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Are you in the market for a new job? Successful job hunting isn’t impossible to achieve, but you do need to put some effort into it to land your dream position. Here are five tips to help you!
Finding a job can be difficult. Finding your dream job seems even more impossible. Generally, job hunting seems like an endless time, filled with lots of challenges on the way and even some demotivating “No” answers. Should you give up? Absolutely no! Your dream job is out there, and you’ll get to it sooner or later.
Now, there are certain things that you can do to make the process go faster and smoother. Here are a few tips that will help you learn a better way of landing your dream job.
1. Envision what your dream job looks like
First things first, to know what “dream job” you’re hunting for, you need to get a clear idea of what that is to do to secure that position.
Everybody has an idea of what their dream job will be like. Some will prefer to work from home, and others will want to be in the middle of the action in the office, surrounded by all their colleagues. Some people want to work in a somewhat professional office where everybody minds their own business while others want to work in a friendly office where people eat their lunch together and joke about their tasks. Either way, you need to consider some aspects to find out what you want. Here are some ideas:
Company culture: What kind of culture do you want to find in the new workplace? Do you want people to be friendly and communicative or rather cold and professional? Do you want a workplace where everybody does their own tasks, or do you prefer teamwork? Also, what company values do you wish for?
Room to grow: Some professionals don’t mind remaining in the same job position for a long time, but others like to feel the excitement of having room to grow. Where do you stand on that?
Income and benefits: What are your salary expectations, and what kind of employee benefits motivate you?
Stability: Do you prefer the idea of an established corporation, or do you like the diversity and excitement a start-up would offer?
Level of responsibility: Get a good idea of what kind of tasks you want to and can have on your plate and what would be too much for you.
Are you in the market for a new job? Successful job hunting isn’t impossible to achieve, but you do need to put some effort into it to land your dream position. Here are five tips to help you!Click To Tweet2. Diversify your search
Once you have a clear idea of what you want to find once you occupy your dream position, it is time to discuss how you’ll find it.
A good piece of advice is to have a diverse approach to finding that job you want. Don’t just stick to one way of finding and screening jobs. More precisely, ask around for open job positions, go online on all employment platforms, talk directly to the companies you want to work for and ask for an open position, and use social media Marketplace features to see if there’s an exciting job posting there.
The more places you look in for a job position, the bigger the chances that you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.
3. Prepare a killer resume… for each job
One of the most important steps in landing your dream job is to prepare a killer resume. But, don’t just ask your friend to help you craft a CV and send that one paper to everybody. When applying to a job, modify your resume to fit the job position and the professional the job posting describes. Identify the most critical keywords in a job posting and slightly modify your CV by including them. For example, if a job posting talks about how important it is for the candidate to be a team player, make sure your CV mentions how excellent your teamwork skills are.
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Don’t forget to craft a cover letter for every job you apply to as well. Often, a cover letter will be that one small aspect that can differentiate you from the other candidate with a very similar resume to yours.
Also, another critical thing to know is to send your CV in PDF format when you apply for a job position. PDF is the preferred format of all hiring managers who screen through a dozen of resumes. As the experts from PDFChef explain, “PDF has plenty of benefits when compared to other document formats. It keeps the exact formatting of the document as you see it and can be opened on any device, even if the recipient doesn’t have an installed document read software.”
4. Keep your social media “clean”
Like it or not, hiring managers also take some time to make sure that they are taking the right person on board. And, besides screening CVs and holding interviews, HR professionals may also take some time to go through your other social media.
Hiring professionals want to make sure that you are the kind of person they are looking to bring in their open position. And, very often, your social media is enough to get a more well-rounded image of who you are as a person. So, be prepared to create a good image for yourself on your social media or to limit how much these people can learn about you from your profiles. Here’s what you can do:
- Set your social media profiles to private and put some limits on what information people can see about you.
- Go through your social media profiles and see if there’s any inappropriate or controversial content there.
- If you want to impress a specific hiring manager, make your social media look like something close to what they are looking for.
Use social media as a tool if it fits your job application. For example, if you’re looking for a job that implies social media skills, you can show the hiring manager how good your skills are by managing your own profiles well.
5. Prepare for your job interviews
Last but not least, once you secure an interview for that dream position you want, make sure you go there prepared. More precisely, to prepare properly for an interview:
- Know the job posting inside out, everything expected of you, and what the employer offers.
- Prepare good answers for the most commonly asked interview questions.
- Research the company well and know insights not all candidates would know. Your effort will be very much appreciated.
- Have some questions prepared to ask the hiring manager at the end of your interview.
It’s no secret that job interviews are nerve-wracking, especially if you feel the position is a much-needed stepping stone into a fulfilling product management career. Take a look at CareerAlley's interview resources to improve your interview skills and nail your next interview.
