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Motivating yourself to find a job by Scott Boyd

I am lazy.  I like web design because I ultimately want to work (and I use the term loosely) from home.

I don’t like mornings.  I don’t like working set hours.  I would rather work through the night than drag myself out of bed each morning and go to work.

During the times that I was unemployed, I really didn’t do as much as I should have to find work.

This article is a retrospective reflection on my experiences with some advice on how to motivate your self to get out there and a find a job.

Set your goals

You first need to decide on what you want to do. 

Are you looking a job that is the same as the one you had before, or do you want to move up a level?  Perhaps you may want to change industries altogether?  Or do you just want to pay the bills?

You have to decide what you want to do right at the beginning of your job search – it’s the basis for your CV and all the job applications you make.

Looking for jobs

Set aside some time each day where you can concentrate on looking for jobs.

Initially, you should be spending a lot of time creating an effective CV.  After this you can spend time on the following areas:

• Registering with recruitment agencies

• Searching recruitment websites

• Scanning the local and national press

• Finding trade journals that may have jobs advertised for your industry

• Sending out speculative letters to potential employers

• Applying for advertised jobs (and customising your CV and covering letters if necessary)

• Chasing up old contacts to find out about vacancies

• Check the local job centre / employment office

• Following up any letters you have sent out

You should split your tasks up so you can use your time efficiently.

For example, you can enter local recruitment agency information (address, etc) into a database and mail merge your covering letter.  This way you can get them all out and mailed in the same day.  This is also useful for sending out speculative letters, although these should really be customised for best effect.

From a marketing point of view, it may be worthwhile calling the office and finding out the name of a contact there to send your CV to.  Instead of your letter going into a “to be actioned” pile of mail, it will go directly to the recruitment consultant.

You can use MS Access to set up a simple database to do this and print out your personalised covering letters from MS Word.

If you haven’t used these before, then don’t worry.  Although it seems difficult to begin with, you can pick it up in no time (and Microsoft products have tonnes of guides, templates, help and online tutorials to assist you).

Staying motivated

It is a difficult process looking for jobs, as it can take a while to find results.  There is a great uncertainty that we all go through – we don’t get replies to our letter, we don’t know when our next pay cheque will arrive, we are not achieving anything with our days, etc.

Don’t worry about it.  You are not alone – we all go through this.

There are some things you can do to help your job prospects and stay motivated at the same time.

• Keep busy (it will take your mind off any responses you are waiting on)

• Voluntary work (shows that you are doing something useful with your spare time and helps add to your CV and build your experience)

• DIY (get those shelves fixed and paint the bathroom)

• Sport (any kind of exercise can help you reduce the stress of job hunting)

• Socialise (difficult if your mates are all at work, but you can use your free time to catch up with people)

• Chat with people on our forum (the are others who are going through the same thing as you – you can exchange job hunting ideas with each other)

The main thing to remember is to not over do it!

Even when unemployed, you still have a job to do – find a job!  And it is perhaps one of the most difficult and stressful jobs to do.  You must balance your time between finding work and keeping the stress levels down.

Are you confident that you have done everything you can today to find a job (be honest)?  Good!  Then relax a bit – there’s no point in stressing about stuff you can’t control.

Good Luck!

Regards

Scott Boyd - Webmaster and Founder - Jobseekers Advice

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