Job Search Tip:Job searching is an important part of your career - without it you cannot build a successful job track record! Therefore you will need to be organized and keep track of your progress, which will help you determine which job search tactics are working best for you. This can be as simple as using a deck of blank 3 inch by 5 inch index cards! For just a few dollars at a store you can get several sets of blank index cards with different colors each. Each time you apply for a job, write the job title at the top of the card, then below it write the date on which you applied for the job. Then add in the name of the staffing agency or the name of the website where you found the job listing. If your index cards come in multiple colors, you can use the card color to indicate the version of the resume that you sent to the recruiter for that job (otherwise you would need to write down the version number or name of the resume file that you sent to them). Then, once you hear back from the recruiter, write the date on which they responded to you and also the number of days it took for them to reply to you in parentheses after the date. If they ask you to come to an interview, write that date on the card also, and the number of days from your initial submission inside parentheses. Do this for every job you apply to on a new index card. You can also do the same thing within a spreadsheet file on your computer, with each row representing a different job position that you apply to, and placing the event dates in columns across the spreadsheet and use a datediff function to count the days between them and then sort the list according to the day counts by resume version. After a while you will be able to see which versions of your resume get the fastest responses from hiring managers, and then you can use that knowledge to speed up your job search!
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