Most of us have heard that you should spend 40 hours searching for a job if you’re unemployed and 10-15 if you’re currently working. It’s a good idea to spend as much time on your search as possible, but what’s more important is HOW you’re using those hours. If it’s on busy work (aka applying to online jobs that aren’t a fit, endless “networking” on Facebook, etc.), you may be able to reduce your daily “search” time.

Decide how much time you can realistically dedicate to your job search each week. From there you’ll be able to choose where to spend that time. With networking being the most effective job search method, applying online the least (and direct contact and recruiters being in between), use your limited time accordingly. Below are some additional ideas to make your time on the job hunt more productive:

OUTSOURCE WHAT YOU CAN

1)      Hire a professional resume writer to take care of all of your career marketing documents (resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, etc.).

2)      Use a reputable recruiter distribution service to get in front of hundreds of people hiring for your industry (less than 15 minutes required on your end!).

3)      Hire a virtual assistant (can even be a high school student!) to do the tedious work of applying online.

REDUCE TIME BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF TOOLS

1)      Social networking doesn’t need to take more than 15 minutes a day. Try using hootsuite.com or socialoomph.com to schedule and submit posts to multiple networks simultaneously.

2)      Search thousands of job boards in one place by using a search aggregator such as simplyhired.com or indeed.com.

3)      Check out fillperfect.com, a service that fills out those long online applications instantly and accurately.

Try these methods so you don’t spend more time than you have to!