How to Get a Job & Beat Unemployment

For the lucky ones, it’s only a matter of days whereas for others, it may take years to figure out how to get a job. Being unemployed is a crushing experience — something nearly everyone experiences at some point in their lives.

People may think they’re doing enough to aid their job search when in fact they could be doing a lot more. There are numerous ways to further your search, potentially shortening the time spent unemployed and increasing your chances of landing a full time job, some of which are explained below.

How to Get a Job

Two-part series on how you can combat unemployment and get that gig — now!

Part I: People and Places

1. Job search websites: There are literally hundreds of these sites on the web. Websites such as TotalJobs, Beyond and Jobcentral offer a huge variety of job vacancies and do their best to find a job suitable for you. Aim to apply for as many as you can every day. The more you apply the more chance you have of someone getting in touch.
2. Recruitment agencies: You should be able to find recruitment agencies dotted all over the place. The advantage of going to these places is that you can develop a relationship with the agent and they can give you first hand help. They build an understanding of what you’re looking for and can offer you various opportunities.
3. Speaking to friends and family: Friends and family can often be your best bet. Family members will really want to help you out and will try their best to find you a vacancy. If you’re close family can’t help you then branch out to aunties, uncles and cousins. Don’t be shy to ask people, again it’s a numbers game, the more people you ask the more chance you have of landing a job.
4. Social Media: Contacting companies and building relationships via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin can be an effective technique. It’s a quick and easy way of getting your message across and discovering new vacancies.
5. CV Posting and Phone Calls: Print out a large number of CV’s and get yourself out there. Go to shopping centres and companies of interest – it’s a good starting point. Making the effort to get yourself out and about doesn’t go unnoticed, employers will appreciate the motivation.
   
   If a company is a fair journey away then make phone-calls. Again this is a chance to speak to an employer first hand and make a good impression. You may be able to speak directly about apprenticeship vacancies or training courses and get a good understanding of the company. You can always use the internet and online directories as well to discover new local companies that will take your CV.

Part II: Organization and Motivation

It’s easy to get bored and fed up when you’re unemployed. With no reason to get up early in the mornings a ‘lazy-boy’ routine is often inevitable. Late nights and lengthy morning lie-ins don’t leave much time in the day to get motivated and ready for your job search. Switching on the TV or computer may feel like the only option.

Creating a job search schedule is a great idea to combat this. Treating your job search as a full time activity is one of the best ways to increase your chances and keep motivated. A suggested approach would include the following key areas of job search.

• Aim to spend two to three hours a day on online job search.
• Aim to get up at around 9am to avoid becoming lazy and discouraged.
• Aim to visit at least 3 recruitment agencies a week.
• Make a list of friends and family to call.
• Do thorough research and make a list of companies to call.
• Make a list of places you can go to post CV’s, plan out your journeys and explore different areas.
• Spend at least one day out posting CV’S.
• Eat relatively healthy and spend at least one hour a day exercising, the release of endorphins will keep spirits high and in parallel keep your motivation levels up.

All factors when applied to a job search schedule will undoubtedly boosts one’s chances of finding work. A good job search schedule will incorporate time to job hunt along with time to exercise and relax. Exercise and relaxation are crucial to not overworking yourself and becoming distressed, and on the other hand also stop you becoming lazy.

Share your tips about how to get a job in the comments below.