How to Use a ‘Job Search’ Action Plan To Find Work Faster

If you’re looking for work, create a Job Search Action Plan to define the activities you need to perform to get hired. These guidelines work for full-time, permanent and contract roles. The key is to keep the action plan simple so it brings you closer to landing your next job and improves your chance of employment.

Action item Log

[Learn more about these MS Word and Excel templates here]

Job Search Action Plan: How to Start Writing

To write your next Action Plan, it’s best to start with market research and see where you can land the best jobs that match your requirements.
  • Research – Prepare to do market research into your industry sector.
  • Type – Decide which type of Action Plan you need to develop. For example, learn the difference between a Sales Action Plan and a Personal Action Plan.
  • Template – Get an easy to modify MS Word template and use this as a framework for your planning activities.
  • Style – If you like images, then create flowcharts or mind-maps that illustrate where you need to move with your plan. Some prefer images than text. See what works best.

Why use a Job Search Action Plan?

Without a plan, it’s hard to find direction. You will find that you’re doing many tasks, but you don’t get the results. Having an Action Plan gives your goals more impact. An Action Plans helps you to:
  1. Decide how to go about your job search.
  2. Reduce your search time.
  3. Identify what’s most important and needs attention
  4. Focus your energy.
  5. Identify where to spend time learning job search skills.
  6. Calculate how much time you will spend actually looking for work
  7. Write you plan based on these criteria.
The advantage of a Job Action Plan is that it gives you focus and helps keep your efforts on track. Without it, your efforts feel hit and miss. It’s hard to see progression as there is no clear path. The Job Action Plan gives you the framework to create a path to find employment faster.

Download Now

Download Action Plan Template

[Learn more about these MS Word and Excel templates here]