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With more and more talent being churned out by higher-level institutions each year, landing even a basic-level entry job is becoming a herculean task. As such, as a job prospect, you need to go out of your way to make yourself more appealing to your prospective employer than your competition. The following are tips you can use to help you increase your chances of landing that job or position.
Your resume is what represents you before your hirers or employer, and is often what guides these parties to a hiring decision. Therefore, ensure that it offers the best representation of you.
Tweet This1. Polish Your Resume
Your resume is what represents you before your hirers or employer, and is often what guides these parties to a hiring decision. Therefore, ensure that it offers the best representation of you.
A stellar resume with worthy content will, therefore, give you a significant edge. As such, ensure that it does not have trivial mistakes such as grammatical or spelling errors as these will diminish your attractiveness.
Also, make sure that it is formatted appropriately to give the hirer an easier time reading through your achievements. Remember, they are likely going through dozens of other resumes and are, therefore, not going to jump through hoops to read through every detail; make it easier for them.
As such, ensure that you do not use up more than three pages listing your skills and accomplishments. Also, make sure that your resume is specifically tailored to the position you are looking for.
2. Network Extensively
Networking, whether social or professional, is bound to bring you results. Thus, if you are looking to enhance your chances of landing a job, ensure that you are trying to connect with a lot of influential people through online and offline platforms. As such, you will have to make a point of attending social and community events to get to meet and know new people. Also, try and raise your activity level on popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. However, if you are looking for professional networking exclusively, be sure to utilize LinkedIn as much as you can.
3. Prepare Thoroughly for Interviews
If you have been doing everything right so far and you happen to land an interview, ensure that you are prepared for it as it is your only chance to convince hirers that you are the best fit for the position. As such, you will have to research the organization so you can understand its breadth and perspective. You will also need to analyze the job description to be sure that your skills and qualifications fit the position advertised.
Additionally, you must know how to respond to interview questions. Learn how to give the most appropriate responses so you can become more attractive to the hiring manager.
4. Add Value
If there is one thing that will definitely set you apart from the rest of the pack, it is bringing something to the table that no one else has. When you are all vying for the same job, chances are that you all have a generic resume that has just been worded differently. So, what is the number one way of adding real value to your resume?
Photo by David Travis on Unsplash
Having skills that the employer is looking for.
While soft skills are important for any job, having skills that add real value to the company’s financial bottom line will immediately raise their attention. These skills can only be derived from taking a real course.
While taking an additional course is understandably difficult due to time and financial constraints, today, there are online courses that are flexible enough to help you study on your own time. One of the best fits for any career is administration courses since they give you skills that are highly sought after in a diverse range of industries.
“Before you start looking for your dream job, there is one question you need to ask yourself; what is it that you really want to do? You really need to think about this long and hard. Your own conclusion is what provides you with a starting point. Your college major may give you a platform for identifying your career goals. But provided it’s feasible, it is perfectly normal if you wish to pursue a field that has nothing to do with you major. Perhaps you spent four years of your life doing something that you did not really like. But why make the same mistake all over again?” – Five Tips for Landing your Dream Job
Apply to your next job with confidence.
While other books focus only on crafting the perfect résumé or cover letter, the truth is, you need a strategy for the entire job application process.
A strategy that communicates your expereinces, achievements, and results in a way that provides value to hiring managers.
Landing that dream job will take a lot of hard work and preparation. However, if you utilize the above tips, that process will be much more bearable. The most important thing, however, is to be sure that you are bringing value to your employer. As such, all the networking, and resume and interview preparation will not account for much if you are not helping the organization become more profitable. Look into online courses to help you get those highly sought-after skills.
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