A 30-Day Job Search Plan for Tech Roles: Week by Week

A job search without a plan tends to become a daily scroll through job boards and a scattering of applications. A job search plan gives the month a shape: preparation first, then a steady rhythm of applications, then an honest look at what's working. This one covers 30 days for tech roles, week by week, with a clear "done when" for each stage. Adjust the pace to your life; if you're working full time, stretch it or do less each day.

The plan at a glance

Week 1: build your prep kit

Much of the time an application takes is preparation you only need to do once. Do it now.

1. Pick two or three role titles. The same work often goes by different names: Backend and Software Engineer, Product Manager and Product Owner, DevOps and Platform Engineer. List the titles you'd genuinely accept, and your level.
2. Decide where you can work. Remote from your region, specific cities you live in or would move to, or both. Check this against how employers actually write locations.
3. Write a CV version per role type. One clean, single-column CV for each title group, with a summary at the top that names the role. Our guide on tailoring your CV to a job posting covers what to adjust per application.
4. Draft a short cover note template. Slots for the company, one specific reason you're interested and one relevant result.
5. Write down standard answers. Work authorisation, notice period, time zone, salary expectations, links to GitHub, portfolio and LinkedIn. Forms keep asking for these.
6. Set up a tracker. Company, role, link, date posted, date applied, CV version, status, next step. A simple job application tracker is enough.
7. Tidy your LinkedIn. Headline, recent role, a few results.

Week 2: target list, alerts, first applications

1. Build a target list. Twenty to forty companies where you'd like to work and that hire in your location. Write down the link to each company's careers page. See how to build a target company list.
2. Set up alerts. Save searches for your titles and locations on the boards you use, and consider alerts from company career pages directly, where roles often appear first. Tune them so they stay relevant; our guide to job alerts without the noise helps.
3. Start applying. Pick your best matches from what's open now and from what arrives this week. Quality first: location fits, level fits, you meet the must-haves.
4. Log everything in your tracker the same day.

Week 3: rhythm and networking

This is the week to settle into a pace you can keep.

• Process alerts at fixed times, for example every other evening. Apply to what passes triage within a day or two of it being posted.
• Send networking messages. Two or three a week: former colleagues, people at target companies, a former manager who could be a reference. Keep them short and specific.
• Follow up on week 2. If you applied through a named recruiter or a referral and heard nothing after about a week, one polite follow-up is fine. For general applications through a form, it's usually better to keep applying than to chase.
• Prepare for screens. A two-minute answer to "tell me about yourself", a story about your last role, and questions to ask them.

Week 4: follow-ups and an honest review

Finish the remaining follow-ups, keep applying, and at the end of the month sit down with your tracker for an hour. Look at:

1. Inputs. How many applications, messages and follow-ups you actually sent.
2. Replies by type. Which titles, locations, CV versions and sources got any response.
3. Where things stall. No replies at all, screens with no next step, or later rounds.

Then decide on one or two changes for next month. If it's silence everywhere, work through the causes of no replies to job applications. If you're getting screens but not further, focus on interview prep. If one CV version or title clearly does better, lean into it.

A daily time budget

Most of this fits into about an hour a day on weekdays, with more time in week 1. If you're between jobs, resist the urge to spend eight hours a day on applications. Use the extra time for better tailoring, interview practice and rest. A pace you can hold for several months beats a burst that burns out in two weeks.

What 30 days can and can't do

A month is enough to get organised, build habits and learn what's working. It may not be enough to get an offer; hiring processes in tech often take several weeks from first contact, and that part isn't in your hands. Treat day 30 as a checkpoint, not a deadline. Then run the plan again, starting from week 2 with what you've learned.

If you'd rather not check boards and career pages by hand in week 2, Hot Jobs watches the career pages of 390+ tech companies every 30 minutes, plus two remote boards, and sends new roles matching the titles and locations you pick to Telegram. You can change roles or locations any time with /settings, for free. €3, paid once. Connect the bot