Daily routine

Even when I'm not actively jobseeking, I'm keeping an eye out for new opportunities. Every so often, there'll be something that is so good a match for me that, even if I'm not looking for a job, I want to entertain the possibility that it might be a good career move, and I'll throw my hat in the rings. More often, though, I'll see opportunities that will be good for friends, colleagues, and other people in my network, and I'll send the listing their way. I think it's good to always have options - even if that option is to say, 'Actually, I'm happy where I am.'

But here are a few of my standard activities that have pretty much become a regular routine:

1. Scan the landscape. For me, I'm mostly looking at government jobs. Living in Canberra, that means reading APSjobs every morning for all new jobs that have been listed overnight. ACT Government careers add their listings in real time, during business hours, so it's usually later in the afternoon that I look at their latest opportunities.

2. Check my jobsearch alerts. Speaking of ACT Government, they have RSS feeds set up, categoried by career interest opportunities, so I subscribe to these feeds (which, unfortunately have stopped working from time to time, so keep checking the website manually too!) using Feedly. I have a number of UN job listing feeds set up, which are a little more difficult to filter, but I usually scan through them every other day. Finally, I've set up a number of APSjobs and seek email alerts straight into my inbox.

3. Look at professional associations / arts websites. AMaGA and ALIA manage job listings on their website, which are worth keeping an eye on. This is by no means exhaustive, but are good to know about if people are specifically seeking job applicants with a GLAMR background. Sometimes there are jobs that I would never have otherwise considered. I've also for many years been a subscriber to ArtsHub, and they regularly post jobs in the Australian arts industry (as well as publishing many interesting articles). Much of their content is paywalled. Both ArtsHub and ALIA send out regular emails highlighting job opportunities.

4. Make some calls. Something that I've made a habit of these days is that if I see a job that I'm quite tempted to apply for, then I'll contact the person listed for further enquiries. Rather than completely cold-call them, I'll send an email introducing myself and asking if there's a good time that I can call and have a chat about the position. If it's somebody I already know, I'll take it that step farther and ask if they'd like to meet up for a coffee and chat in person. Then I'll have some intelligent questions, particularly regarding the nature of the work, the particular skills they're looking for, and the make-up of the team. By the end of the conversation, I'll have a very good sense of whether this is a good job for me to apply for.

5. Keep a list. I love a list, and I keep one in my Google Docs documenting every job I apply for, the application deadline, whether I got an interview/written test, and if I was successful, unsuccessful and/or added to a merit list/pool. I've kept this list since February 2012 - 12 years! In that time I've applied for 140 jobs, invited to 46 interviews and 7 written tests, with 11 merit pool listings and 19 job offers. Keeping these kinds of statistics are useful for me to keep some perspective and manage my expectations as I start deep diving back into the world of active jobseeking.