How to get a Job Before the Holidays
September Surge - the "Anti Work" Way
I don’t take August off.
August is when everyone else takes off. Instead of paying premium prices on vacations and fighting crowds of other fellow tourists, I stay working from home.
And don’t worry, I still take a lot of time off. It’s usually during the holidays.
Here is a post from Gary Vee that explains why August is “the month”:
Citing Gary isn’t to perpetuate the hustle mindset (although he’s pulled away from the hustle and grind rhetoric a lot in the past 4 years). It’s to get you to understand that if your goal is to be more efficient, why not just shift your schedule to be more competitive? I am not saying don’t take a vacation at all. I am saying take a vacation at a time when others aren’t so you can use the most of your time when you are “on”.
Also nothing gets done during the holidays. Instead of sitting at your desk pretending to work or fighting over who is covering who, who can take off, and who can’t leave that in December, just request some PTO 3 months in advance.
I didn’t take this advice my first year in corporate and immensley regretted it and never ignored my PTO in December ever again. Why do I need to sit in an office staring at a blank screen when half of my team is out? It’s giving rats on a wheel vibes and I can’t be bothered when I’d rather be cozying up in holiday festivities.
So why am I so pumped about August?
The September Surge
September is a huge tick in job offers. This is because a lot of companies want their last offers of the year extended and signed by the holidays. But here is a common misconception, this doesn’t mean you should start your job search in September. It means you should start in July and/or August to get that offer in September.
Career fineser, and my friend, Maddie Macho explains this more in-depth here:
Maddie is the real deal in the recruiting world, so give her a follow!
Now I bet you’re wondering, how do I implement a competitive job search strategy?
To steal all of my AI secrets for landing your next job, I have the AutoPilot 9-5 Superguide. There’s two main sections in this guide. Part 1 is your job search and Part 2 is about automating regular tasks at your current job. Whether you are looking for a new job, or just looking to automate your current job, this is the knowledge hub for you.
I firmly believe job searching is a spectrum.
We are all in the job market for a better offer, whether we are actively job searching at the moment or not. But how can you attract and identify better opportunities if you are stuck in the monotony of your work day with no room to think of anything beyond your current workload?
Learn how to automate your job and job search with me here!
Anti Work Tips to Land your Job Search this Month
1. Update and Tailor Your Resume
One of the most critical steps in preparing for the September Surge is to ensure your resume is polished and tailored to the roles you are targeting. Highlight your skills, experience, and achievements to make your application stand out. The best way to do this is using AI.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO GIVE AI YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.
This is the biggest objection I get when discussing AI in your job search in Instagram posts. No one said you needed to copy paste your entire resume. In fact, I don’t recommend throwing your entire resume at ChatGPT. The point is to use AI for two different processes in your resume writing
The first, to brainstorm your experience. If you don’t have a place where all of your work achievements live, use my free Lazy Girl Brag Book. Then, take your achievements and ask ChatGPT to make a first draft. Note: THIS IS A FIRST DRAFT. You will have to make some revisions as ChatGPT does like to freestyle sometimes and make stuff up just to complete the goal you gave it. Once when you are happy with the first draft, save that as your master resume. An employer will never see this master resume, it’s just for you.
Second, refine your resume. For every job posting you need to optimize your resume to the unique job description for each application you are applying to. In the AutoPilot 9-5 Superguide I have a bonus template of ChatGPT prompts you can use to optimize your resume for each job description. Including other scenarios to optimize and refine your resume including your header, certifications, etc…
If you want to freestyle on your own, you can always ask ChatGPT to pretend to be a world-class resume writer and to provide example prompts you can ask to take advantage of its expertise.
I call this meta-prompting. You are prompting the AI to tell you how to prompt.
2. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
A well-optimized LinkedIn profile can significantly increase your visibility to recruiters. Ensure your profile is complete, up-to-date, and showcases your professional brand effectively.
LinkedIn is an SEO machine. (SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization). That means adding the right keywords to your profile will make you more discoverable when recruiters and hiring managers are searching for talent.
Here is a sneak peak of some of the information I have in the Autopilot 9-5 Superguide to elevate your LinkedIn:
Here is how you can optimize your “About” section, so you are utilizing all that space to your advantage.
Ask ChatGPT:
Can you help me write a compelling summary for my LinkedIn profile? I want to highlight my [Number] years of experience in [Industry] and my expertise in [Skill 1], [Skill 2], and [Skill 3].
And if you don’t understand what keywords are even relevant to your industry and many other questions about LinkedIn optimization, I go over this in the AutoPilot 9-5 Superguide!
The entire job search process is lengthy and, on top of this, adding in a new process like learning how to use AI to work for you is daunting. I did all the research for you for 3 months so take advantage of this resource!
Plus there are Voice Tips from me guiding you through the whole process. It’s my actual voice, with my actual tips to hold your hand through your next career step! It’s like we are working together at the comfort of your home.
Let’s go over this plus my other Anti Work Tips for landing a job in September.