People Are Sharing Their Favorite Job Search Tips From 2022, And It's A Must-Read If You Want To Make More Money In 2023
With 2022 winding down, a lot of us are thinking about our goals for the new year. But if those goals include landing a new job, you might have a lot of work to do. From polishing your résumé and writing cover letters to interview prep and company research, looking for a new job is basically another job in itself.
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To help you get started, we've rounded up the best job searching tips of 2022 from the always helpful r/LifeProTips subreddit. Here are some of the tips people loved in 2022 to help you start your 2023 job search right:
1."When applying for a job, keep in mind that you are being interviewed long before your interview begins."
"When you're communicating back and forth for a potential job, any and all correspondence that you have with the person hiring is being taken into consideration.
"I am currently hiring for a front desk position that would require the future employee to interact with customers (both in person and via email) and be professional and timely at all times. I have been emailing with a number of applicants to organize interviews, and I am blown away by the number of people who have not been professional throughout the process. I have already written off the applicants who have been short and unprofessional in their emails, shown up late for their interview, or been poor communicators throughout the process.
"Extra pro tip: Research the company you are applying for! My first interview question is, 'What do you know about our company and what made you want to apply for this job?' And more often than not, applicants have responded with, 'I don't know anything about your company.' Any and all information they would need is on our website under the 'About Us' section, and would show me that they have the forethought to prepare ahead of time!"
2."Use AI to generate cover letters to save time applying to different jobs."
"Recently, my wife has been applying for jobs on the market. She's tired of writing cover letters for different companies, so I helped her generate them using AI instead. ChatGPT blew up recently, and everyone's been using it.
"Put in things that contain the company information and your background, like, 'A cover letter for applying to an accounting company as a bachelor of finance' — the more specific, the better."
"I just tested this, and I'll be damned if it didn't work. It didn't seem perfect. There were lots of things that could be improved, but you go from authoring to proofreading and editing instead, and that's a big benefit."
3."When changing your status on LinkedIn to be 'open for work,' make sure it's set to be visible to recruiters only."
"I've made this mistake before. My current boss sent me a LinkedIn message, and it was pretty awkward."
4."When you're filling out a job application that requires you to answer long questions online, write them out in a Word document first."
"I learned this lesson many years ago, applying to a job with long essay questions, and of course the application glitched and didn’t save. My spouse just learned this lesson last night, and I feel horrible for forgetting to tell him my painful experience, so here we are.
"Therefore, whenever you are filling out long-answer questions online, write them out in Word (or whatever you use) or, at the very very least, copy and paste your answers into Word. Trust me! Plus, that way you can save them should you need those brilliant answers in the future.
"And don’t trust that 'save application' button. Don’t click it until you’ve copied and pasted your answers somewhere else first. Websites time out and don’t tell you sometimes."
5."If you barely or don't entirely meet the job requirements, apply anyway. You may be able to land the interview and progress from there. Let them decide if you're good enough; don't do their job for them."
"It's incredibly common for hiring managers to 'shoot for the moon' on the job description, listing the skills of their ideal candidate, but not necessarily a realistic one. Always apply if you truly believe you can do the job. I have seen countless times where candidates who were underqualified on paper were hired over more qualified candidates thanks to their interview, attitude, etc."
6."If you can, don't apply for a job that is complaining about 'severe employee shortages' or the like. There's a reason they can't retain employees, and you don't want to have to find out what that reason is."
"One of the questions I always ask in an interview is, 'What is the average tenure of the team I’ll be working with?' Some people are quite caught off guard by the question, and I’ve even seen the life drain out of some of them when they realize exactly what it is that I’m asking. It’s a perfectly legitimate question and can give you a mountain of information, from the actual tenure, which is nice to know, to how they answer (or dance around) the question."
7."When job searching on LinkedIn, filter for 'in my network,' then reach out and ask your connection for a referral."
"I know many of us are unwilling to give up remote work, and many companies are forcing people back. That puts a lot of us in the job market. There are over 550,000 remote jobs on LinkedIn right now. LinkedIn is really great for job searches because it shows you your connections at a given company. You can even filter for 'in my network' to see companies you know people at. Reach out to those people and ask for a referral. A referral can be the difference between getting an interview and not getting it."
8."If you are looking for a new job and reading reviews of a company, always look at the date reviews are posted. If all the 5-star reviews are posted on the same day, avoid it."
"My current employer took their rating from 1.7 on Indeed to 4.6 in three weeks by incentivizing reviews."
9."If your home doesn't have a space suitable for having a virtual interview, check with your public library to see if they have a meeting room you can use."
"Or your local employment or unemployment office — they have rooms just for that reason."
10."Copy/paste all job descriptions you're interested in into a notes app with the job title, company name, and how you applied."
"Job applications don't last forever on the respective sites/boards. Job titles can easily blur; you do not want to think you're interviewing for software analyst I and it's really systems analyst I at a completely different company.
"Jot down the info in the title so you can easily keep up with what you're doing AND be able to mentally compare the job description with what the recruiter intends it to be. If you're good at multitasking without looking distracted, you could even have it (or a brief description) pulled up on your device/monitor while looking into the camera, verbally checking off the items during the discussion."
11."If you are in the process of applying for a job, please make sure you have set up the voicemail on your cellphone."
CBC / Via giphy.com
"My job responsibilities include setting up interviews for open positions that we have. We get flooded with applications. I call those who are deemed most qualified. Most people do not answer the phone, and that's fine. But too many candidates have not set up voicemail on their cellphones, and I can't leave a message. I hate for that to be the reason they don't get an interview."
12."It’s better to negotiate a good starting salary rather than relying on raises to hit your target."
"If you accepted a lowball starting salary, it’s unlikely that you can rely on a raise to get you to where you want to be.
