How to Find a Job in 2024

Whether you want to find a career or dream of a promotion, our advice is here to help you. If you are a rookie and looking for your first gig, these tips will help you start your search effectively. If you are a seasoned professional but are bemused why it has gotten so hard to get hired these days, you’ll find your answers.

A job hunt is a multi-staged process that rarely ends up fast and always consumes lots of time and effort. That is why you should be confident that what you are doing is right and not a waste of time.

Gather all the documents and pieces of information you need and spend some time thinking about what you have and what you want.

How to Start Looking for a New Job

Before taking action to start seeking employment, you should prepare for the task. Hunters of wild animals prepare by stocking up on ammunition for their rifles. Ammunition for job hunters means getting mentally prepared. Spend some time contemplating what would be the job of your dreams and envisioning the best place to work.

Make sure you can check all the boxes when it come to what is needed to start looking for a job:

• Get a boost and/or inspiration. You may have contemplated a need to change a job for quite a while but for some reason it has not transpired yet. If you feel fearful or anxious about a job change, trying to boost your morale is a thing to do. Read some motivational literature on career changes. Start with a classic like the 1937 all-time bestseller Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill then move on to biographies of famous people (for example, of Steve Jobs) or novels (for example, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). You can easily get inspired by the experience of other people.
• Fix your mentality. Many contenders enter job searches carrying a lot of baggage. Having remained in unsatisfying jobs, they emote dissatisfaction and unhappiness. No one says that being happy is a prerequisite for getting a job. However, many companies are increasingly looking for candidates that will fit into their work culture, and it gets really challenging for a miserable individual to fit in. This may seem like a bit of a paradox, but in fact, you can get rid of a victim mentality as soon as you realize that no one owes you anything. The sooner you can get into the right mental state, the sooner you can start looking for new opportunities.
• Work on your application package (resume + cover letter + recommendation letters). Career experts usually recommend tailoring each resume to a particular job description. This is true, but to tailor something to something else, you need to have it in the first place. Therefore, start by creating or getting a template for a resume and cover letter. Then, as soon as you find a suitable vacancy you want to apply to, you won’t have to start from scratch. You will already have a starting point, and will only have to customize some of the key elements of your document to match the opening.
• Comb down your social media. We are all on social media now, posting our personal life in buckets. Recruiters routinely check out the social media feeds of candidates just to make sure they are not about to hire a wacko that is unable to clean up their drunken pictures or lewd captions.
• Spruce up your LinkedIn page. LinkedIn has become one of the most valid sources for job seekers. Make sure you update your LinkedIn page with your latest employment history and add any new information about your education, awards, etc. To increase your overall image, work on adding people you know and expanding your Connections. Networking is also a good way to find new opportunities and learn about any new role or position that might open up.

What is The Best Way to Apply For a Job

Let’s take a look at how to look for a job. These are all proven ways, but of various levels of efficiency.

Career experts claim that the most effective method is to actually knock on the door of a company of your choosing. If you wander into a manufacturing plant, or a tech office, or a creative enterprise looking for a vacancy, it is a 47% chance that your attempt will end in a job offer. Career experts are confident that this is a way better method than sending a resume by email or snail mail.

However, it is more common for candidates to respond to job postings they found online on the company’s website and email their resumes to the company’s hiring managers. The downside is that the success rate of this traditional route is only 7%.

Answering ads in professional or trade journals offer a similar level of effectiveness.

Meanwhile, ads in local newspapers vary in effectiveness from 5 to 24% depending on the salary you are after. The lower the salary you aim for, the higher the chance of getting a job becomes. Contrastingly, high-paying jobs offer success rates closer to the 5% side of the scale.

Trade unions can be of great help to union members, accounting for 22% effectiveness. If you are in a construction or trades union, you can use union hiring halls. In contrast, if a job you are interested in is in the private sector, your chances of being hired drop to around 7%.

Another option is to search for jobs through search companies or private employment agencies. This route can be up to four times more effective for job seekers than just responding to job listings with resumes and cover letters. These agencies vary in the success rate (from 5% to 28%) simply because of the difference in their scale, competency of the staff, experience on the job market, etc.

In contrast, state employment agencies tout 14% effectiveness. CareerOneStop.Org and JobCenter.usa.gov are the two most popular resources under this option.

Finally, the most fire-sure way to find your dream job is networking. It brings you a job 70% of the time. Your network can include friends and relatives and extend to any and all people in the professional community. Simply let them know you are looking for a vacancy and ask for references and work opportunities.

The best way to find a job is to use all the above-mentioned channels. The more opportunities you seek the better your overall chances of landing a job will be.

But before you send your application you need to know what specific job listing you are responding too. Once you have a job description, you can start to compose a resume and cover letter.

First, you carefully study the job requirements. Then you tailor your resume and cover letter specifically for the vacancy. Since it is time-consuming to create each document anew, job seekers often recycle their resumes and cover letters or use templates. This means you use a basic document and nip and tuck skills and employment history according to the job description.

