Do you need money as soon as possible? Here are some strategic ways to organize your job search to get results faster.
When you hit the metaphorical pavement in your remote work job search, the search itself can start to feel like a full-time job. But time is money, and the last thing you want to do is waste precious energy searching job sites, especially if that time is spent looking for a job.
If you’re struggling to land a quality job that matches your impressive skill set, it’s time to work smarter, not harder. For a more strategic and organized approach, invest more energy on the search front end and start combing through job listings. If you approach the process with a more customized resume and a list of high-quality search terms that will take you directly to the types of jobs you’re looking for, finding the right job will be much easier.
Grab a cup of your favorite beverage, sit in your favorite chair, and get ready for work. After experiencing job search burnout, it’s time to replace remote work with the energy and momentum you need to hit the ground running.
Common issues with remote job searches
Whether you find yourself drowning in irrelevant job postings that don’t really align with your skill set or long-term goals, or you’re applying to a ton of remote work jobs with no invitation from employers, the end result is the same. It means you need a job but can’t find one. But figuring out why it keeps happening could be the key to getting to the interview stage.
To succeed in your job search, it helps to start by understanding why good remote work quests fail. The most common reasons why this occurs are:
Applicant Tracking Software (ATS)
If you haven’t heard back after submitting dozens or hundreds of applications, your resume may not be getting through the ATS firewall. An ATS is a selection program that many employers use to streamline the process by filtering candidates based on specific qualifications they are looking for, listed directly on their resumes.
Just as websites that use certain search engine optimization (SEO) keywords are more likely to show up in a Google search, your resume may be screened for missing certain keywords that an employer’s ATS will screen. To overcome this barrier, you should avoid more generic resumes and instead include specific keywords in your resume that employers are looking for.
Less relevant qualifications
If you’ve been job hunting for a while, it’s completely understandable if you start spamming resumes with the words “remote work” in every job posting. But with more job seekers than ever turning to AI job search platforms, it’s almost certain that many of those resumes are running into a major bottleneck of generic resumes or resumes with poorly matched skills. And that doesn’t help anyone.
On the other hand, if you oversell your skill set with an attractive salary, you may end up wasting everyone’s time with poor interviews. That’s why it’s important to carefully read all job postings you’re interested in to make sure your skills, accomplishments, and overall qualifications match each job you’re applying for. It’s better to apply for the few jobs you actually have a chance to get than to waste your precious job-search energy on too many bad offers.
Job search is too general
Even if you’ve applied very carefully to jobs that match your set of qualifications, you’ll often end up with a long list of job postings that don’t quite match what you’re looking for. And who has the time to look through hundreds of job openings just to find one or two that might get a follow-up?
To filter out all of these bad matches, you need more specific search terms that bring you closer to the job you’re looking for. Start taking notes during your job search and experiment with search terms to find search engine languages that produce more of what you’re looking for. Write down the keywords that come up while searching for job openings that are suitable for you. Even better, take screenshots of the best job listings so you can spend your free time finding the right job search keywords.
ghost job
One of the most frustrating phenomena when looking for a job today is the “ghost job.” This is the kind of job site apparition that no one ever intended for you to apply to. And unfortunately, these creepy little lists have become so ubiquitous that they’re really starting to destroy morale.
term ghost job Refers to almost any job that an employer lists without intending to hire. In some cases, the list exists because the company appears to be fulfilling its promise to offer the job to an external candidate, even though the hiring manager or hiring team has already chosen to promote someone internally.
Another common reason ghost jobs occur is to misrepresent an organization’s growth to the company’s shareholders. Some organizations use ghost jobs to conduct free market research on the quality of candidates who might be interested in a role, whether to hire at a later date or to build a pool of candidates just in case.
Regardless of the company’s reason for posting, ghost job offers can be a major hindrance to anyone’s job search, and these days they tend to clog job sites in general. These can be difficult to avoid, but by taking the time to review the specific details provided in job postings, you can potentially reduce these time-wasters.
Refine your resume and cover letter
You probably won’t land your dream job by simply uploading a generic resume and cover letter to a new job posting. But with a few highly customized resumes and cover letters, with just a few tweaks, you can be ready in no time and potentially streamline your job search process.
Think of the job search process as recursive. You can refer to your notes between job searches and polish your resume and cover letter as you come across new qualifications that keep popping up on your list. For example, a remote freelance writer might create slightly different resumes and cover letters for the separate roles of business blog writer, web content creator, and travel writer.
Organize individual job application materials into separate folders on your hard drive or a cloud storage system like Google Drive so you can quickly retrieve them when you need them. That way, you won’t have to waste time rewriting, or worse, miss out on job opportunities because you aren’t ready to upload the specific resume for the role when you need it. Also, don’t forget to update your LinkedIn page, which may be ignored at the same time, as many employers are checking them these days.
Set up a dedicated job search schedule
It’s easy to get caught up in your current responsibilities (not to mention the job you already have). Don’t miss out on the best jobs by cramming your job search into after-work breaks, school events, and family dinners.
Choose at least one day each week to look for work and set a reminder on your phone so you don’t miss it. Having a clear job search schedule and plenty of privacy can also help ensure you have enough mental space to focus and pay attention to your remote job search.
Download job tracker
If you haven’t already, it’s well worth starting to track which jobs you’ve applied for and exactly where you are in the job search process. Of course, you can always go old-fashioned and start tracking your job applications with a good old spiral notebook and a No. 2 pencil, Excel or Google Sheets, or a downloadable planner like the WFH Career Planner by Holly.
But if you want to truly improve your job search experience and make sure you don’t miss a thing, there are some really cool job tracking platforms and apps you can download. All-in-one tracking hubs like Teal, Huntr, Notion, and Jobscan offer a wide range of tools, from simple job application tracking to resume builders with tips to crack ATS. Some platforms and subscription plans also offer tools to track application deadlines and note pages with frequently asked interview questions and company information that can impress your interviewer.
Final thoughts and advice
If you’ve submitted hundreds of resumes for a high-quality, high-paying remote job, don’t get discouraged or feel like you’re a less valuable candidate. The harsh reality is that ghost jobs and AI are making job hunting more frustrating than ever in recent years. In other words, it’s probably not a reflection on yourself or what you bring to the table.
At the same time, you teeth You are the right candidate for a good remote job. Investing in the effort required to organize and streamline your search will give you a significant advantage over the competition and help you land the right remote job quickly.
What are your favorite hacks and tips for organizing your job search while working remotely? Let us know in the comments. Good luck to all you amazing work-from-home women out there in your remote work search!
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