A 30-day job-search plan

This plan is a way to use four weeks. It does not predict how many replies you will get. Some weeks are quiet. Keep the records anyway, so you can see what you sent.

Use your tracker for every application. Turn on reminder emails only if you want them. That box is separate from sign-up.

Week 1: Get the CV ready

• Finish your JobSeek profile. The review screen should contain only things you can stand behind.
• Choose the design. Use ATS Classic if you will upload to portals. Read ATS tips.
• Decide on a photo only if the adverts you want ask for one. Most do not. See CV basics.
• Write a list of job titles you will actually apply for. Three close titles are more useful than twenty unrelated ones.
• Collect documents you may need later (matric certificate, ID, licence). Keep them for yourself. Do not email them with every application. Public-service posts usually want the Z83 and CV first. See DPSA and the Z83.
• If you want ESSA, register there yourself. See Register on ESSA.

Week 2: Apply on a rhythm

• Pick five days and a daily number you can sustain. For many people that is two or three careful applications a day, not thirty rushed ones.
• Each application gets its own tracker row: employer, role, date, where you found it, and the next follow-up date. The default follow-up is seven days after you apply.
• Run the scam checklist before you save an advert that looks odd. See Job-scam checklist.
• For a public-service post, use the reference number and the closing date from that week's circular.
• Tailor only with facts already in your profile. If the advert asks for a skill you do not have, do not add it.

Week 3: Follow up, and fill the gaps

• Follow up once, in writing, on the date in the tracker. Be polite and short. If the advert says "no calls", do not call.
• Note replies, including "we have not contacted you". Silence is an outcome. Record it and move the status.
• If the same skill is missing from every advert you like, decide whether you can learn it honestly (a short course you will really do) or whether you should aim at a closer title.
• Prepare two STAR stories from your real experience. See STAR interviews.

Week 4: Review the month

• Count what you sent. Look at which title got replies and which title got none. Change the title or the CV only where the record supports it.
• Update the CV if you finished a course, a shift, or a volunteer task this month. Download a new PDF. Do not keep emailing an old file.
• Close applications that have passed the closing date with no path forward. Leave interview dates in the tracker.
• Plan the next 30 days from what you learned. Same hours, fewer random portals.

If a paid plan is what you need and payment is not open yet, the screen will say so. Paid plans are coming soon. Do not pay a third party who claims they can unlock JobSeek.