How To Look For a Job While Working Full Time Employment

If you’re currently employed and working full time but feel that it’s time to start looking at other opportunities, you will find that some of your job hunting activities have to take place during work hours. This can lead to you feeling under pressure to balance the rigorous requirements of job hunting and full time work. What’s worse is the feeling that if you’re caught you may end up losing your current position too early. 

In order to help you alleviate these feelings and balance the needs of job hunting and working full-time, we’ve put together this article with some handy tips, designed to ensure that you can pursue that exciting new job without worrying about losing your current one. 

Understand Your Goals

Our first piece of advice is to understand what you’re looking to get out of your new position. For example, you may be looking for a higher wage or you might be looking for more responsibility. You may even be looking for a completely different role in a brand new industry.

Whatever it is you’re looking for, it’s important to conceptualize them early on. This will help you to narrow down the jobs you apply for and ensure that you don’t have more work to do than you  need to. 

Do NOT Post Your CV On Job Boards

Our second piece of advice is to avoid posting your CV on job boards at all costs. It’s very likely that your current employer will be using such boards to recruit, and there may be consequences if they find you looking for new positions online.

Make Recruiters Your Best Friend

Instead of putting your CV on job boards, you should instead be approaching recruiters directly. If you’ve never encountered recruiters before, they are independent agents who have been hired by companies to help them find the right people for jobs. As such, they can be trusted to only communicate with their clients and if you are right for the job. 

This makes them invaluable for the quiet job hunt. Not only are they actively looking for people to join their clients’ companies, but because their business requires a good relationship with everyone involved it’s very unlikely that they’ll let your current employer know that you’re looking to leave – as that might mean more business for them. 

Update Your Linkedin

As part of your efforts to reach out to recruiters, you should also be making sure to update your Linkedin Profile. Make sure that your current position is on there, as well as any extra tasks you have been asked to do and any extra responsibilities that may have been added to your role since you joined the company. If you’ve completed any courses lately, you should add them too. 

This stage is important as, even though you aren’t advertising that you are looking for a new position, recruiters and potential employers will still be going over your profile, and you’ll want to appear as presentable as possible. 

Keep Your Searching To Yourself 

Perhaps antithetical to the above, no matter where you are in the job search process, you should definitely keep your search activities as quiet as possible. Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone at work about your job search – regardless if they’re a close friend or manager. This is because it’s possible this person may let your manager know that you’re looking for another job, which can lead to negative consequences for you. It’s just much easier to keep everything to yourself (for now). 

Be Smart About Your Clothing

If you come to work in a full suit one day and your usual uniform for the past two years has been a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, your colleagues and employers are very likely to get suspicious about what you’re doing – and you may not have a good answer to their questions. In contrast, being smart about your interview clothing will allow you a far greater privacy. 

For example, if you’ve got an interview scheduled for a day when you’re working (which is likely), instead of going into work wearing a suit you should go in your normal clothes, with your interview clothes packed. Once you’ve left the office to go to your interview, find somewhere quiet – like a nearby pub’s bathroom – to get changed. 

Be Smart About Scheduling Your Interview 

Be smart about scheduling your interview. If possible, schedule your interview for days when you’re not at the office. If, however, it’s not possible to schedule the interview for weekends or on days when you’re on holiday, you should try to schedule interviews for before or after the working day; if you have no other options, you can try to schedule your interview for your lunch break. However, you should be aware that your interview may go on for longer than your lunch break, and you may incur a negative penalty for being late. 

Contact Building Better Opportunities For Employment Support

If you want more information or help about getting into work, contact Building Better Opportunities as soon as possible. Based in Staffordshire, we provide our clients with individualised employment and welfare advice, designed to help them maximise their opportunities and realise their potential. 

For employment support in Staffordshire and Welfare Advice in Staffordshire, contact Building Better Opportunities today.