On the 11^th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

….11 Pipers Piping! For our penultimate twist we have gone for: On the 11^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 11 ways to keep motivated,10 years in detail, 9 pages too long, 8 mistakes of applications, 7 deadly sins of job hunting, 6 Key Achievements, 5 Golden Rules, 4 calling cards, 3 networks, 2 referees and a killer CV.

This is a subject often comes up, both now in my CV writing capacity and previously when I was recruiting, candidates do find it hard to keep motivated when looking for a new role so here is a list to help you along your way:

1. Keep it fresh – try different aspects of job hunting, from job boards to networking and identifying roles which aren’t necessarily advertised.
2. Set aside an hour a day – don’t turn job hunting into a daily trawl, if you are currently in employment then you needn’t put all your spare time into finding a role if you set up jobs by email and google alerts.
3. Ask a friend – speak to your peers and find out what they do when looking for work, you may learn something new.
4. Chase up – follow up your applications to understand how they are being received.
5. Ask for feedback – not only from recruiters but from your peers, find out if the methods you are using and the CV itself is clear and says all the right things.
6. Take a holiday – this doesn’t necessarily mean pack your bags and jump on a plane, taking a break from looking at new roles can really help you come back with a fresh outlook.
7. Get out – go to networking events, seminars, training sessions, etc there are plenty of free events around so attend and see what is new in your field.
8. Research companies rather than jobs – looking into businesses you would like to work for can yield more success. Look out for changes in an organisation and make speculative applications based on these before they decide to advertise the role!
9. Grow thick skin – I know rejection after rejection can be hard but you need to take on board the fact that you are one of many applying for these roles so this time you weren’t lucky but next time you might be.

10. Go above and beyond – join in group discussions on LinkedIn and Twitter, get yourself noticed, you’ll be surprised where this gets you.

11. Write about it – create a blog talking through the pitfalls of finding a new job, don’t focus on the negatives and keep it upbeat. You could help others, let off steam and may get some assistance along the way!

On the 1^st day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a Killer CV

On the 2^nd day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me Two Referees

On the 3^rd day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me Three Networks

On the 4^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards 

On the 5^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 5 golden rules

On the 6^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 6 Key achievements

On the 7th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me the 7 deadly sins of job hunting

On the 8th day of Christmas The CV righter gave to me 8 mistakes of applications

On the 9^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 9 pages too long

On the 10^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 10 years in detail

On the 11^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 11 ways to keep motivated