Are you between jobs right now? Are you fresh out of college and looking for the first step in your career?
Finding and landing a job can be one of the most challenging feats of adult life. Between networking, searching, and interviewing the process of landing the right job can be daunting.
It’s important you take the right steps to separate you from all the other candidates.
This is going to be the year you stop sending out applications and heading nothing in return. Read on for our very best job searching tips.
1) Tailor Your Resume to the Job You Want
One of the main mistakes people make is sending a generic resume to every job they apply for.
It’s important to tailor your resume for each job you’re applying to. In order to do this, pay close attention to the job description.
Find out what the company is looking for and then make your resume a direct match for that. This doesn’t mean you should lie on your resume, or makeup accomplishments you don’t have. Rather, you should add in buzzwords that you see in their job description into your resume.
Create a “skills” section on your resume and list skills that are listed in the job description.
2) Make your Resume Pop
When it comes to formatting your resume, you want to stand out while remaining professional.
Try a simple graphic design site like Canva to help you design your resume. This will make you stand out from the thousands of resumes that are simply typed in a Microsoft word document.
Keep your resume clean and easy to read. Having an easily accessible resume is one of the most important job searching tips.
3) Show You’re Grateful
Time is money, and whenever any potential employer takes time out of their day to talk to you, it’s important you’re appreciative.
After every phone interview or in-person interview, follow up with a thank you email or handwritten note.
This note doesn’t need to be very long, you just need to express that you’re thankful they took the time to talk to you. Remind them how interested you are in the position.
Being extra courteous can easily set you apart from other candidates who didn’t both to send thank you letters..
4) Take Phone and/or Video Interviews Seriously
Whenever you’re given a phone or video interview it means an employer liked your resume enough to want to talk to you more.
You have your foot in the door at this point. If you can manage to sound competent and professional, it’s very likely you will be asked for an in-person interview.
Make sure you have no distractions around when preparing for your phone interview. It’s best to be in a quiet place where you can give the interviewer your full attention.
Tell your family members you can’t be bothered for the next 30 minutes.
Have your resume in front of you as well as notes to popular phone interview questions. Make sure you’ve written down one or two questions that you have for the interviewer about the company as well. This will show that you’ve done your research and are genuinely interested in the position.
During your interview, remember to speak slowly and clearly. You’ll naturally want to talk fast as you will be nervous. Remember to slow it down and articulate your sentences.
Video interviews via Skype, Google Hangouts or the interviewer’s own video conferencing platform, are another instance where you should have a calm and quiet environment. Make sure to do the video in a room with a clean background. Too much clutter or chaos could send the wrong message. If you’re not familiar with these tools, make sure to do a runthrough prior to the interview with a friend or family member to work out the kinks beforehand.
Referring back to point two, after your phone or video interview follow up with a brief thank you email.
5) Use Job Recruiter Sites
When you’re searching for a job, sites like Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn are your best friends.
Many companies will post their jobs on these sites rather than on their own websites. These sites also offer job searching tips of their own so you can get more information.
These sites make it easy to tailor your job search by city and occupation. You can subscribe to emails so you’ll receive all new job postings in your field straight to your inbox.
These sites also offer reviews from current and past employees of the companies you’re applying for. These reviews can offer invaluable insights into a company’s culture. You can discover what employees like and dislike about a company so you’re able to decide if it will be a good fit for you.
6) Talk to Your Friends and Network
When it comes to finding a job, it really is all about who you know.
Sometimes you find the best jobs through networking with your friends and family. Tell everyone you know that you’re looking for a job and ask them to let you know if they hear anything.
Chances are, at least one person you know will know someone who is hiring. Use this as a way into the company.
If you don’t know a lot of people in your current city, try going to meet up groups to expand your network. There are meetup groups for all different professions and hobbies.
You may meet a great professional contact at a puppy yoga meetup group, you never know. Ask your friends and family for job searching tips as well.
The bottom line is, networking is one of the most crucial job searching tips if you want to increase your chances of landing a job. The more people you talk to, the more companies you have a chance of interacting with.
7) Create a LinkedIn Account
If you’re not already on LinkedIn, you should be. LinkedIn is the professional version of Facebook.
Ask one of your photography savvy friends to take a quality headshot of you for your LinkedIn account.
Once your picture is up and your profile is written, it’s time to start connecting with people.
Start with searching for alumni from your university who had the same major as you. Connect with past employers and co-workers and ask them to endorse your skills.
Having an active and updated LinkedIn account is important while you’re searching for a job. Many employers will be looking to your LinkedIn account to see your background and experiences. Make sure your LinkedIn Privacy settings are set so recruiters can see you are open to opportunities (under Account> Settings > Privacy > Job Seeking)
8) Clean Up Social Media
One of the most important job searching tips we can offer is to make sure you have professional social media accounts. Before a company invests in you they’ll likely want to check in with your public social media profiles.
Make sure you keep your social media profiles clean and professional. This means don’t post the crazy pictures of your partying in Cancun.
If you have extreme political views it is also best to leave these off Facebook while you’re looking for a job.
Companies are looking for people who will assimilate well into their company culture. They will not want someone who is volatile or who seems unstable.
9) Ace Your Interviews
By this point you’ve combed through job sites, you have a killer LinkedIn account, and you’ve completed your phone interview.
The moment you’ve been waiting for has arrived, you’ve been called in for an in-person interview.
An in-person interview is your time to wipe away any doubt the employer might still have about you out of their minds. It’s the time when you make yourself the obvious choice for the company’s open position.
In order to ace your interview make sure you dress the part. Dress for the job you want not that job you have. Make sure you feel confident in what you’re wearing and that you’re practicing proper hygiene.
During the interview it’s important that you maintain eye contact. Take deep breaths and think for a few seconds before answering any questions that might be thrown at you.
Make sure you’ve practiced answers to common interview questions. Also, make sure you know the ins and outs of the company so you’re not surprised by anything they might say. It’s always best practice, when applicable, to answer questions with specific real world examples or scenarios you have encountered in the past. Remember to show how you helped solve the problem or provide a solution to the problem.
At the end of the interview, ask your interviewer how they like working at the company. Ask them any remaining questions you have.
Finally, give them a firm handshake and tell them you look forward to hearing back from them.
10) Don’t Give Up
The final item on this list of job searching tips is the advice to not give up.
Searching for a job is incredibly difficult and being rejected can feel like a personal hit to anyone’s self-esteem.
Remember that companies interview several candidates before choosing the right one and it’s likely that one of the other candidates had slightly more experience than you.
Do not give up on your job search. Continue to apply, to network, and to practice your craft in any way you can because the average job search can take 6-8 weeks. There are always side jobs you can get to fill in the time while you wait for the next full-time career move.
Follow These Job Searching Tips for a Successful New Year
We are confident that these job searching tips will help you land a great job this year.
Finding a job you love boils down to persistence and determination. There’s nothing wrong with starting in a small position and working your way to the top.
Have questions for us? Want to share your own job searching tips? Please feel free to contact us here.
