So why don't we treat it like one?

Searching for a job, whether it's a graduate job, an internship or a summer vacation program, can be a real pain-staking process and demands a lot of work and effort from you. It’s therefore really important to manage your job searching process, as it’s often too easy for it to become secondary to other tasks when you’re as busy as we all are today.

Think about it! When you’re not snoozing in lectures or working at the coffee shop, you’re out living it up with your mates. Searching for jobs becomes that ‘thing you do’ when you’ve got half an hour free between dinner and coffee with a friend.

So change that. We’re not necessarily saying you need to spend more time on your job search, but make sure the time you do spend has a bit more structure and purpose. In addition, if you’re spending about an hour a day searching for jobs, make sure you’re in the zone and not thinking about which movie you want to see next Tuesday or what you’ll be wearing to the 21st on the weekend.

Create a workspace – De-clutter your desk and set it up as your home office. It’s tempting to grab your laptop and sit on the bed or the couch, but by placing yourself at the desk with your back straight and your head up you’ll remain alert and concentrated.

Establish a schedule – Pick out the times of day that you seem to consistently devote to job searching and make a framework or schedule to work around. This way, you can allocate time to search for jobs, work on applications and send out resumes. Remember to pick times when you’re at your peak, as you want all your energy going into this. We’ve all sent out that application where there’s a silly spelling mistake in the opening line of your cover letter that you only discover after the e-mail is well and truly delivered!

Sort out your email – Categorize emails related to your job search based on the position and the status. This way, you won’t be scrambling through e-mails or trying to hit the right search word to find and keep up with any communication between you and a potential employer.

Cut down admin time – With all the new features available on graduate job sites such as Job Tracker, you can select the type of jobs you’re interested in once and the automatic feature will push out jobs relating to your criteria directly to your e-mail so you’re not spending an hour each week filtering through all the positions on the website. Other sites allow you to ‘Save Search’ based on the different keywords you type in, so each time you visit, a single click will filter out the jobs for you.

You’ll find it surprising how these simple tips can allow you to focus on the quality of your applications and ensure that you are on top of your game when you click that Send button. You only get one shot at applying for a potential job, why waste it by not being prepared?