Everyone seems to know of the secret garden where all the jobs are kept, but no one ever tells you where it is.

Finding job opportunities can be tough. It’s disheartening, but often they pop up in places we don’t expect.

You’ve got to get creative. There are the obvious places to look for job opportunities – Seek, Indeed, LinkedIn – but sometimes not taking the traditional route can help you find the best opportunities.

Remember there is a person on the other side of that email address. In other words, there is no harm emailing a company directly and asking if they have opportunities available. There is a human on the other side whose job is to read your email. Do it, you never know.

Try and talk to them. Companies almost always provide a number on their website. Call them and let them know who you are. They might have job for you, and if they don’t, they will likely remember you when something does come up. You could even go into the workplace if you like.

Just because they are not advertising, does not mean they ain’t hiring. Often companies take ages to put job ads online. If you contact them directly, they might have an opportunity that hasn’t been advertised yet.

Volunteer. Okay, you might not get the job opportunity you want straight way. That’s fine. If you offer to volunteer with an organisation you want to work at, they are way more likely to offer you paid work in the future.

Get support. An employment service can really take the sting out of job hunting. We have provided links to a couple below. Check them out.

Tell your friends you’re looking for work. Actually, not just your friends, tell everyone. If people know you are looking for work, they’ll keep you in mind when they here of exciting opportunities.

Be patient. You might strike lucky early on, but it probably going to take some time before you find anything. So be ready for this.

Whatever you do, no matter what, don’t get disheartened.

You got this.