This Year has been a Hard One for Job Hunters. Here are my Job Hunting Reflections and Resolutions for 2021
If you’ve been hunting for a job this year, you’ve probably had it rough. Although I’ve found my place now, I was hunting for a job in those early months of lockdown. Hopefully together we can come up with some life-changing resolutions for 2021.
Setting resolutions is something I always love doing, but I never stick to them. It’s probably because I set silly goals like workout everyday or start yoga again.
But when resolutions are about a really important daily aspect of your life, like job hunting, they’re bound to come up in your mind more. Hopefully this will mean they stick!
I hope you take some of these resolutions into 2021 to improve your job hunting game!
1 – Take More Training
When you’re searching for jobs for a long period of time, it’s easy to fall back on habits and get lazy. Your motivation gets smaller every month, and your desperation and passion turns into a weird apathy.
But just because you’ve been rejected 50 times before doesn’t mean that you’ll be rejected forever.
If you’re a long-term job hunter, taking training should probably be part of your routine by now. You should be improving your chances of scoring a job by completing a course a month. Ideally.
Taking free training as often as you can will help you feel a sense of accomplishment. You’ll have something to celebrate and achieve. You will also get to add it to your CV!
Taking training will help you feel more productive while making you more qualified for your dream job. It’s really a win/win situation.
2 – Ask for Feedback
If there is anything we’ve learned this year, it’s that the people around us are so vital! So let’s not just ask for feedback after interviews, let’s ask the people around us for it too.
If you know someone else hunting for a job, do a CV swap and review each other’s applications. Ask your mum to read through your cover letter. Speak to your university’s career’s department and see if they will review your CV.
The people around you are honestly invaluable.
3 – Put Yourself Out There
Now this is a difficult one to do. But if you’re trying to get a job over other really talented candidates, you’ve got to do everything you can to stand out.
So cold email that company you really want to work for. Connect with that person on LinkedIn you like and ask them a question. When you get rejected but you really feel like you should’ve gotten the job, explain your disappointment, love of the company and that you’re going to apply again.
All of this stuff will hopefully make you a more memorable candidate.
I would also say that volunteering to help friends with projects or local charities with their work is super effective too.
4 – Take Time for Yourself
There are very few things I would rank higher than finding a job. Taking just one day off from applying would make me feel guilty and gross – like I was sabotaging my own future.
That’s stupid.
If you need to go for a walk and take a bath and think about nothing for a few hours, do it!
This is one of my regrets about hunting for a job. I would agonise over every application and make sure to apply to every job I was remotely interested in.
But really, you can afford to be picky. Because then the jobs you apply to will be the ones you truly want. Your passion and excitement will show and your chances of scoring a job will soar.
Also, your mental health is way more important than missing out on one application.
5 – Be Optimistic
I get it, hunting for a job was never supposed to be this hard! But your mood can seriously affect your mental health.
I’ve got no tips for this one, but let’s start 2021 optimistic about finding a job. We’ve actually got loads in the pipeline, so January could be your time!
You’ve got this.