Tips for Using Your Phone to Job Search

in Lifestyle

Have you ever tried searching for a job using your smartphone? If not, you’re not alone. Habits are tough to break, and for many of us, the words “job search” are synonymous with sitting in front of a desktop computer to hammer out resume after resume. But why can’t we use our phones to search for jobs? After all, we use them for everything else. We’re here to say that not only can you use your phone to look for jobs, you should.

Though you’ll still want a desktop computer or laptop handy when it comes time to actually write up your resume and letter of intent, the actual task of looking or jobs can easily be done from your phone. And you’ll likely find that the process is easier, more convenient, and more enjoyable. Here are six tips for using your smartphone to job search.

1. Use Job Listing Apps

Well known job listing sites like Monster and Indeed have mobile apps that make it easy to look for a job from your phone. Download both for the best chance of success (and create accounts with each if you haven’t already). Once downloaded, you can search for jobs by industry, discipline, and area, allowing you to quickly and easily filter out postings that fall outside of your search criteria. From here, you can start putting together a list of positions that are a good match for your knowledge-base, experience, and expertise.

Not all job listing sites have apps, but that doesn’t mean that they should be overlooked. For example, silentprofessionals.org has a very mobile-friendly website with plenty to offers in terms of private security jobs.

2. Change Your Email Signature

If you intend to email potential employers from your phone, create a professional email signature. Though “Sent from my iPhone” may be suitable for some forms of email communication (for example, it can explain an email’s brevity or inclusion of typos), this is not the message that you want to send potential employers. Such a signature could lead employers to conclude that you aren’t taking the listing seriously. Furthermore, “Sent from my iPhone” serves no real purpose or provides any real value. Instead, consider updating your phone’s email signature so that it includes your phone number, email address, name, and job title. This is both professional and useful to the email recipient.

3. Network on LinkedIn

Commonly thought of as “Facebook for Professionals,” LinkedIn is a terrific platform for networking. The company’s mobile app – available for both Apple and Android devices – makes it easy to navigate and use the site from your smartphone, enabling you to reach out to past colleagues, send out feeler emails, look for job listings, and update your profile with pertinent info. Though there are many different avenues to search out potential jobs, you can’t go wrong with LinkedIn as one of your first stops. It is a networking tool, self-promotion tool, and job search tool all in one. And you can access it right from your phone.

4. Bookmark Potential Jobs

If you’re using your phone’s web browser to look for jobs, make sure to bookmark jobs that interest you for later research. There’s nothing worse than coming across that one “perfect job” and then being unable to find it at a later point in time. The fact of the matter is, however, that you can’t always immediately respond to a job listing that interests you. Perhaps you’re at a family gathering. Or taking the train home. Or perhaps you’ve happened upon a job listing while on your lunch break, and you need to get back to your current job. Regardless of the reason, bookmarking potential jobs allows you to go back to them later.

5. Make a Spreadsheet

Keeping track of all of the job listings you’ve responded to can be difficult. Rather than rummage through a vast collection of email messages or search through your browser history, simply make a spreadsheet. Whether you prefer Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, a spreadsheet makes it easy to notate potential jobs (along with links to where they are posted), response deadlines, communication status, application status, and response status. With this information available at a glance, you’ll never be in doubt as to how your job search is progressing – and you’ll never forget to send off that resume and cover letter, either.

6. Video Chat with Employers

To make inroads with a potential employer, offer to chat with them via videoconferencing. This can help them get a feel for you as a potential candidate, and ease their decision on whether or not they would like to invite you in for a one-on-one interview. It also allows you to gauge the company (and the position) before committing to applying for the job in person. If you do video chat from your phone, it’s recommended that you do so from a Wi-Fi network, rather than over the air. Though 5G wireless technology will soon enable trouble-free video communication right from your phone or tablet, anywhere and anytime, our current 4G network can result in an untimely dropped call. Don’t take that risk.

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