How to Be an Organized Job Seeker?

If you are currently looking for a job, here are four questions to you:

1. If company X would call you regarding your application, could you track back the position in less than 1 minute?
2. Did you follow up on all your applications?
3. Can you find back the names of managers you met at the last networking event?
4. Do you still have an idea which version of your CV you sent to whom?

If you have four YES-es, then congratulations, it seems like you are really well organised! However, if you have less than four, probably you could benefit from some tips in this regard.

Why do we want to be well organised? There are a number of reasons for that; here are a couple of them:

• Professionalism - It doesn't give a good impression to the recruiter, if upon giving you a call, you don't even have a clue who you are talking to or even worse, you ask them "Which position was that?". This tells the recruiter that (a) you don't have much interest and / or (b) you send out tons of applications, neither of which is appealing to the recruiter. Just by introducing some sort of system into your job search, you can really make the difference at the first call and come across as someone truly professional.
• Resource management - Also, you want to make sure you make the most out of the resources you are having - that is recording all information, contacts you are having and CV versions so that you can use these efficiently.
• Planning - It gives you an opportunity to plan and not be drowned by a pile of "to do" tasks. Once you have a clear overview of where you stand and what needs to be done, it is easy to create tasks around that.
• Stats - And last, but not least, with registering all important information, you can regularly check out your job search statistics and see where you might need to improve. For example, if you see that you sent out 80 CVs and had no positive feedback, then you can see that there is something wrong with your CV. However, if you have a good response rate but the process tends to stop after the interview, then you need to enhance rather your interviewing skills.

So much about the benefits of being well organized in our job search. And now let's see some practical tips on how to get there.

You will need five tools for this. Here they go:

1. Calendar - you will need a calendar where you will register every single appointment around your job search. If you choose a calendar in your computer, make sure you also keep a synchronised paper version with you all the time, in case a recruiter will catch you on the road.

2. Contact management system - if you are really active in your search (and let's assume you are!), probably you will need a system to keep record of all contacts you come across on events or any other sources. You can choose among lots of systems for this purpose, a simple Outlook Contacts tool or Plaxo will do for this.

3. Task management system - Some people prefer to use computer systems, others choose sticky notes to keep record of tasks. Beware of this latter if you have more than one note on your desk! You need to be clear with your to do tasks and priorities, so use a clean space or system to record them!

4. Folder - Make sure you create a new space for all job related documents on your computer. During the course of your job search, you might have more than 20-30 different versions of your CV, you want to name them so that you can find them back easily. One easy way is to call them "Erika Kalmar Career Coach - for Apple" (your name - job title - company name). This contains all necessary information for your own records AND sounds personalised for the recruiter as well. In case you have lots of print out papers related to your job search, keep also a paper folder. The best is actually, if you keep this with you all the time (for example job descriptions you applied to), again, for the case a recruiter calls you when you are away from your desk.

5. Status report document - I strongly recommend you keeping a document where you record all important information regarding your search. A simple Excel sheet will do for this purpose. Prepare the following columns (in any order you wish): Company name, Location (if applicable), Position, Source, Contact's name & Source, CV sent date, follow-up date, 1st interview, Interviewers, 2nd interview, Interviewers, Offer, Feedback. This will give you a good overview of your job search process, the steps to accomplish and can serve as statistics to see which part of the job search you need to improve. You can fill in the Company - Position - Source columns as soon as you dig out a job or company lead somewhere. You can see later clearly in this sheet that no action was taken so preparing and sending your CV will go to your task list. Again later, you will see that CV went out 2 weeks ago and still no response, so time to follow up and so forth.

You see? It is not that complicated to create your own system for your job search, it is just to DO IT. And once it is done, I would be curious to hear your feedback on what systems you implemented, how you benefitted from this, and any tips you might want to share with others on your way of doing it.

Good luck with your search!

Career Wellness Coach Erika Kalmar helps you clarify your true career path, find the job you have been longing for and design your career to move towards the goals you set.

Having spent the last 10 years in recruitment, Erika realised the importance of career wellness as opposed to career success and applies this in her approach with clients. She is working with knowledge worker professionals who want to bring in more balance and fulfilment in their career lives, by offering f*ree career tools, articles, career support community and coaching.

Get your complimentary 29-page Job Search Toolkit with top tips, mistakes to avoid and templates at http://www.getreadyforjob.com/job-search-toolkit-sign-up.