okay to use that third page! Just make sure whatever you put on it is RELEVANT!

4 – Maintain records of what you have applied to.

Job board land is a fragmented one. You might apply via Indeed, then via Totaljobs, then via email then via an ATS on a company’s website. It’s difficult to track, so create a simple spreadsheet and track which job you applied to and on what date. It takes 2 minutes to do this but it helps so much.

5 – Follow up on applications.

Now you have a simple tracker use it to follow up on jobs. Maybe a week after the application send a nice email or Inmail to the hiring manager to explain how interested you are and how your skills would be a good fit for the role.

Days or weeks could pass until you hear back. You never know whether you have applied at the start or near the end of a process, so try to engage, initiate contact yourself. Your enthusiasm could make you stand out from the crowd.

6 – Directly approach your ideal employers.

Aside from all of the above job application activity why not identify your ideal employers in your area and write to the recruitment team or HR Director to explain your skills? You never know what roles are in their thoughts but not yet advertised!

A simple polite email is all it takes. Explain your skill set and your availability and ask whether you may be suitable for anything in their team.

 7 – Make use of specialist recruiters!

And my final tip is to give me a call! My advice her is to contact and stay in touch with a specialist recruiter in your sector. We have established networks, can proactively search for you and can also give career coaching, market advice and CV and interviewing tips.

Best of luck with your job search! If you are an HR professional in the North West seeking your next career move and would like direct assistance from me please feel free to call 0151 229 5561 of send me a message and I would be pleased to help.

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