The ultimate job search checklist: Guide to finding your career

Finding a job and creating a strong CV can feel overwhelming, and it can cause a lot of stress. Job hunting can drastically affect your mood and it can be hard to pick yourself up again when you’ve been rejected from a role you really wanted.

There’s no right or wrong when it comes to job hunting, but we genuinely believe that if you use some of the resources in our handy guide below, it can help to make sure that you’re prepared, positive and feeling confident to approach a prospective employer.

To help you successfully fulfil your career future, follow this four-phase job search checklist:

1. Preparation (CV & skill audits)
2. Organisation (folders & tracking tools)
3. Strategy(job alerts & templates)
4. Execution (interview prep)

This guide provides the tools to master each step. Use the checklist and downloadable tracker below to manage your applications in one place.

Phase 1: Preparation & Branding

1. Make sure you have an up-to-date CV

Your CV is one of the first things you’ll need on any job hunt checklist, and one of the easiest things to let go out of date once you’ve settled into a role. Even if you’re not actively looking, it’s worth always having a current version to hand.

No formatted CV, but an up-to-date LinkedIn profile? You’re not starting from scratch. Download your published summary and experience straight from LinkedIn, then shape it from there. Make sure that you always update your CV with relevant information about your current position, skills, achievements and experience.

Whether you’re writing a CV for the first time or updating one that’s tried and tested, we have lots more advice about length, what to include and what formats to try in our ultimate CV Guide.

Do you have a career gap on your resume?  Here’s a great way to tell your story during the application and interview process.

2. Updating your LinkedIn profile

Your online presence can be just as important as your CV, especially in digital focused jobs. You online portfolio or profile can help you stand out, so it’s important to keep this information up to date.

Again, whether actively looking for a job or not, you never know when your dream opportunity may arise. Plus no one likes to scramble to update their profiles and details at the last minute. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, consider making one. If you have one, go and check that it’s up to date.

This includes more than the basics. Your latest job, headline, and skills. Take a proper pass through your experience section, make sure your summary reflects where you actually want to go next (not just where you’ve been). It helps to reach out to your network for recommendations when you’re updating your profile. A few honest, specific ones carry far more weight than a long list of skill endorsements.

But an up-to-date profile is only half the picture. The other half is what you post.

A profile tells people what you’ve done. Posting shows them how you think. Recruiters and hiring managers increasingly look beyond the CV to see whether someone’s activity backs up their claims, and this doesn’t mean posting constantly or performing expertise for an audience. A few things worth doing instead:

• Share what you’re actually working on. A short post on a problem you solved, a project milestone, or a lesson learned says more than any bullet point on a CV.
• Comment with substance, not just presence. Adding a genuine perspective to someone else’s post can do as much for visibility as posting yourself, and it’s often less daunting to start with.
• Engage with your industry, not just your job. Sharing an article with your own take, or reacting to industry news, signals that you’re paying attention to where your field is heading, not just clocking in.

Consistency beats volume. One thoughtful post a month that reflects real expertise will do more for how you’re perceived than a flurry of generic activity.

Want to make your LinkedIn profile stand out? Read our handy guide featuring 9 top tips on how to get your LinkedIn profile noticed

3. Make sure that your online and offline portfolio is current

If you work in the creative industry, it is important to make sure that your portfolio is up to date (whether it is online or offline).

We have lots of advice to help you create or update your online portfolio; try these tips based on what clients are looking for! Suggested by our creative recuitment experts at Salt.

Make sure you give your portfolio a tidy up and add new work once you have it to add to your job hunt checklist. 

4. Perform a social media background check on yourself 

You’ve got a great CV and cover letter, but have you checked how your online presence affects your success? Google your name and have a quick look. Many hiring managers now review a candidate’s public social media presence as part of their overall impression, so it’s worth doing a quick review of your own profiles before you start applying.

Take a look at what’s publicly visible and ask whether it reflects how you’d want to come across professionally. You can also review your privacy settings and adjust who can see personal content. Most platforms let you control this without needing to remove anything.

