Job hunting as a recent graduate isn’t easy.
When you’re applying and interviewing for many different graduate jobs, staying organised during this time is crucial for your sanity, as well as your hopes of securing the right position.
Above all else, good organisational skills will give you huge confidence in looking for graduate jobs.
Likewise, employers will pick up on this winning transferable skill.
Want to stay organised on your job search? Read our job search advice tips and tricks to find out how:
1. Sync your calendars
Throughout the process of job searching, you will encounter various application deadlines, interviews to attend, and online tasks where timing is everything.
Using a digital calendar and reminders to manage your diary will be crucial; primarily because they can provide helpful notifications.
Try syncing your calendar to all devices (smartphone, laptop, etc.), and adding new items to the calendar as soon as they are arranged.
This will help you make sure you’re not missing any important deadlines.
If you’re really committed to being organised while you’re job searching, you could also colour code your Google calendar, so that all of your application deadlines and interviews are in certain colours that make them easy to see at a quick glance.
2. Make a digital spreadsheet of key details
When you’re applying for several graduate jobs across multiple companies, it’s easy to get things confused.
A simple spreadsheet that lists the company, contact name and details, interview types, and other key information will serve you well as you’re job searching for graduate roles.
Include a link to the company website so that you can quickly refresh your mind about crucial details when you’re preparing your answers to interview questions, and prior to any interaction with the recruiter.
Colour coding the spreadsheet will also help you remember which roles are your priority.
As your job search continues, you can also track which interviews have already been completed.
When you’re searching for jobs, it’s always a good idea to carry a print out with you in your bag, in case you get an unexpected phone call or short interview from an employer.
We recommend also having a copy of your CV, to ensure you’re not put on the spot in case you need to refer to any details.
Find out tips on how to answer a graduate phone interview call.
3. Sync your emails
In today’s competitive graduate jobs market, the bulk of your communications will be handled through email.
As such, you must be ready to respond to all messages quickly and professionally when you’re job searching for graduate roles. Using iCloud email on your Mac and smartphone ensures that you are notified of new emails.
In many cases, being one of the first to respond to an email from a Recruitment Consultant or Hiring Manager could give you a competitive edge and help make you a standout to Graduate Recruiters.
Additionally, providing quick responses to emails as they are received allows you to focus on each individual conversation, without getting muddled between different graduate jobs and particular applications.
4. Organise key supporting documents
While it might be tempting to store your graduate CV on a job site and use it for every job, the truth is that personalisation is needed.
When you’re applying for various graduate jobs, even changing a few subtle elements will work wonders for helping you to stand out in the competitive graduate market.
Meanwhile, application forms, graduate CVs and cover letters all need added attention too.
If you’re serious about staying organised as you’re job hunting, this is one of the most important job search advice tips to remember.
Organising each graduate CV on your computer as templates that can be adjusted for each job you apply to is the best solution by far.
This gives each graduate job application a better chance of success without taking hours to complete each one.
In turn, this will not only help you stay organised while job hunting, but will also improve the quality of each of your graduate job applications.
5. Make time for living while job hunting
Job hunting as a graduate is stressful, and it can consume a lot of your time.
However, you have to also remember to make time for yourself.
Aside from impacting your happiness levels, getting too stressed will also impact your chances of getting the graduate jobs you’re applying for.
As well as staying organised, make sure you’re remaining stress-free on your job search, and try to keep a balance that you’ll need to echo when you actually start your new role.
