{"id":9083,"date":"2026-07-28T09:38:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=9083"},"modified":"2026-07-29T15:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:30:26","slug":"take-control-of-your-job-search-channel-your-inner-mole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=9083","title":{"rendered":"Take control of your job search: channel your inner mole"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Feeling like your job search has you fumbling around in the dark? It might be time to channel your inner mole.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Mole.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-9084\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Mole.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"134\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Dig down<\/strong> \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/openuniversity.careercentre.me\/resources\/elearning\/Hub.aspx?redirect=\/e-learning\/asset\/view\/5447\">informational interviewing<\/a> is one of the quickest ways to get real\u2011world insight into roles you\u2019re curious about. Use it to uncover what a job <em>actually<\/em> involves, the skills employers value, and the routes people took to get there. Start by reaching out to people you already know or connect through <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/networking\">networking<\/a> to build new contacts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tunnel<\/strong> \u2013 if breaking directly into a new career feels tough, consider a sideways move. Target roles in a different sector where your current skills still fit, but where you can see a clearer path towards the job you ultimately want. Find out which sectors are thriving using our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/research-labour-market\/labour-market-information\">Labour Market Information (LMI) pages<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunityhub.open.ac.uk\/students\/organisations\/Search\">search for inclusive employers<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Surface regularly <\/strong>to scan the landscape \u2013 testing out new areas doesn\u2019t always require a full career leap. Volunteering, short\u2011term work experience, and experiential learning events let you explore interests, build confidence, and strengthen your CV. Discover more about finding <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/voluntary-work\">volunteering<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/work-experience\/the-benefits\">work experience.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Job searching doesn\u2019t have to feel like guesswork. Dig, tunnel, and surface \u2014 and use our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/job-seeking\/sources-and-strategies\">job seeking resources<\/a> designed to help you move forward with purpose.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ou-box ou-box--info\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fiona-Munday-curve.jpg.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-8800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fiona-Munday-curve.jpg.png\" alt=\"Fiona Munday, OU Careers and Employability Consultant\" width=\"95\" height=\"92\" \/><\/a>Fiona Munday is a Careers and Employability Consultant with 30 years experience supporting adults and young people in education, the secure estate and community settings, helping them towards achieving their career goals. At the OU, she combines work directly supporting students and alumni with developing useful resources and services to help OU students of all diverse backgrounds.<\/em><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feeling like your job search has you fumbling around in the dark? It might be time to channel your inner mole. Dig down \u2013 informational interviewing is one of the quickest ways to get real\u2011world insight into roles you\u2019re curious about. Use it to uncover what a job actually involves, the skills employers value, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,110,61,78],"tags":[86,99,45,30],"class_list":["post-9083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-planning","category-job-search","category-jobs","category-lmi","tag-career-planning","tag-job-searching","tag-networking","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9083"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9098,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9083\/revisions\/9098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}