Remember that privacy settings reduce visibility but don’t guarantee it. Content can still be shared or screenshotted by others. If you’re ever in doubt about something online, it’s worth thinking about whether it needs to be public at all, rather than whether it needs to disappear.

5. Create a list of skillsets and achievements needed for the jobs you’re applying for

If you’re applying for the same types of roles, this should be easier. Each job description should have keywords that you can pick out.

Group these keywords as you research roles, and save them into a document in your job search folder. That way, when you’re filling out applications, updating your LinkedIn profile or CV, or writing your cover letter you’ll have the keywords which will help make you stand out from the crowd.

Don’t just list your responsibilities. Make sure that you shout about your achievements and when you can include your targets, the outcome and use numbers and percentages!

Phase 2: How to organise your job search

6. Create an tracker sheet of the jobs you’ve applied for

This is one of the most important things that you can do is to keep organised while you’re job searching.

Keep a spreadsheet of the jobs you have applied for, including where you applied, the date of your application, job title, salary, location, contact details and you can even include notes with the reasons for applying, skill sets needed – whatever works best for you.

This is useful to track your applications and is extremely handy when you start to get call-backs. If you’re applying for a lot of jobs it can be hard to remember them all so this will be your saving grace.

Get started with our downloadable Job Tracker

7. Create templates for cover letters

Some jobs ask you to add a cover letter and others don’t. Despite this, whenever you can include a cover letter with your application. We recommend creating a cover letter template for every type of role for which you are applying.

If you’re applying for similar types of roles across the board then you can create one template. This will make it much easier when applying for roles because you’ll already have one to hand.

Wondering if Cover Letters are really necessary? Our insights reveal the thoughts from both jobseekers and businesses.You can also read more about writing a great cover letter here.

Phase 3: Strategy & active application

8. Set up job alerts on job boards, LinkedIn, Google and via company websites (and wherever you can!) 

Set up job alerts on job boards, LinkedIn, company websites, Google alerts and anywhere that might be advertising roles you’re interested in. That way, you’ll get email alerts to notify you when relevant opportunities are available and all you need to do is apply! 

Get job alerts straight to your inbox from Salt.

9. Create a template for email follow-ups (after applications) 

Make sure that you have a brief template ready for your email follow-ups. It is best practice to follow up with hiring managers after applying. 

Phase 4: Execution & interviewing

10. Create an FAQ guide of the most common interview questions and responses

Sometimes applying for a job online can get repetitive. You have to answer the same sort of questions over and over again.

Creating your own personal frequently asked question guide (FAQ) with common application questions and responses can make a world of difference to your confidence during an interview and help you represent your best self.

It’s useful to do this for remote interviews as well, when meeting with prospective employers in person, as you can have your notes open on the screen while you’re interviewing!

Here are some examples of questions they could ask you:

• Tell me how you handled a difficult situation?
• How do you handle pressure at work?
• Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?
• Give me an example of a goal you reached and how you did it?
• Give an example of how you worked on a team.
• Share an example of how you were able to motivate employees or co-workers.

11. Bullet point your interview answers and keep them to hand

Even though you may not have been invited for an interview yet, it’s important to make sure that you’re well prepared and thinking of your answers ahead of time can really help!

If you’re being interviewed virtually, you can even have these bullets on your screen or on a piece of paper to help you formulate your answers when asked with lots of detail and examples!

One interview technique we’d really recommend is the S-T-A-R method, which is a way of communicating your full approach to a challenge or project:

• Situation: Explain the project or challenge and really set the scene for your interviewers.
• Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation, showcasing your role and your ability to assess it in changing circumstances.
• Action: Explain exactly what steps you took to address it, and why! This demonstrates your work approach and how you would take action in your new role.
• Result: Share what outcomes your actions achieved. It’s OK if it didn’t work out how you expected! What’s really valuable is your ability to reflect and learn from your experience.