6 Ways to Use Your Phone to Improve Your Job Search

Most people would say their favourite gadget is their phone.  For many, it is their only gadget.  2017 research found that nearly 90% of Irish adults own a smartphone, with the top three uses being email, social media and news/weather.  28% of people check their phones all day, every day.

Your phone gives you a chance to contribute to wider conversations, it allows you to focus on your strengths and interests and it builds your knowledge.  For most people, it’s indispensable.

But a smartphone is probably also your kryptonite.  Job searching can pull down your emotions and your fatigue to the point where you are not thinking clearly and are losing your potency of thought.   A phone can exacerbate that fatigue. 

Here are 6 ways to use your favourite gadget to centre your search and raise the quality of your thoughts again.   

1.     Follow the Path Already Travelled

There are people already doing what you would like to be doing. List five organisations you would love to work for and follow them on all your social media pages. Look for inspiration, industry knowledge, opportunities.  Go directly to Career Opportunities listings on their websites instead of waiting to see them on job sites.

Search for jobs on job sites that have a more personal handprint.
JobAlert.ie is a smaller Irish job site with strong employer engagement.
Activelink.ie is a specific site for the community and non-profit sectors.
Jobs.ie have a 4.6 star rating on their app and you can apply directly to the employer.

Look for professionals within those organisations that may have a public profile that is worth following on a platform you already use.  Look at the About Us section of organisations, or take a look at their list of board members.  Consider small recruitment start-ups.  Do they have CEO’s with strong public profiles?  You may see opportunities by following the individuals as much as the organisations.

By bringing new voices into your newsfeed, you may spark an idea you haven’t had before. 

2.     Name Your Themes

Quieten the noise by knowing the themes of your job hunt and following these as hashtags across social media. 

One of your themes is the sector of work you are looking for.  Follow this theme using hashtag functions on social media, in particular LinkedIn.  Build your knowledge.

Jobseeking is another theme.  #Jobsfairy and #Jobfairy are useful follows across social media.  If you find a good resource for jobseeking in your context, follow that resource directly and keep an eye on it.

Another theme is a community that you may belong to.  Do you have characteristics which define your job hunt?  Are you a career returner?  Have you moved to or returned to Ireland?  Are you looking to juggle work with home life or a sideline? What about your age group?   Your location?

Use these keywords to find support and communities to join on Instagram and Facebook.  Look for groups and organisations that ‘get’ you and your context.

3.     Instagram and Facebook

Consider separating your professional self from your other social media personas.  Instagram is surprisingly effective for setting up a work-focused page.  It is better to have a separate Instagram page that has 25 priority-focused follows than to add them into an already busy feed.  The imagery that floods your feed generates calm, motivation and ideas.  And going there to jobseek is a conscious decision that you make.

JobAlert.ie provide targeted job listings by county.  So you can follow ‘Galway Jobs’ or ‘Tipperary Jobs’ on Instagram or Facebook, making it easy to spot new opportunities.

Replenish your energy.  Follow local groups that spotlight your area with free initiatives like your Local Development Company, your local Council or innovative responses to things you care about.

Is there a Facebook group for your profession in Ireland?  This is a place to generate ideas and build connections within your industry.  When you are contributing to a discussion, aim to be a helpful person who stays on point.

4.     LinkedIn 

LinkedIn should be an app on our phone so that when you move to kill time on social media, you get into the habit of opening LinkedIn as much as any other app.   

All you need is a simple LinkedIn profile with all sections complete and a professional-looking photo (not a holiday snap).  At the top of your profile you can click to show recruiters you are open for work, and you can control who sees this.

Start to say hello on LinkedIn as you would in real life.  Add a short note to an invitation to connect. Comment on people’s posts.  Build a network.  Start to look for people whose message you connect with or who are living out your dreams.  

Use LinkedIn like Facebook: comment and share and like content. Done right, your LinkedIn feed will look like a vibrant Facebook-like newsfeed with a professional orientation.

5.     Zoom

Job searching is an isolating experience.  Try combatting that by scheduling a Zoom call over coffee with a good friend.

Make it someone who won’t give you platitudes but will be happy to offer you practical help such as endorsing your skills on LinkedIn or introducing you via email to a friend who works in your field.

Make it someone you have fun chatting with!

