A Guide to Job Hunting as a Digital Minimalist

Job hunting used to be a fairly analog process. You'd walk into a store and fill out a paper application, or else send a cover letter and resume to a potential employment prospect. Half the time, you were doing all the writing by hand.

Things changed once the internet really took off and companies like Monster.com streamlined online hiring for just about any job. While some workplaces may still have paper applications, more and more are directing potential employees to go online and fill out an application there. Many companies are even using AI to sift through job applications in an initial filtering round.

If you're a committed digital minimalist, job hunting in the modern era can feel like a minefield. There's the necessary social media, like LinkedIn, and all the time you have to spend prowling through job postings on various sites. You've got to keep a close eye on your email, of course, and the anticipation and anxiety may make you more prone to checking than usual.

But job hunting doesn't mean you have to suddenly become a digital maximalist. 

We know there are going to be a lot of people looking for work in the coming months. Here are some ideas for keeping your digital life in check while you're hunting for a new gig.

Most importantly: remember that digital minimalism doesn't mean you have to completely cut yourself off from the internet. It just means that you don't use technology more than you need to. When you're job hunting, you may need to use it a little more than usual, and that's okay. 

Let your needs drive your tech use, not the other way around.

Before you go online to do your job-hunting work for the day, have an action plan. Plan ahead what sites you need to check, in which order, and what you're going to do once you get there. That will help prevent the aimless wandering that can suck up so much of your day and leave you feeling drained at the end.

Know which sites are triggers for you. Does spending a lot of time on LinkedIn give you a severe case of comparison-itis? Do you feel particularly overwhelmed by massive job posting boards that loop in listings from multiple industries? Develop a strategy for how you use those sites, if you have to use them, or think about whether you can ditch them all together.

Set specific times to check your email, and don't check your email outside of those times. Unless you are applying for an urgent position where you absolutely have to respond within a few minutes to any communication, any reasonable employer will understand a lag time of a few hours. Give yourself a set time in the morning, midday, and evening to check, and leave it at that.

If you are writing customized cover letters, download what you need to write the letters, and then turn off the internet on your computer or tablet. That will keep you from doing the distracted or frustrated or bored scrolling that so many of us are prone to. You'll still be in front of a screen, of course, but it will be focused, productive time.

Don’t let job hunting expand to consume your life.

With a little thought and intentionality, job hunting can still be part of a digital minimalist lifestyle. In the vast majority of industries, you don't need to spend 12 hours a day on social media to land a new job, and for most of us, doing that would actually be a hindrance to our job hunting efforts. Stay focused on what you are actually hoping to achieve, and go after it with determination.

Are you looking for work but still trying to maintain a digital minimalist lifestyle? Drop us a comment and let us know how that’s going.