If you’re an athlete searching for a new corporate (or post-sport) job in 2021, here 5 highly effective things you can do in the next 2 months to ensure you land your desired role:

1. Apply for as many jobs as possible between now and 12th January – Obviously know what you want and where you can bring value, but the more jobs you apply for the higher chance you have of finding one. Use Seek, Indeed, Jora, LinkedIn and reach out to your own network. Hopefully you end up getting multiple offers and you can pick the one with the best training and development, on-boarding and opportunity for growth. It’s highly important that you tailor your resume and cover letter to each job, otherwise you’re wasting your time.
2. Keep a list of each job you apply for and follow them up – Note down each job you apply for. Write down the company number, the hiring manager and his/her email address. By 13th January, most hiring managers should be back at work and it’s highly important that you follow them up with a phone call! It’s a short and simple conversation, you’re just following up to see if they’ve had a chance to review your application and possible interview dates. Hiring managers absolutely love this!! It shows initiative, proactiveness, fearlessness and your organisational skills.
3. Know exactly what jobs you applied for – There’s nothing worse then when a hiring manager calls a candidate and the candidate is not sure who they are, where they’re calling from and in relation to which job. Even worse, you think it’s job XYZ instead it’s job ABC. You automatically eliminate yourself from the position. Another great reason to keep a list of the jobs you’re applying for so when they call you, you can give assertive, prompt answers. You look prepared.
4. Update you LinkedIn page & be active – In today’s employment market, your LinkedIn is more important then your resume. In fact, it is the new resume! LinkedIn is extremely easy to set up and is very user friendly. Make sure you have all the fields filled out and your career history matches the career history on your PDF resume sent for each job application. If you don’t have 500+ connections yet, start connecting! Connect with each hiring manager from your job application, connect with your sports network, people in the industry you are trying to work in and with recruiters. Most importantly, outline your background as an athlete and how the skills & attributes you gained from sport will enable you to succeed in business.
5.  Get ready for Interviews – If you’re serious about finding a new job, from 13th January you should have at least 3-4 interviews per week until you land a job. It’s highly important you brush up on your interview skills as you want to present your best self forward for each interview. There are plenty of resources online to help with interview preparation, however here is one specific for athletes. 
   

If you commit to these 5 steps, you should land your ideal job by mid February!

Happy job hunting!