#027 - New Year, New Job?

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(As you know, I’ve talked about Teal approximately 976 times across LinkedIn and in this newsletter since I found out about them. So, I’m a tad excited to be partnering up with them.)

January 1st - New Year’s Day - is an arbitrary date.

(Bear with me.)

As are January 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th (hey, that’s today!)

The whole calendar is weird, actually. Have you noticed? ‘Sept’ means seven and yet September is the 9th month. ‘Oct’ means eight and October is the 10th month. ‘Nov’ means nine and November is the 11th month. ‘Dec’ means ten and December is the 12th month.

The only date that isn’t arbitrary is June 2nd. (My birthday.)

Anyway.

(Bearing with me? Good, and thank you.)

The reason I say the above is because, yes, no date inherently means anything. But we’ve made a new year mean something, and that was smart of us. (Well, smart of the Babylonians.) 

It was smart because rather than meaning nothing it’s now become a time of reinvigoration. Of reinvention. Of restarting. Of refreshing. Of recalibration. Of recharging. Of resetting. (Okay, that’s enough.)

What does that mean for your job search?

(Well done for bearing with me.)

It’s a great excuse to follow up, for one. Get in touch with all the people you spoke with last year, whether it was because you interviewed with them, heard from them about a job, connected with them on LinkedIn, or corresponded via carrier pigeon. Ask how their new year was. Ask if they ever filled that role. Ask if they know of any other roles coming up (but please, please make sure you check the careers website first).

It’s also a great time to do something different. Perhaps you didn’t engage on LinkedIn that much last year. If you didn’t, you’re missing out, and you can change that right now. Make sure your profile is properly filled out, follow and connect with people who are potential hiring managers and decision-makers, and engage and comment on people’s posts within your (desired) industry. There are a billion people on LinkedIn and it’s free to use. So. You know. Use it.

And finally, whether you’re just starting your job search or carrying over from last year, it’s a great time to take a fresh look at your CV/resume. Yes, I know the market’s been tougher than an overcooked steak (medium rare, please) and I’m sure your CV is solid but you might as well use the new year energy to take another glance at it. A few reminders:

• The goal of a CV is to get you an interview. Nothing more, nothing less.

• Results > responsibilities. If you’re struggling with this, choose one responsibility and write it down. Then ask yourself, “And then what happened?” Or, “And what was the result of that?”

• A recruiter might read hundreds of CVs a day, and possibly well over a thousand in a week. That means your CV needs to have a good “user experience.” Normal font size, plenty of white space, and two pages is 100% okay.

• The job description will tell you what the hiring manager and company value. That’s why you need to tailor your CV to it.

• You can use Teal to help with all the above. Just saying.

Now, as was written in the Daily Stoic email a few days ago, there are two very human tendencies to be aware of when the new year comes:

1. A lot of us - rather than just starting - are always getting ready to start.

2. Or we start - and we start strong - and then we fall off.

If you’ve ever tried to improve yourself in any way - not just in terms of your job search - then you’ll have experienced the above. But as they say, knowing is half the battle. So if you haven’t quite started yet or you started strong but are falling off a bit, go easy on yourself. You’re far from alone.

As ever, you got this.

Cheers!

PS I went go karting this weekend. Please wish me retroactive luck.

PPS Try Teal. It’s free. This is the first and only newsletter partnership I’ve accepted. Why? Because our missions align: to help you, the job seeker.