I met a guy on the weekend at a party. He was a pastor at a local church and had been retrenched. He had gone into part time work and was looking for a full time job. It reminded me of when I was out of work for 18 months in the last I.T. recession. So I told him about how I applied for 300 jobs in a 10 week period.

When I was unemployed, I treated my job interviews as my job. I would spend 4-5 hours a day, from 8:00am until 12:00pm applying for jobs using the internet. Firstly, I would pick the best one or two jobs and write a detailed response to the position, matching skills. I ended up with about 5 variations of my resume, to suit different roles. So my goal was to apply for 6 jobs a day. I would apply for more by just emailing a standard resume to the rest. For the top job, I would follow up with a phone call to the agent or the employer.

I said to my friend, what I wouldn't do is send a resume off and wait 2-3 weeks to see the response. Because in that 10 week period I would have ended up applying for 3 jobs! Seriously, it is a numbers game! (He told me that is exactly what he was doing.)

I also tell people that "I make my money in the job interview". You have to get this. A slightly better job interview might get you an extra few dollars an hour. This can mean thousands of dollars a year to you. In my career as a computer contractor, I have done hundreds if not thousands of job interviews. For me, as an expert job applicant I am pleased with a one-in-three strike rate in job interviews.

In summary, if you want to change jobs fast then apply for at least 2-3 jobs a day. Take the weekends off. Make sure that you ask employers "could you please name one thing that I can improve on my resume?". Follow up with a phone call 1-2 days after you email it. Finally, if you have a lot of self confidence and you get a rejection (like "sorry I had two good applicants and you missed out") then ask for a referral. "Do you know anyone else who is hiring?" If you are not self confident then perhaps give this point a miss.