JOBS MUST: 3 Job Search Office Tools You Thought You Didn’t Need

Wednesday 18 July 2012

3 Job Search Office Tools You Thought You Didn’t Need

A good desk, comfy chair and a computer just isn’t enough.

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This is a guest post by Joe Linford. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines.

A productive desk area is one that’s well-organized so you can find anything you need quickly.

A productive desk area is one that’s comfortable for you to focus at, so that you aren’t distracted by discomfort or anything else.

A productive job search desk area is one that has what you need to find a job fast.

3 Surprisingly Important Office Tools For Job Search Success

1) Filing system

Job searching over the Internet, you might never have any paperwork worth filing, but there are still cases where you can’t avoid it:

Diplomas

Applications

Certifications

Offline media mentions

Hardcopy samples from your work portfolio (for security reasons, employers may not let you keep digital versions)

Anything with someone else’s signature, such as reference letters

Depending on how big this pile is and how often you add to it, you may want a file cabinet with folders by subject and date.

Otherwise, a simple accordion folder should be ok and small enough to carry when you need it.

2) Writing utensils & stationery

Regardless of whether your job search involves piles of documents, you will still need writing utensils.

Letter writing can be a critical part of a successful job search.

If you can write LinkedIn recommendations, you can write recommendation letters for others, and should. (For maximum effect, do it without waiting to be asked.)

Just as important is to make yourself memorable by sending thank you letters, especially after job interviews.

And there’s nothing more professional than to send a handwritten letter on your own stationery, including your personal logo or other personal branding elements.

3) Business card organizer

You will collect business cards on your job search. And you should.

Your collection will grow from the job interviewers you see, from the networking events you visit, from the random meetings with people who might be able to help you or you them.

Most people will simply put the received cards in a box or in a desk drawer, never to be looked at again.

But if the cards were organized in a useful manner, you would look at them again.

While mini business card-sized file cabinets get the job done while looking cool on your desk, I prefer a business card binder that you can browse through and add pocket pages as needed.

Just be careful to sort the cards according to how you will search through them in times of need: by profession, by industry or just alphabetically.

About the author

Joe Linford contributes this post about important office tools on behalf of Office Genie, the online marketplace for serviced offices and spare desk spaces in the top UK locations such as London.

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