5 Tips to Supercharge Your Job Search in 2015

January 19, 2015 Written By Jaime Grimes

While inspirational quotes tell you things like “Don’t wait for your ship to come in; swim out and get it!” the reality is that swimming for a long time can make your arms tired. If you’ve been in the job search pool for awhile, stay afloat with these five tips to supercharge your job search in the new year.

Look for a job like it’s a full-time job. To be done right, job searching must be thorough and will probably be time-consuming. If you’ve been half-heartedly applying for a job here and there, it’s time to revisit your goals and list some iron-clad tactics to help you get there. Create a checklist of daily tasks related to your job search to keep you on track, advised Simon North, founder of Position Ignition, in a Forbes article.

Contact a recruiter. Has it been awhile since you heard from the recruiter who placed you at your last job? Take the bull by the horns and call your recruiter first, with the intent of updating him or her with your latest skills. Maybe the recruiter has a heads up on a position coming down the pipeline that you’d be a good fit for. If you don’t have a recruiter, call or email a staffing agency and get one.

Update your LinkedIn profile. Since 93 percent of recruiters search for job candidates on LinkedIn, your LinkedIn profile is your chance to get a little necessary job-seeking publicity. A few focal points: Brand your LinkedIn headline for what you want to be seen as, since recruiters are looking for specific titles, according to The Undercover Recruiter. Add a “Keywords” paragraph into your Summary section with searchable job skills, and make your Summary section different from your Experience; i.e., write your Summary section so it’s a true summary of your skills and valuable experience.

Download our job search app. Why? First, it’s free. Second, you can create and save filtered job searches, which mean you can receive an alert each time a new job in our system matches your very specific health IT skill set. Third, you can upload and save a current resume, so sending your resume to a new job is a breeze. Learn more about our mobile job search app, available for Apple and Android devices.

Meet someone for lunch. No, just the act of eating lunch won’t land you a job, but networking with someone new does wonders for your job search, says Boston.com guest writer David Sanford. Set a goal to go on more networking lunch dates with your contacts, and see if you don’t land a few job leads. There’s a reason they call it networking.