Job search strategy

Holidays mean a lot of opportunity to socialize with people both within and outside of your field, and if you happen to be on the job market or considering making a career switch in 2019, it can also be a great opportunity to make organic connections with people who may end up helping you out in the future.

Here are 7 self reflection questions to ask yourself during the New Year to find out if you’re on the right path to achieving your career goals in the coming year.

Flexible hours. More vacation time. Work from home. Free gym memberships. Free snacks. Company-sponsored outings. Student loan payment assistance. These are some of the perks that companies dangle in order to attract top talent to their ranks.

There is a common misconception that hiring slows down during November and December. If anything, this is when you should ramp up your efforts to find great candidates. There are several reasons for this.

Should you be looking for another job? Or are you actually in a good employment situation, and simply being carried away by others’ experiences on LinkedIn or Facebook?

Do you know what your “dream job” is? Would you be able to identify it if you had multiple job offers? Many people are in search of a dream job, but don’t really know how to find one and what makes it different than other average job opportunities.

What happens in the final moments of a job interview is probably one of the most overlooked aspects of the entire job seeking or hiring process, and how you conduct yourself at these critical final moments can sway the offer in your favor (or out of it), especially if you’re in tight competition with other highly-qualified applicants.

If you’re applying for multiple jobs at the same time, perhaps over several weeks or months, things can quickly spiral out of control. You can easily find yourself with 10 or 20 different versions of your resume or cover letter floating around on your desktop, requests for materials coming at you from every direction, and a long to-do list of follow-ups, thank you notes, and applications that need submitting.

Do you need a new job, like, yesterday? Whatever your reasons for needing (or wanting) a new employer as quickly as possible, if you’re looking to kick your job search into overdrive there are a number of things you can do to speed things along.

Many job seekers take it for granted that the holidays are not the best time to be on the job market, so they suspend their job hunt until after the new year. Others get distracted by all of the holiday hullabaloo and don’t put as much time and effort into their search as they need to.