It’s the third Monday in January – officially the most depressing day of the year. But it might not seem so grim if you truly loved your job…
Happy ‘Blue Monday’, readers! Is that a contradiction in terms?!
Yes, it’s Blue Monday – officially supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. How lovely is that?
We’re all back to work after Christmas and New Year. The weather is grim; it’s cold and it’s wet. Credit card bills are arriving. And electricity bills. And gas bills… And we’re not getting paid for another fortnight.
But here at the Daily Star we are determined to make it a happy day instead! No point sitting there at work feeling miserable. Pull yourself together and try to do something about it!
Let’s talk about job hunting. Today is just the day to start making a change. So here’s how to go about it…
Step 1: Your CV
Either update it yourself or have a professional CV writer do it for you. Do not use AI. I repeat: do NOT use AI! So many recruiters are now using AI themselves to filter out CVs where too much AI has been used in writing them – which means many CVs get thrown out by software before a human can even take a look at them.
And, whilst you should pay attention to design, please don’t go overboard and use Canva! Big mistake. Huge! The number of CVs I see which are designed in Canva and written by ChatGPT – and their ‘owners’ wonder why they’re not getting any responses!
The content of your CV is clearly mission critical. It should not just be copied-and-pasted job descriptions. Focus on what you have achieved/delivered, what you changed/transformed – and also do some brainstorming around the ‘headaches’ you faced – the difficulties, challenges, obstacles and hurdles.
You also need to pay close attention to getting the right keywords in there. This is important not just for human readers but also for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) which are now very widely used by employers and recruiters.
Step 2: LinkedIn
If you’re not on LinkedIn yet then you really should be. It’s seen huge growth. For more and more employers and recruiters, LinkedIn is their first port of call when they are looking to hire someone.
It’s kind of an online version of your CV but a big difference is that the primary reader of your LinkedIn profile won’t be a human; it’ll be a search algorithm!
Focussing on the right keywords (which you should have done for your CV anyway) is therefore all the more important. The most important bits to get right are what LinkedIn calls the ‘Headline’ and ‘About’ sections.
Step 3: Start hunting!
More than ever before, job hunting in 2026 is a numbers game. The more effort you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it.
I’m certainly not suggesting you spam everyone with your CV. No. But do get as many irons in the fire as you can.
Upload your CV to job sites. Reach out to all appropriate recruitment agencies. Scan LinkedIn for job offers. Make an effort to go for every suitable opportunity and it’ll really pay dividends.
Get a head start in your job hunt with James’ new book, The Job You’ve Always Wanted – out now from Pearson at £16.99.
Our Jobs Guru, James Innes, is a best-selling careers author and founder of the world’s leading group of professional CV and resume writers.