Whether you've been out of work for a day, a week, a month or longer, being organised can only ever help you to land a job sooner rather than later. While it can be easier to simply put the effort in as and when you feel like it, the best results (i.e. the most responses, calls for interviews, etc) will come when you take control and put some structure into your job search.

You should try to come up with a daily routine where each step is taken before the next can begin. Here is what we suggest.

9am – Call Recruitment Agents

I don't know how recently you have tried to move house but the estate agent will often know of properties that are coming on to the market before they get advertised anywhere. The same is true about recruitment agents and jobs; they will be in discussions with companies about their needs and negotiating the fees charged long before these vacancies appear on any job board (if they ever do).

But much like the best properties for sale or to rent, many jobs will go before you've even had a chance to apply – that is unless you are in regular contact with your recruitment agents.

So first thing to do in the morning is to drop them a line asking if they know of any suitable positions that they have upcoming. This will keep your name in their mind when they come to recommend candidates for a job opening.

At the very least you should be emailing them daily and calling at least once a week as this not only keeps them in mind of you but it shows you are a committed, determined person which a recruitment agent likes to see as it gives you more chance in an interview situation and thus them more chance of landing the commissions for filling a vacancy.

11am – Check The Job Boards

While not every job going ends up on a job board, many will and it is up to you to keep a close eye out for new ones that come along. Being one of the first people to apply is always a good idea; recruiters will tend to have a number of interviewees in mind when they advertise a vacancy and by being first to apply, you have more chance to be one of those lucky interviewees.

So in mid-morning, try to quickly go through the likes of the JobCentre Plus, Monster, Reed and any other relevant job board you can find. Don't waste time applying for jobs you are never going to get; an effective online job search is all about speed because there will be a lot of fluff to get through to find the best jobs.

1pm – Send Out Speculative Job Applications

Not every person who is hired will have gone through the process of applying for a job; some would have landed a position because they took the chance and contacted a company they'd like to work for in the hope that they might be looking for someone.

There is always the chance that a company is thinking about taking on new staff without having actually reached the stage of advertising the job yet. If you can get in their first, showing enthusiasm and a willingness to put yourself out there, it can simplify their task and make it so that you are the only name on their shortlist.

So try to find one or two companies a day to send off speculative applications to. Make sure that you spend a short while reading up about their business; try to see if they have been in the news recently with regards to winning a new client (trade websites are ideal for this sort of thing) and ensure that you talk about this in your cover letter as this will better explain why you are contacting them.

3pm – Engage In Social Media Networking

In this day and age it is often who you know, not what you know, that lands you a job. In the internet age, you can widen your scope for connections by using social media to engage with leaders and potential recruiters in your industry.

Spend half an hour a day looking through the tweets of people who you know work for the types of companies you'd like to work for. Reply to some that are the most interesting and retweet some others so that your name becomes associated with having knowledge in your chosen field.

Conversations often happen on Linkedin too so be sure to join some industry groups and be a part of these as people on this platform are even more likely to be executives in control of hiring.

5pm – Go Back Over The Job Boards

Jobs become available at all times of the day so it is always worth returning to the job boards at the end of the day to see if new positions have come up. Again this is because the sooner you apply for a job, the higher your chances of getting on the interview list.

Spare Time – Blog

If you have spare time in the evenings or in between any of the above tasks then we recommend that you consider starting your own blog that talks about industry news and events where you can give you opinion on things.

This can give you leverage in your job search that others simply do not have but be mindful not to be too controversial and never, under any circumstances, say negative things about others in the business as this will tarnish your own reputation and make it more difficult to get hired.

Being organised can help put your job search efforts into overdrive and the harder you work to get a job, the more reward you can expect.