The irony of job hunting advice is that there is so much out there that you don’t have to spend more than 10 seconds Googling before you come across some piece of wisdom or another.
At the same time, there is so much information accessible (some of which contradicts other recommendations) that it is easy to become overwhelmed. Which, in fact, is likely to be the exact reverse of what you were hoping for when you went seeking truly valuable advice in the first place.
So let’s do this: let’s narrow things down to a small list of excellent, time-tested job-hunting advice that will help you fine-tune your plan and sail through the process
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Article Road Map
1. Make Yourself The Best Fit
When you apply for a job online, your CV will almost certainly be evaluated by an applicant tracking system before moving on to human eyes (if you make the initial cut). The first human eyes to go at your CV are generally those of a lower-level HR worker or recruiter who may or may not grasp all of the details of the position for which you’re seeking.
As a result, it is in your best interest to make it as simple as possible for both the machine and the human to swiftly link their “Here’s what we’re searching for” to your “Here’s what you can walk through our doors and provide.”
Examine the job description and any other information you can find about the position. Are you using the same terms and phrases as in the job description? Are you emphasizing your talents in the areas that appear to be critical to this role? Set it up.
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2. Don’t Limit Yourself to Online Applications Only When Hunting
You want your job hunt to endure forever? So, you should continue to rely only on online applications. Do you want to speed up this bad boy? Don’t give up once you’ve applied online for that job. Begin by locating and then endearing yourself to people who work at the company of interest. Set up informative interviews with potential peers. Ask a couple questions to an internal recruiter. Get on the radar of the individuals who can help you get an interview.
By connecting up with individuals on the inside of the business where you wish to work, you will immediately distinguish yourself. Before sorting through the mass of resumes that receives via the ATS, decision-makers interview persons who come recommended or through a personal reference.
3. Your CV and LinkedIn Profile Is Not a Tattoo
Yes, your new CV is beautiful. Your LinkedIn profile is stunning. However, if they don’t position you as a clear fit for the work you want, don’t be afraid to change the phrasing, move around important keywords, and shift bullet points in and out. Your résumé, like your LinkedIn profile, is not a tattoo. Throughout your employment hunt, treat them as living, breathing documents (and career).
If you’re a secretive job hunter, be sure to switch off your activity broadcasts (under privacy and settings) when you make changes to your LinkedIn profile. If your present supervisor or coworkers are connected to you on LinkedIn, they may become suspicious of your frequent changes.
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4. Respect That You Will Never Bore Anyone Into Hiring You
Don’t get me wrong, you must present yourself as polished, eloquent, and professional during your job hunt. Many individuals, however, interpret this as Must be, boring.
Wrong, Understand that few individuals get recruited because they had perfect white space on their cover letters, knew all of the “right” interview questions, or employed extremely safe, common phraseology (i.e., clichés) throughout their resumes. All of this precision will make you appear manufactured and unnatural. Instead, allow yourself to be both polished and appealing. Candidates who are memorable and personable are usually invariably the ones who advance.
5. Please join Linkedin
Given that more than 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn as their primary search engine, this is hardly an exaggeration. If you’re a professional, you should not only be on LinkedIn, but you should also be making the most of it. Do you still not believe me? Consider the following: If a recruiter gets onto LinkedIn tomorrow morning searching for someone in your geographic area with experience in what you do, and you’re not there? Guess who they’ll look for and contact? Yes, the name of that individual is “not you.”
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If you just use one social networking platform for job hunting, make it LinkedIn. It is (by far) the finest resource we have today for career and job hunt networking, locating people working at firms of interest, and positioning oneself to be discovered by a recruiter with a suitable job opportunity.
6. Appreciation Matters
I once put an applicant in an engineering position with a packing equipment manufacturer. He was competing against another engineer who has similar skills and was as eager to get the job. Within roughly two hours after leaving their offices, my candidate sent a meaningful, non-robotic thank you message to each individual with whom he’d interviewed. The other contender did not respond.
Can you guess why my applicant was hired? Yes, the handwritten, non-robotic thank you notes. They clinched the deal for him, especially because the other front-runner didn’t send anything.
Consider writing creative, sincere thank you notes (one for each interviewer) as soon as you return to your computer after the interview. The speed and quality with which you submit the notes will have an effect.
Finally, keep in mind that the interviewer is far more interested in what you can accomplish for them than in what you want out of the agreement. Certainly, after you’ve shown your worth, they’ll be quite interested in what you desire. However, during the interview, you must explain why it is a good business decision to recruit you.
Now, go ahead and demonstrate to your job hunt who is in charge.