5 New Year Job Search Resolutions You Should Make Right Now

Forget about getting in shape and giving up coffee.

Come March, your expensive and pristine gym membership card is just going to depress you. While we focus in the new year on health related changes, maybe you should instead focus on something really life-changing: Landing an amazing new job.

Here are five job search resolutions that are small steps towards a massive future:

1. GET (YOUR CV) TONED AND TERRIFIC

That flabby CV isn’t doing you any favours. You need a CV with washboard abs and buns of steel. Start by trimming the fat – responsibilities that are irrelevant to the job you’re applying for are just distractions, as are your date of birth, marital status and cat’s name.

Next, tighten up what’s left. Use short sentences and straightforward, active language that’s devoid of clichés and corporate gobbledegook. Need more guidance? Check out this Consult blog or check in with one of us. Even better, download our interview cheat sheet (it will be our little secret).

Your resume is your foot in the door for an interview – don’t blow it!

2. END THOSE TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS

You know the ones: you keep in touch regularly, but your friend only calls when they need something from you. Every conversation you have ends with you feeling deflated and drained. You’re not even sure if you can trust them. Life would be way better if you just ended things.

Well, the same goes for crappy recruiter-candidate relationships.

There are plenty of good recruitment consultants out there; why waste your time on a relationship that’s going nowhere?

Invest your time and energy in a good recruitment agency – the pay off is massive – now and in the future

3. IMPROVE YOUR (ONLINE) DIET

If you’re spending all your internet-surfing time mooching around Seek and Trade Me Jobs, you’re probably fooling yourself into thinking you’re working hard on your job search, when really you’re just killing time. 

The reality is the best jobs often don’t make it to job boards. At Consult, we aim to focus first on our existing network when filling roles rather than just posting every job. Refer point 2 re good relationships!

Spend your online time upskilling yourself, your networks and fleshing out your online presence. (yes, really!). 

4. BREAK THOSE BAD HABITS

If you’ve been job searching for a while, it’s easy to get a little lazy and slip into bad habits. Neglecting to read the job advertisement thoroughly or prepare an individualised cover letter might seem like short cuts, but they damage your reputation as a discerning candidate with good attention to detail and high standards. Take the time to make sure the job you’re applying for is a good match for you (and doesn’t suck), and tailor your CV and cover letter for every application. 

Apply for less roles and make more of an effort on the ones you do apply on.

5. GET IN TOUCH WITH OLD FRIENDS

Increasingly vacancies are filled through personal connections, not job boards.

Reach out to your ex-colleagues, friends, friends-of-friends, people on your sports team, your hairdresser….you get the picture. Your friends generally want to help you out (I know, crazy!), but they can’t do that if they don’t even know you’re looking for a job. So let them know what you’re looking for – you never know who they might be able to put you in touch with.

As accounting types – we are less energised about networking – but if you want your career to take off – you’ll need to get better at it!

There you have it: five simple resolutions that have the power to dramatically improve your life (with no lycra or caffeine withdrawal!).

Are YOU on the hunt for a brand spanking new job this year? Get in touch with our team who place accounting, banking and finance superstars throughout Auckland.