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Searching through job listings, finding a job you like and sending off your CV is no longer enough to land your dream job. Today’s job market is a highly competitive place, and in order to stand out from the hundreds of other applicants who may be applying for the same position you need to be on your A-game.
We all know the basics of applying for jobs. However, there are certain tricks which will put you ahead of your competition, some of which may surprise you. Here are the top 5 unexpected hacks which will help you to land your dream job in 2020.
Today’s job market is a highly competitive place, and in order to stand out from the hundreds of other applicants who may be applying for the same position you need to be on your A-game.
Tweet This1. Build Your Network
Not every job you’re looking for will be advertised where you’ll easily find them: sometimes the best opportunities will not be widely advertised, or not at all. Building your network means you may very well get a heads up on these positions, or be able to get insider information which will help you to present the best application for positions that are widely advertised.
There are many ways to build your network, but it does take a certain investment of time and energy. Seek out and attend networking events, and be sure to follow up and maintain the connections you make. Build and have an active profile on LinkedIn, join sites like MeetUp.com and be sure to keep in contact with past colleagues, mentors, and fellow students – you never know when a connection may prove useful!
2. Keep Your resume Short
This can seem counter-intuitive: bigger is always better, right? However, employers generally prefer shorter, concise resumes. Especially if you’re near the beginning of your career, it can be tempting to try to demonstrate your skills and experience by including every tiny detail you can think of. However, this is a big mistake because recruiters need to sift through literally hundreds of resumes and you want to make their job as easy as possible by telling them just the information they need to know in order to move your application on to the next stage.
Make sure you include key information such as experience, skills, and education. If you have a lot to say in these areas, edit this down only to the most relevant and cut out older or irrelevant experience.
3. Sell Yourself
For some people, this can be a challenge, but if you want to be successful in a job application you need to sell yourself. Throughout the whole process, from
Whenever possible, provide evidence for the statements you are making. This may seem to be impossible – how can you prove you’re a team player or reliable without them seeing you work? However there are various ways you can do this both as part of written applications and in interviews: tell them about specific results you achieved (for example, growing a social media page by a certain number of followers, awards you received or responsibilities you were given (for example being made responsible for supervising a team of 12 people after one year as a direct report).
“Every day, job seekers review vacancies on their favourite platforms. Whether they click to upload their resumes or are redirected to an online profile builder, sometimes several hundreds of candidates apply for the same position. Only one of them will be offered the role at the end of the
interview process. Every candidate asks the same question: how can I make sure to be the one they choose? ” – The Experts Who Help You To Land Your Dream Job
4. Put Your resume Out There
Rather than simply being reactive and apply for jobs once they are posted, be proactive by putting
You can also take this a step further by sending
5. apply For the Right Positions
Putting together the perfect application will be ineffective if you are applying for the wrong position for you. If you are struggling to put together an application and thinking “this job just doesn’t inspire me” you are setting yourself up for failure. Even if you go through all the steps and try to write the best application possible if the job is something that you simply don’t want to do it is highly unlikely that your application will be successful. If you are not passionate about the position this will show through to your future employers.
Before you start any job application take a step back and critically assess the position description. Can you imagine yourself doing this job every day for the long term? Can you picture yourself carrying out the roles and responsibilities mentioned in the position description? Consider this carefully before wasting your time on an application that will likely be unsuccessful, or worse still, being successful and ending up in a job you hate!
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