Staying Motivated During Your Job Search: A Practical Guide

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Job hunting can be a mix of hope and hardship. While it’s exciting to explore new opportunities, it’s also easy to feel disheartened by the ups and downs. With 15+ years in recruitment, Extra Workforce offers advice to help you stay focused, resilient, and motivated throughout your job search journey.

1. Prepare Before You Apply

Set yourself up for success with proper preparation:

  • Polish your CV with relevant skills and keywords to pass applicant tracking systems.
  • Update your LinkedIn profile – 45% of recruiters use skills data from LinkedIn.
  • Clean up social media – 1 in 20 job seekers miss out on roles due to poor online impressions.
  • Build a support network of mentors, friends, or recruiters to encourage and guide you.

2. Set Clear Goals

Knowing what you want will streamline your job search:

  • Define the type of role, salary expectations, industries, and location you prefer.
  • Create a realistic action plan with specific channels like job boards, LinkedIn, networking, or recruitment agencies.
  • Track your progress and adjust strategies as needed.

3. Create a Consistent Routine

Routine keeps you productive and grounded:

  • Schedule dedicated job search time, including when and what roles to apply for.
  • Set daily or weekly goals, like reaching out to contacts or attending networking events.
  • Focus on quality over quantity in your applications to make a stronger impact.

4. Find Balance & Avoid Burnout

Don’t let the job search consume you:

  • Stick to set start and end times for searching each day.
  • Take regular breaks and days off to recharge.
  • Make time for hobbies and socialising to reduce stress and boost mental health.

5. Practice Self-Kindness

Job hunting can be tough—be kind to yourself:

  • Keep a visible list of your skills, achievements, and wins.
  • Celebrate small victories, like networking or submitting applications.
  • Use a reward system to stay motivated—something as simple as a coffee or walk after applying can help.

6. Keep Learning

Grow while you search:

  • Stay up to date with industry trends and use free online training to boost your skills.
  • Do a skills audit to identify strengths and gaps.
  • Explore platforms like OpenLearn, Skills Bootcamps, LinkedIn Learning, and FutureLearn.

7. Keep Exploring Until You Have an Offer

Until you sign an offer letter, keep searching:

  • Stay active—even after interviews—to maintain momentum.
  • See rejections as opportunities to learn and improve.
  • Regularly revisit your goals and strategies to stay on course.

8. Partner with a Recruitment Specialist

You don’t have to do it alone:

  • A good recruiter offers industry insight, personalised advice, and access to hidden job markets.
  • Agencies like Extra Workforce connect candidates with roles not advertised publicly.
  • Their consultants act as trusted advisors throughout your career journey—not just the job search.

Final Thought:

Job hunting is a marathon, not a sprint. Stay focused, take care of yourself, keep learning, and lean on the support available to you. The right opportunity is out there—and with the right mindset and strategies, you’ll be ready when it comes.

 

Extra Workforce Construction Recruitment FAQs

Construction recruitment experts in Birmingham and the West Midlands

These FAQs explain how our security services support construction sites of all sizes across Birmingham.

This guide explains our services, processes and the expertise behind our team so you can make confident and informed decisions. If you have any questions that are not answered here, our support team is available around the clock. You can contact us by email or through our online form. Your security matters to us and we are here to help at every stage.

Cients FAQs

W recruit both contract and permanent workforce. If you are hiring contractors we can manage the process and help you navigate the necessary regulations.

We advertise your job ads on every major job board such as CV Library and Total Jobs etc, as well as our own website , and social media channels on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Job seekers can create a complete professional profile at extraworkforce.uk website to get matched to the right opportunity. We have hundreds of professionals with completed profiles in our database.

Once you create your business profile, you can post you job ad at the website. A recruitment consultant will then be matched to you based on your needs and get in touch to discuss the vacancy further.

Our process begins with a CV review and a pre-screening call. Candidates who pass this stage proceed to a formal interview with our recruitment team for a detailed assessment.

We start charging fee if a candidate that has been introduced to you by us is employed within your company and starts working with you. Until then our service is completely free of charge.

We usually offer an industry leading guarantee period – so you are covered with a replacement, completely free of charge, should anything go wrong with our candidates.

Candidate FAQs

At Extra Workforce, the whole recruitment process is done remotely and there is no need for candidates to visit the office or hand documents and IDs. Current jobs are published on the website. After you apply for for a job a website, we invite you to complete your job application if we think you the are right fit for the vacancy. Once invited, you can complete your job application and get interviewed. afterwards.

Using a specialist, specific agency like Extra Workforce will mean you will have a consultant on your side, that understands what you want, matching you to the right opportunity and pushing to get you through the door. We will help you through the entire process to ensure you get the job you want.

Pay rates can vary depending on your sector, job type, contract length, and size of the recruiting business. We’ll always guarantee that you’ll be paid at least the National Minimum Wage.

Extra Workforce is a leading construction recruitment agency built on reputation and client focus. We leverage deep market connections to provide access to exclusive, unadvertised roles. We then manage your entire application and act as your advocate with the employer.

Holiday is accrued based on 12.07% of your basic pay. Contact the office to request a holiday.

Generally if we think that you are suitable for the role then we will invite to complete your job application within 3-5 working days. If we have not contacted you by then it could be that we felt you were unsuitable for the role. It's always a good idea to call us to double check.

You and most employees in the UK pay tax to contribute towards public services like the NHS, schools, roads, and emergency services. If you earn over the personal allowance set by the government, tax is automatically deducted from your wages through PAYE

Never! We only present your details to a client after we have spoken to you about the vacancy, the company and received your permission to do so.

We don’t provide transport as standard, so make sure to plan how you’ll get to and from work. Most of our roles are easy to get to by public transport, within walking distance.

If you have a complaint or concern, the first step is to contact your consultant. In case they need to escalate the issue to the right person or department to make sure it’s properly reviewed.

The types of jobs we offer can vary depending on demand, the season and your proximity to your workplace. We recruit for a mix of full-time and part-time roles, as well as temporary, fixed-term, and permanent positions.

We specialise in finding opportunities for construction professionals, such as labourers and traffic marshalls.

Using a recruitment agency offers significant advantages for job seekers. Their industry connections and resources can efficiently match your skills with suitable opportunities. Furthermore, they provide invaluable support by negotiating salaries and benefits on your behalf and guiding you through the entire search process. This partnership ultimately saves considerable time and effort.

Areas we cover in the West Midlands:

Wolverhampton

Willenhall

West Bromwich

Wednesbury

Walsall

Tipton

Sutton Coldfield

Stoke

Solihull

Soho

Smethwick

Shirley

Sandwell

Rowley Regis

Oldbury

Northfield

Harborne

Handsworth

Hall Green

Great Barr

Erdington

Edgbaston

Dudley

Coventry

Bournville

Birmingham

Bilston

Aston

Aldridge

Quinton