How to Maximize Productivity (and Save Time) While Job Hunting

Looking for a new job is stressful and time-consuming, but it’s something that needs to be done. If you want to increase your chances of landing a new job quickly, you’ll need learn to maximize productivity and save time as a job applicant.

What strategies are most important when looking to maximize productivity and save time while job hunting?

Start With a Plan

As with many other productive endeavors, it pays to start with a plan. If you have a loose idea that you’re going to look for a job, but have no discernible direction or objective, you’re probably going to end up wasting time.

Instead, set a clear objective and think beyond just finding a new job. What, specifically, do you want to accomplish, and how soon do you want to accomplish it? How are you going to achieve your objective?

Be as specific as possible here.

Stay Safe

Remember that not everything you see online is legitimate, and understand that job applicants are common targets for scammers, as they’re often both vulnerable and willing to give up personal information. Avoid giving out any of your personal information unless you’re 100 percent sure you’re talking to a legitimate representative for a legitimate company – and even then, never give out your usernames or passwords.

Additionally, you may want to invest in a VPN to protect your online traffic from spying or interference. In the grand scheme of things, it’s unlikely that you’ll become a target for hacking or spying, but a sufficiently catastrophic cybersecurity incident could easily set your search back months.

Keep a Routine

It’s also important to keep a consistent routine, especially if you anticipate having to look for a job for any significant amount of time. Having a routine helps you to stay consistent and focused throughout your efforts – and it’s also psychologically beneficial. If you’re not currently working, the aimlessness and lack of form associated with not having a routine can eventually eat away at you, causing you to lose focus, interest, or hope.

As for the exact nature and structure of your routine, that’s entirely up to you. For example, you might choose to wake up each morning at 8 am, work on applications for an hour, take a break for coffee or breakfast, then work on applications for another hour. If you’re spending even two hours a day looking for a new job, it’s only a matter of time before you find one. Even better, once you do find one, you’ll already be acclimated to a structure compatible with a traditional 9 to 5 job.

Whatever your routine looks like, try to keep it as consistent as possible, with only minor adjustments.

Know How to Filter Out Bad Fits

It’s also important for you to be able to filter out the bad fits. Too often, job hunters waste time by applying to, or even investigating positions that don’t align with their goals. There are several categories to consider here.

False job postings are increasingly notorious, thanks in part to the many job listing platforms now available. So-called “ghost jobs” are job postings that aren’t actually associated with real positions; they could be unintentional listings that persevere due to an internal failure to remove them or deliberate postings without any affiliated intent to hire.

Additionally, there are deliberate scams that are hoping to fool people into believing they have a legitimate job opportunity. These are usually easy to spot if you’re willing to do a small amount of research on the company offering the position. With a simple search, you can figure out what other people’s experiences have been and determine whether it makes sense for you to move forward.

Fortunately, knowing what to look for can help you consistently avoid false job postings and scams. However, it’s a bit trickier to identify bad-fit positions. What exactly makes a job worth applying for, and which jobs should you avoid?

This is largely a subjective question with no universal answer. What’s important is that you know which positions are worth your time and effort – and that you’re able to differentiate between these and jobs that aren’t worth applying for. Depending on your personal circumstances and the length of your job search, you may gradually loosen your criteria over time.

Avoid Distractions

To truly maximize productivity and save yourself time, it’s crucial to avoid any time-wasting activities during your job search by eliminating or at least reducing distractions. As is the case with professional work, even a minor distraction can significantly set you back.

These are some strategies that can help you:

Choose the right location.

First, it’s important to choose the right location for your job search. Some people actually work more productively and more consistently in an environment with some background noise or activity, but some people need a quieter, more isolated environment. No matter what you need, you should be able to find an environment that suits you; that could be a home office, an isolated room of your house, a cafe, a library, a park, or something else entirely. What’s important is that you’re able to identify your biggest possible distractions and avoid them.

Stop visiting distracting websites.

Similarly, impose controls on yourself so that you stop visiting distracting websites. If you have the willpower to do this on your own, more power to you. For the rest of us, there are plugins and device settings that can help you temporarily disable or block especially distracting websites.

Eliminate multitasking.

Multitasking is tempting, but it simply doesn’t work. Listening to music, streaming a video in the background, or even maintaining a conversation with someone while job searching is only going to make your job search less productive. Focus on searching for a job when it’s time to be productive.

Set Specific Daily Goals

You have the overarching goal of finding a new job, but it’s important to set specific daily goals to achieve as well. For example, you can set the goal of sending out a certain number of new applications, connecting with a certain number of new people, or achieving a certain number of tasks on your task list.

Remember, your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART criteria). If you hit your goals easily, consider making them more challenging. If you’re consistently struggling to reach your goals, consider easing up.

Develop a System

Maximize your productivity by developing a system that will save you time. If you follow the same formula for each iteration of your job search, you’ll naturally get quicker over time. For example, you could start by finding an opportunity, researching the company, tweaking your resume and cover letter, hitting send, and updating your tracker. More broadly, you can follow a system of applications, follow-ups, and updated tracking to keep you focused and on point.

Resist the Temptation to Spam

As a job seeker, you’ll likely be tempted to send as many applications as possible. This is understandable, as in many ways, job searches are a numbers game; even the best candidates are likely to face many rejections before they even get an interview.

However, if you resort to blindly spamming your applications and resumes, it’s going to work against you – and ultimately waste your time. It’s important to treat each application and each interaction with the attention that it deserves. Tailor your materials to the opportunity at hand in each case.

Make Connections in Addition to Applying

It’s estimated that 85 percent of jobs are now filled through networking. If you filled out an application for a job that seems like a perfect fit for your skills and experience, but you never got a call, it’s possible (and perhaps even likely) that the job was filled by a friend or colleague of someone who already works there.

If you want to even the odds, make sure you incorporate networking into your job-hunting efforts. Filling out applications and sending resumes are both valuable, but if you want to be well-rounded and get exposure to even more opportunities, you should spend at least 15 minutes a day fleshing out your professional network and reaching out to people you already know.

Automate Reminders for Following Up

Automation is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal – if you know how to use it. One of the most convenient ways to use automation as part of your job search is to set automatic reminders for follow-ups and ongoing communication. This way, you won’t lose track of any of your most important opportunities, and you’ll remain much more consistent in your approach.

Review Your Efforts

At the end of each week, or another time period of your choosing, take a moment to review your efforts. Were you able to achieve all your daily goals? Were there any moments of lost or disrupted productivity that could be avoided in the future in order to instead maximize and save more time? Did you receive any feedback from hiring managers or recruiters that could help you in future efforts?

Without these critical insights, you might keep spinning your wheels with wasted efforts you don’t even know or being wasted. Try to update your approach at least slightly each week, using your new knowledge and experience as the basis.

Keep Developing Yourself

Finally, spend at least some of your time continuing to develop yourself as a professional. Learn some new skills. Get some new certifications. Revisit some of your old achievements and experiences to see if you can punch up your resume. Each addition or enhancement brings you closer to a new job.

There’s no question that looking for a job is a time-intensive activity. But with these strategies and a genuine commitment to ongoing productivity, you can streamline your efforts and find a new job in record time.

Featured Image Credit: Photo by Sora Shimazaki; Pexels; Thank you.