Searching for a job can be very awful, especially for young people.
Luckily instead of incessantly refreshing Indeed, Monster or other job boards, today there are much better, more effective ways to find appealing jobs.
Forget to send only your resume for job posting. Filling out job applications isn’t enough. Today, many popular jobs receive more than 500 job applications, if not thousands.
In this digital new era of work, where is extremely important your personal branding on social media, it’s possible to have challenging opportunities without ever looking for them.
But, first of all you have to know what you want to do. Then optimize your digital presence and finally build long-lasting relationship — create and nurture your networking — that will serve you well throughout your entire career.
Follow these steps to find the job you want :
· LEARN WHO YOU ARE
To get started, it is crucial to do some self-reflection. You have to know yourself and really determine specifically what you want to do. For example write down three jobs you’d like to have.
After that, discover your greatest strenghts — what it is that makes you particularly qualified for the job above all others. For each quality, think of a specific time that you used that trait to achieve important results.
· ATTEND JOB FAIRS
While some people find job fairs (also known as career fairs) to be stressful, they are infact an excellent way to improve your job search. A job fair is an ideal place to meet representatives of various companies at once.
You can network with both employers and other job seekers in your industry. Even if you do not wind up with a job, you can gain inside information about numerous industries and expand your network.
· CONSIDER VOLUNTEER OR INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
If nobody will hire you because you are so young and you lack the experience, your best bet is to do some volunteer work to get some experience. A few hours a week can give you real-life skills that you can put down on your resume and will increase your chances of getting that job down the road.
Moreover employers often offer internships to try out and recruit new full-time employees. Even though internships are a way for students to gain experience and learn more about a specific career field of interest, they are also a way for organizations to try out individuals and decide how well they fit within the overall culture of the organization.
· OPTIMIZE YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE AND START BLOGGING
Your LinkedIn profile is your online résumé. The difference to your paper CV is that people can view this whenever they want, without waiting for you to apply for a role, allowing them to contact you directly about opportunities you may not have otherwise been aware of.
Start to make interesting post, articles and highlight certain aspects of your skills, experience and attitude. By doing so you can attract the kinds of opportunities you’re truly interested in.
· MAKE SURE RECRUITERS LOVE YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE
The large majority of job recruiters increasingly use Facebook when evaluating a candidate, and some of them hire someone directly via Facebook.
How can you make sure you’ve got all the information a recruiter wants to see?
1. Check your privacy settings:
Facebook allows users to manage privacy controls on a post-by-post basis. Take advantage of this. Make sure that the posts that are public reflect positively on you and show that you have a unique insight in your field (or the field you’re hoping to go into). Having every piece of content private may help keep out undesirables from snooping, but it also doesn’t give the recruiter any insight into who you are as a person.
2. What you post matters:
We’re no longer in grade school, so before posting something publicly, make sure that nothing is misspelled and that the grammar is clean. In addition to this while the photo of you and your friends drinking in pub or disco might be your favorite photo, if you’re looking for a job, it would be best to have your profile picture be more professional.
· SEND COLD EMAIL TO KEY DECISION MAKERS
In this way you’re putting yourself directly in front of hiring managers and grab their attention. Sending a cold email shows them that you’re the kind of person who takes initiative, making you stand out, instead of disappearing into a sea of resumes.
Starting a conversation with the decision maker also helps them get to know you faster. Appealing to them directly can open all kinds of doors for you, and fast-track your application to the front of the line.
· LEARN ABOUT THE FUTURE EMPLOYER
A likely first question any interviewer will ask is, “what does our company do?” This seems like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised at the number of people that have no clue. If you’re not prepared to discuss the company, they probably don’t want you.
Take the time to know the company inside and out. Research what they do, follow their social-media pages, and understand the industry and the competitors.
· PREPARE YOUR SALES PITCH FOR THE JOB INTERVIEW
Prepare your stories of success, more than one, and strive as much as you can to tailor them to the specific role and company in question. Remember always to match your qualities with the employer’s needs.
Be sure to focus on examples of times when you did exemplary work not because of external influences, a boss telling you to do something or a monetary incentive, but because of your own passion for the task.
Focus on what you can do for the company and show how your own skillset will benefit your potential employer in a way they may not have experienced previously.
· PRACTICE TO BE PREPARED
First of all review how a job interview works so you know what to expect.
After that there are a number of ways to prepare for an interview at home without the help of a professional career counselor or coach or a fee-based service.
You can practice interviews all by yourself or recruit friends and family to assist you.
Ask your practice interviewer for constructive feedback. Practicing with a friend or family member will provide you with a comfortable, safe environment for honing your interviewing skills and receiving feedback.
Originally published at medium.com