anding the perfect job, or any job really, isn’t easy in this day and age. The market has cooled since “The Great Resignation” and employers are gaining more leverage. This means they want the best form of potential hires. With each corporation receiving, on average, 250 applications for each position, it says they have no shortage of people vying for the role.
But there is a big difference between shooting off a generic application and preparing yourself for the job at hand. While it might not seem relevant to do your due diligence if you aren’t even at the application stage, the effort you do or don’t put in will likely show in your approach towards finding gainful employment and stop your efforts in their tracks.
Because these days, it isn’t all about the resume or the speed at which you apply for a role. It is about proving you are heads and shoulders above the competition.
So, how do you prepare yourself to be the candidate your next employer needs? It actually starts well before you see the job advert you want to apply for. It begins with you preparing yourself in the event that one day you will need to go through the recruitment process.
Identify Your Career Aspirations
What exactly do you want to do with your career, and how do you plan to get there? What does the perfect job look like for you? You need a trajectory from where you are now to where you want to be? You also need to know what your future career will look like. What type of company do you want to work for? Can you or do you want to niche down in your specific sector to gain more specialized skills and become a sought-after employee or one-day business owner? Your passion, dreams, and aspirations at this point matter as they will dictate the path you need to take and the type of roles you should be applying for.
Research the Industry
Whether you are looking to apply for a new job in the near future or not. It pays to be abreast of the movers and shakers in your industry and where it is headed. Are there big players who can help you on your path to landing that perfect job and finding complete job satisfaction? Or is there a new and emerging trend you need to get on board with to help you become more employable?
Look at factors such as working for an employer directly or an agency. What pays the best or would fit your lifestyle? Do you want to move to working remotely. Is prevalent in your industry? Are there sub-sectors you wish to make your way to? For example, if you are a registered nurse, do you want to eventually train to commit to one type of nursing, such as working with cancer patients, in pediatrics, or as a phlebotomist in a local care center? If so, what are the opportunities in each relevant sub-sector? How is your industry changing to represent modern life? All of this information can be helpful to know once the time comes.
Polish That CV
You can be the best candidate in the world, but if your resume is meh! Then, chances are you will be thrown out the bottom of the pile. You need to know how to create a stand-out CV to support your achievements and ambitions and catch the attention of recruitment personnel who have the task of whittling down applications. You also need to write your CV to get past the AI tools recruiters use to screen them. This means tailoring it with appropriate keywords aligned with the job description.
The perfect resume needs to be clear, concise, and straight to the point. It should be helping the hiring manager see how you can benefit them, not just yourself. They need to know that they have to hire you. While boasting about your achievements isn’t necessarily bad, it needs to be done carefully on your CV to help others see how your skills can benefit their organization.
Identify Transferable Skills
This is especially important for those looking to jump to a new role or career. Your transferable skills are those which can work well within another industry and be useful to you regardless of the job role you are performing. This could include leadership skills, data analytics, critical thinking, IT, etc. Whatever skills you have, look at how they can help you in different circumstances to know what you bring to the table and share with potential new employers.
Get Social
Everyone knows companies scour social media accounts for a better idea of whether a candidate is a good fit. So you must be careful about what your social media accounts say about you. Many people have fallen foul of social media, thinking what they post won’t harm them in their career. But it can and has time and time again.
In the first instance, clean up your socials, then get active on LinkedIn. By engaging and connecting wire with those in your industry, hiring managers, recruitment agencies, and the like, you can get on the radar of people actively hiring. More importanly, you can make connections to put yourself front and center. This doesn’t mean you need to send out messages informing them of your desire to work for them, but it means liking and commenting on posts and ensuring your profile shows you are actively looking to be recruited or are open to it.
Qualifications
Lastly, you need to make sure you have the appropriate qualifications for the job role you want to land. This can be a quick refresher course or skill upgrade, or gaining more formal qualifications to support your knowledge and experience. But whatever you need, it needs to be relevant to the career you are pursuing and be something hiring managers want to see. This means you might need to put the cogs in motion years before you even think about applying. Or it can be taking an online course prior to the interview to help you solidify your skills and support your trajectory. Whatever you need, make sure you can prove you are right for the role with the right qualifications.
Job searching isn’t easy in this day and age, so ensuring you are putting yourself in the best position to be hired and ready to move when the perfect opportunity hits is vital to help you keep moving forward to get to where you want to be.
These tips can be instrumental in supporting your plans and landing that perfect job you need.
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