The prospect of starting a new job search can be daunting. Working out what your dream job actually is can kindle any number of conflicting trains of thought before you’ve even started. Then comes the other side of the obstacle coin: decking out your recruitment armoury to skyrocket your profile through the competition and land you in that top spot. Ignore the doubts you may have that these are tall orders; both are perfectly surmountable building blocks. We all eventually overcome them on our way up the job ladder, and with these tips and tricks, your job search will be no different.

Dream big: what do you want?
First up: go all in. Consider and outline exactly what the ideal role would look like. Think about industry, function, salary, company culture – everything. Input as many of those parameters as you can into a job search website, like Guardian Jobs, and see what comes back within that framework. Be prepared for the dream job as you imagined it to be a little elusive, so then remove criteria one at a time, starting with your least important factors, and watch your options grow.

What DON’T you want?
Knowing your bottom line and where you’re willing to compromise is key. Are you looking for more money? A new sector? The opportunity to grow a team or be closer to home? If you’re leaving a job because you shoe-horned yourself into it, don’t go down that same route again. Be open-minded but confident, and don’t compromise on your ‘dealbreakers’. Extensive perks can be an easy distraction, but remember that whilst a job comes with perks, those perks also come with a job. Make sure it’s one you actually want to do.

Counter-offers
When it comes time to tell your employers you’re moving on, they may try and tempt you to stay with more money or that promotion you were previously denied. Around 80% of people who accept a counteroffer still leave the company within the next six months. If you’re faced with this dilemma, you need to ask yourself, if you were fully valued there, why it took the threat of resignation for your employers to act on that and invest in you.

CV bootcamp
Put your CV through the ringer and back again. It needs to be targeted and focused on your most relevant experience to each new application. When you’re happy, upload your CV to TagCrowd. This incredibly handy tool generates a word cloud from any text to visualise word frequency. It will show you straight away if you’re emphasising the skills and experience that you think you are, or if you’re accidentally stres