Be attentive with job descriptions. Study all the requirements carefully. Even when applying to the same-sounding vacancy at different companies, you often need to submit a different set of documents. Some need only a resume as a pdf-file, others don’t specify the kind of file they want but require a long list of documents, such as reference letters and recommendations, and others request your LinkedIn profile or a recent picture of you.

How to Find a Work That’s Right for You

Your searching strategy depends on where you currently are.

If you are a graduate or an entry-level specialist

• Consider your personality. Basically, this means what you like and dislike doing the most. If, for example, you are highly introverted and socially awkward, getting a teaching position can be a challenge. Similarly, if you hate adding numbers and being meticulous, you can hardly pull off being an accountant, even if your skills fit.
• Consider skills you have. You can have a suitable personality for a job, but not having the skills required is a recipe for failure. Some, but not all, of the skills can be learned.

If you want to change the direction of your career

• Use your background. In this case, you may have had a bunch of jobs or an education that can help you start a new career. For example, you have worked as a journalist on TV, but having good writing skills you would like more of an office job. You can find a position in content writing for social media or SMM or something similar. Even if you don’t have all the skills needed, you will understand how to get them (get a certificate, enroll in a course, etc.).

If you want some development in your career

• Think where you want to see yourself in 5-10 years from now. This method gives a perspective and helps people get motivated. If you don’t do anything right now, you will not get to the place you want to be in the future. As soon as you can see the bigger picture, you can narrow it down and understand the kind of company you want to work in.
• Cherry-pick the companies you want to work in. Instead of starting with the available job listings, start with the organizations you admire. Sign up to their newsletter, leave your application on their site, give a call to the reception desk to ask about vacancies, etc.

For Everyone

• Look for companies you like. Be picky and think before applying: Do you really want to work there? Do your values align? While seeking worthy companies you would love to work in, you will also find ones which are absolutely not your cup of tea. Eliminate them from your list.
• Interview them. Looking for a job is a two-way street. They are looking at whether or not you are good for them, the same as you do with them. If you feel like a company has the type of culture that goes against your grain, walk away without looking back.

Why Is It so Hard to Find a Job in 2024

The Labor Market Survey reports that vacancies currently outnumber candidates. If this is true, how come it is so hard to land an interview and almost impossible to find a well-paying position quickly?

• Times changed. Long gone are the days when companies recruited candidates for life. Nowadays, employees come and go, building their resumes and exploring a variety of jobs and occupations along the way. The mere approach to having a job has changed. Hence companies are no longer as loyal to their employees as they used to be.
• Talent shortage. The problem is the difference in what employers expect and what job seekers deliver. Companies get pickier and call it ‘the skills gap.’ Often this is merely an opposition of pay and skills. Those candidates who have skills want better pay whereas job seekers who agree with the pay underperform in terms of skills and work experience.
• Job seekers get pickier too. Often, it is not so much a matter of salary as it is perks and benefits. Candidates are looking for a friendly and inclusive culture and benefit packages.
• The ATS gets in the way. The statistics show that an opening can get up to 250 resumes with 6 candidates landing an interview and 1 person landing a job. 75% of candidates don’t even get their resume read simply because they did not pass the Applicant Tracking System that looks for keywords.
• Botched resumes do not help either. In an attempt to save on professional employment agency services, candidates use outdated resume and cover letter templates or cannot handle their writing properly. As a result, they lose their time and effort without even getting any interviews.

How Long Does it Take to Find a Job

Are you having a hard time finding a job? You are not alone. Many people struggle to find better paying career opportunities.

There are many factors that go into the number of days it takes on average to land a job. One such factor is hiring cycles. Many companies start hiring only after they see what their annual budgets are. In such a case, if you have already landed a job interview, the interview rounds and approvals can take 23 to 38 days.

That is why it is better to do your job search through employment agencies as they monitor new openings daily and can offer you many options. Even if you get an interview, you should not stop your employment search process because companies can take their time giving you an answer.

Among other factors is the overall state of the economy. If the country is in the middle of recession, job hunting can last for ages. If the job market is saturated or too tight, you cannot afford to be too picky and should grab opportunities as soon as you see it.

Career experts orient candidates to aim to have at least one job opportunity a week. It is not up to you to decide whether you are getting invited to an interview or not, but you should spend at least one day a week or 20% of your every day looking for vacancies, tailoring resumes, networking, checking up job listings and emailing follow-up messages.

The job hunt is a grueling process, but you should not get discouraged. Treat it like a job. Do your tasks meticulously and routinely. Do not rely on inspiration, do not wait for motivation to kick in, and do not rely on a perfect opportunity presenting itself.

Final Word

As you can see, hunting for a job in today’s economy is not for sissies. You need to know what you are doing and act confidently and assertively.

However, a well-planned strategy will help you distribute the load evenly and apply your efforts wisely.