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Run your job search like a system, not a mood

The difference between a search that finishes and one that drags is almost always structure.

Job searching is unusual work: no manager, no deadline, no feedback, and a strong emotional charge. Left unstructured it expands to fill months.

Four artefacts, and that is all

• A brief. What you are looking for, what you will not take, and the hard filters like work authorisation and salary floor. Written down, so you stop relitigating it weekly.
• A tracker. Date, company, role, source, status, next action. One row per application.
• A master CV. Every bullet you have ever written, grouped by role, from which each tailored version is selected.
• A weekly review. Twenty minutes. How many sent, what replied, what to change.

Set a cadence, not a target

Ten to fifteen roles screened a week, narrowed to three or five worth applying to, is sustainable for months. Fifty a week is not, and the crash costs more than the burst gained.

Separate finding from applying

They use different parts of your brain and one will eat the other. Find on one day, apply on another. Finding is pleasant and open ended. Applying is exposing and finite.

Decide the follow up rule once

No reply after ten working days, send one short follow up. No reply after that, mark it closed and stop thinking about it. Deciding this once removes a recurring small decision that otherwise costs you attention every week.