Everyone always talks about getting yourself organized for the Job Search, but no one really offers practical advice on how to do it. Oh yes, they say to keep adequate records, but they give little more in the way of advice. Well now you’ll have it. I’m going to tell you how to get yourself organized daily for your Job Search.
Assuming you are using a computer, then you automatically have access to one of the easiest forms of accurate record maintenance of which jobs you applied to and where you found them. This wonderful resource is called your “Text Editor!”
That’s it really. That’s all you need. If you’re still confused, let me offer some steps to make it clearer. Pretend you are on the Internet and you just found this “Absolutely Fantastic” position on Job Board XYZ. OK, let’s first stop right there.
If this is the perfect job for you, then let’s make sure we don’t’ do a couple of things to mess it up for ourselves.
First of all, let’s make sure you haven’t applied for this position already
Either via another Recruiter, another Job Board, or through the Company’s Homepage. If you have been keeping records, then this should be relatively easy, if not, then let’s just hope your memory is good. Also, let’s make sure you are absolutely qualified for the position. Gone are the days where you could slide by with 50% of the qualifications for the job. Nowadays with the specialized skill sets that people have, you almost have to be 100% qualified for the position to get a second glance. I assure you, if you aren’t qualified, someone else is, so you’re probably just wasting your time applying.
Cheer up, it gets better. You checked your records and can’t find anywhere else that you’ve applied to this same position. That’s great. Now you won’t have multiple Resume submissions going into an HR Manager or Hiring Manager’s E-mail inbox or fax machine.
So now we want to apply for the freelance / work at home job position.
Assuming you have done so, what is the easiest method of keeping a record of this job? I mentioned it before, your Text Editor. Whatever brand of Internet Browser you are using, it has the ability to SAVE a web page.
Follow these simple steps to save the freelancing job record’s web page with all the necessary information for adequate records keeping.
1. At the top of your browser window, choose “FILE”
2. Then choose “SAVE AS”
3. When the smaller window pops open, change the “SAVE IN” field to a place on your Harddrive that is easy to remember. Maybe you’ll create a folder called “Jobs.”
4. Then change the “SAVE AS TYPE” to “Text file (*.txt)”
5. Enter a name for the job such as the name of the company or Recruiter and then the title of the position. For example you could save it as something like, “Company ABC Technical Writer.txt” Now when you later look at your list of saved Jobs, you’ll automatically see the Name of the Company and the Job position. It will make is much easier to search for jobs that you’ve already applied for.
Another nifty thing about using this method of saving Jobs is that you can go into your file browser (File manager for those still using WIN95 or lower) and sort these files by date. Each time you modify the file, or I should say add a status to the file whether it be a conversation you had, an email you sent, whatever; each time you add something to the file, it will automatically update the latest date stamp. This way you will automatically know just by looking at the date of the file, which ones need a follow up and which ones have been chased to death.
Be sure to add any new information you receive about this job position into this text file as soon as you receive it.
Also, most jobs and their contact information are not usually kept on the same Internet page. So if you save a job description, be sure you “copy and past” the contact information into the .txt file as well. You don’t want to be digging around on the net a week later just to get the telephone number or name of the person who posted the job.
Again, this is an easy method of keeping your Freelance Resume applications straight.
It requires no special software. If you have Windows or Mac, you have a text editor.
Good luck with your Job Search and keep a good attitude.