"It’s best to negotiate a starting salary to start off where you want to be. Remember, once an offer has been made, the ball is in your court and you have negotiating power."
13."Keep a CV or master résumé for when you are applying for jobs. You can make custom résumés quickly by pulling necessary info out while also keeping all of your résumé information in one place."
"By making a master document, you have everything you have ever done already formatted and summarized in a résumé format so that you can copy and paste from it to generate custom résumés for each application.
"Likewise, you have all of your information in one place, so you don't have to look across multiple versions of your old résumés to remember what you have done."
"As soon as you start a new job, add its job description to your 'master résumé,' even as just a placeholder that you'll edit later. In six months or a year, come back to it and update that portion based on what you've learned."
14."When you're submitting a résumé online, make sure you use a file name with your first and last name."
"Oftentimes, people don't realize the file name you use to submit your résumé is seen by the recruiter. If you name it something like, 'New Revision for Accounting Firms,' they will see this. What's more, if they are downloading the files, they have to go out and rename them, which takes time. Best approach is just to name your PDF with your first and last name."
15."Keep a running list of career accomplishments and things you’re proud of."
"Not only can you use this list for building future résumés or negotiating your salary, but it’s also great to look at when imposter syndrome comes creeping in."
16."If you have a job interview coming up, practice describing your job to someone who isn't familiar with your industry. Include descriptions of what you do and what tools you use."
"This can be especially good so that you can practice keeping a straight face if the question sounds silly. Remember, the first person you meet in a job interview may be HR and may not know anything about the details of the actual job you are being hired for."
17."When you have an interview at a company, google the people you have the interview with."
"You might find social media accounts and can see how they present themselves and if you will get along with them. Maybe you find out that you share hobbies, maybe they share extremist political content. You will know more after googling, which might help you decide if you want to work with them."
"They likely did the same to you — might as well look them up too. Because a job interview isn't just them interviewing you; you're interviewing them, too (more so when you are competitive in your field/industry). Realizing this helped my mindset in interviews. I don't need to be nervous. I need to show them what I can offer in the job, and decide if I want to work in the work environment they are offering."
18."When you're interviewing for a new role, ask the hiring manager to clearly define what success looks like in the role."
"If they can't paint a vivid picture of what it takes to thrive, run.
"A company that can't define how you will win with them is destined to lose."
19."In interview situations, practice avoiding filler words such as 'like' or 'umm,' and don’t be afraid to briefly pause to collect your words. This will help you seem more assured in your responses, and shows that you’re thinking carefully about your statements."
"I train technical trainers, and this is sound advice. That being said, filler, especially in English, is natural and fairly unavoidable some of the time for most folks. You just want to be conscious of it and make sure it isn't a distraction. Most people don't notice it if it is intermittent. People will notice if you use 'Ummm, uhhhhh, OK, right?' as punctuation on every sentence or in between every few words."
20."If a prospective employer asks why you’re leaving your current employer, give a reason that involves something the new employer has that the old employer doesn’t."
"If this new job is a smaller company, 'I’m looking to work for a smaller company.' If the new job is more hands on, 'I’m looking for a job where I can be more hands on,' and so on.
"That way, you are already complimenting something this prospective employer has, while refraining from negativity regarding your current employer."
21."When you're interviewing for a job, ask what day-to-day work would be, in detail."
Apple TV+ / Via gfycat.com
"There is a wild amount of hiring going on right now, and copy/paste errors and omissions (both intentional and nonintentional) on job descriptions mean that red flags or responsibilities that are mismatched to your talent stack may not be caught in the application process. Also, hiring managers will only ask what you know/did. It's on you to ask what tasks you will be doing on a day-to-day basis.
"A friend who applied for 'business analyst' roles found out during the interview process that one role was for a monotonous data entry process, while the second one was a technical writing role."
22."If you interview for a job you don’t get, send a gracious response email."
"Nobody likes to give bad news, and people will remember you as a class act who handled a disappointing situation with professionalism.
"My go-to is something like, 'Thank you for the prompt response. While I am obviously disappointed, I understand there were many qualified applicants to choose from, and I very much enjoyed meeting you and your team. Thanks again, and best, [name].'"
23."When you get a job offer and you’d like a higher salary, ask. The worst thing they will say is no."
"I was chatting with a friend who got a job offer and wanted $10,000 more annually but was nervous about asking. When I asked what he was nervous about, he explained that he was concerned that they would revoke the offer.
"I reminded him that if you get to the stage in the interview process where you are receiving an offer, they WANT you to work there. Asking for more money will result in one of two things:
• You get more $$ than they initially offered, or
• They do not have an additional budget to increase your salary, and they tell you they cannot go higher.
"It would be incredibly bizarre for a company to revoke an offer completely after spending time putting you through the interview prices and deciding they’d like to hire you, all because you asked for a higher salary."
24."Job titles can often be negotiated. Before you accept a job, there is usually a time to negotiate salary, and this is a good opportunity to negotiate your job title as well. The same goes for any promotion. Pick a job title that has the highest earning potential."
"Look around at that next-level job you want and advocate for a job title that would give you an edge on your application. For example, you may have a current job title of office assistant, but if you are the assistant to one of the executives and have been there longer than another assistant, you might be able to push for a job title change to senior executive assistant. These may seem like small changes but can mean thousands of dollars a year when you try to find another job."
25.And finally, "Do not resign your current job until your next job’s background check is completed."
"I just watched this scenario unfold: Employee gets a new job — hooray! Employee resigns from current job, sure that their background check is clean. Background check comes back and there are red flags. Red flags cause the employer to revoke the job offer. Person has now resigned from their current position (no take-backs) and hasn’t truly secured their current position.
"Don’t do that. Just wait until your background check is completed before quitting."
Is there anything you would add? Share your best job searching tip in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