6.     Know When to Fold

You may want to try scheduling times of the day when your phone is not with you. You can see it as a placeholder for something else in your day.  Put your phone out of your reach so that you have to consciously stretch for it. Choose the radio, a podcast, a book, a chat or some quiet reflection instead. Change the habit and see how it makes you feel.

Finally, if you spend a lot of time on a network that has yielded no opportunities, it is time to rethink that and reassess where you spend your energies.

Job searching is an act of putting yourself out there for external approval.   It takes its toll.   By valuing your time and how you spend it, you are showing yourself a kindness. 

Jobseeking: Connect first with yourself, then others

Here’s how I became a Career Counsellor:  I went to see one for advice.  I wasn’t making inroads in my career of choice.  I was sitting opposite the Career Counsellor when I had the realisation: I really want your job.  I sought her advice then and there: how do I do what you do? 

She was interested by my interest in her.  A week later, she rang me.  She’d been contacted by a university promoting distance learning studies in Career Development.  Would I be interested in learning more?  I said yes.

 Two years later and I contacted an Employment Service for advice.  I asked the Manager if she would meet with me and she said yes.  She gave me an hour of her time, even arranged for me to work shadow one of her team for a morning.   I didn’t ask for a job, instead I asked: how do I prepare for working somewhere like this?  

 A few days later, she contacted me that she had heard of a vacancy in a sister service.  I applied and interviewed and I got it: my dream job.

We are all Self Employed

In many ways, employment is temporary.  It is your career that you are in control of.  You are the decision maker.  And the way to take control is to know that you are working for yourself now.  Let people know what you need and give them a chance to respond to it.  Expand your knowledge base by asking for advice.

 Develop your interests to form a new network with a wider reach than the one you have now.  What is the worst that can happen?

Job Seeking Skills are actually Self-Marketing Skills

Self-Marketing means you focus on your employability, not on being employed.  You want to create and sustain your own opportunities in work, learning and life. 

In these COVID times, reaching out can be gentle.  You can sign up for something and quietly attend.  You can make connections in a way that is comfortable for you.

• Keep a structure to your day:  Get up at the same time.  Make space in the day for making connections and give one hour to it every day.  

• Spark your interests: Make a cup of tea and watch a TED talk.   Listen to a podcast.  Sign up for a free webinar from the library.  Enjoy taking the time to know yourself.  Pay attention to what interests you. 

• Control your filter:  fill your social media feed with new content by following employers, magazines or professionals who write about your industry. Follow one and then from their feed pick two more to follow.  Unfollow or hide content you no longer enjoy.

• Know what you’re looking for: write down three knowledge gaps.  Tell yourself: I’m going to do one thing this week that moves me closer to filling one gap.  I’m going to persevere and practice.

• Fill your knowledge gaps: take a new course (I link to free ones below), learn new skills, sign up for a conference, attend a webinar on anything you find interesting.  Use your new sources to generate ideas.  What are other people listening to?

• Make connections: set up a Linked In page and invite people to connect with you on Linked In – say hi on a Zoom chat at a webinar and see what happens!    Look for new opportunities to learn and practice filling those gaps, one step at a time. 

 Don’t keep your jobseeking a secret

 Don’t be scared of networking. What’s now called networking is how Irish people have operated for millennia.  We love a good recommendation from someone we trust before we do anything. People often turn to a family friend or a neighbour to get a leg up.

 So if you have ever posted in a Facebook or WhatsApp group looking for a recommendation or if you have ever replied to one, then you have networked.  It is no more mysterious than that.

 Let someone in your network know you are actively seeking a job. Think about all the people you have worked with or who know you well.  Choose someone who is positioned well to introduce you to others and who is likely to be happy and interested to hear from you.

Be clear about what you want. If it is someone you know, you can let them know you are actively seeking new work and that you are looking for some advice about where there are vacancies or how you would prepare to work somewhere like their work.

Connect with those who are connected with others

Then list potential prospects: list organisations that do what you want to do, and who you could contact there.  Are you more comfortable starting with someone you know or a stranger?  Make it a planned and targeted networking campaign.  

 If it is someone you don’t know, don’t ask for a job.  Ask them for advice.   Ask them for a half hour of their time.  And try to leave that meeting with one more recommendation of someone you could talk to. 

I contacted lots of people at the time I contacted the Employment Service but I only needed one to be the right opportunity.

Make a connection.  First with yourself, then with others.

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