As you might know from bitter experience, job hunting can be a tedious and stressful time that can include some unpleasant experiences. It can be thoroughly demoralising to have doors constantly slammed in your face, and it can make you feel like there is no point in bothering, as you’ll ‘never get the job you want anyway’. However, it’s not all doom and gloom, as there are some steps you can take to make the whole thing go a lot more smoothly.
First of all, you are going to need to find job sites that can give you the results that you want, and in the areas that you want them. If you want to find a role as an application support engineer, for example, you can’t waste time on a site that just throws up every job title with the word engineer in it. This way means you don’t have to sift through all of the options to see the ones actually relevant to you – which all adds time to the application process and doesn’t do a lot for your blood pressure.
Alternatively, you could upload your resume or CV so the site alerts you when roles become available. Here again, you have to pick your site carefully so you don’t get a dozen emails a day for non-relevant roles.
Of course, the best way to get what you want is to know what exactly you are after. For instance, if you are after a job in IT, there is no point in applying for every role that broadly falls into that category. By knowing exactly what you want, you can tailor your whole application from your resume (more on that next) to how you come across at the interview to get that particular role. That way, when you meet your prospective employer, you tick every box they are looking for, and you will leave a lasting impression on them.
As touched on above, this needs to start with your resume, and here is where you put everything they want to see in an employee on the front page. This is where you can put free online templates and resume builders to good use, so you can make the right first impression. These can be particularly useful if you have been out of the job market for a while, and want to make sure you don’t fall at the first hurdle – what is expected may well have changed.
If you have been out of the loop for a while, now is also the time to work on your interview skills. This can be as simple as making sure that you have an outfit picked out, or if first contact is by phone, brushing up on your phone skills.
You will find here that as well as practice, preparation also makes perfect. So, you need to put together some answers for questions you think you might be asked, work on eye contact, and have intelligent questions to ask in return.
