How to Kickstart Your Job Search

Around the first quarter of ever year, lots of people feel motivated to start searching for a new job. However, launching a job search can be daunting and time consuming, and plenty of people quit before they even get going. TSP is a company that believes in hiring great people and providing many opportunities to employees, and we believe in encouraging job candidates everywhere to find the best fit.

BE OPEN TO COMPANIES THAT MIGHT BE HIDDEN GEMS
Lots of people want to apply to big companies with strong branding, and the idea makes sense. Sometimes there’s a comfort level that comes with a household name. However, a big name doesn’t mean much when it comes to employee satisfaction. When checking job boards and doing research on which companies you want to apply to, keep an eye on social media and any awards the business may have won for having a great work environment, happy employees, and perks that make the job even better.

A company’s culture may be hard to spot from the outside, but taking the time to look at culture will help you narrow down those places you’ll be happier working with in the long term.

CONCENTRATE HARDER ON APPLYING TO FEWER JOBS
The Internet has made “spray and pray” job applications easy, allowing job seekers to plaster the job market with thousands of applications as quickly as they can click. However, though algorithms and computers often choose who gets through the first round of applications, it’s not always good to write your resume to please the machines.

Instead of busting out as many applications as possible, try focusing on just a handful and make them really count. Get your “resume SEO” in to show you have the right qualifications, but personalize each cover letter to prove you’re genuinely interested in both the job and the company. You might be surprised at how much time you actually end up saving — and how much better the resulting response is. Think quality, not quantity.

ONLY APPLY TO JOBS YOU'RE GENUINELY EXCITED ABOUT
This rule goes hand in hand with the tip about applying to fewer jobs overall. When you blast the application world with countless resumes and don’t even remember where you applied (or why), if you do get a response, you might not even know who’s calling and your reaction will probably be bland and confused.

However, if you get a response from a job posting that you couldn’t wait to hear about, you’ll be ready to engage right then and there, which will instantly set you apart a worthy candidate. Only applying to jobs you’re actually interested in will save a lot of time, plus ensure that you have plenty of enthusiasm and background knowledge when you hear back about scheduling an interview.