Looking for a job is a stressful task whether you are unemployed or just looking for a career change.
In order to make things smoother and increase your chances of finding your dream job, these are the things you need to do before submitting your resume.
Read the job description carefully
Make sure you read and understand the job description, as this will help you analyze if you are a good fit for the position and if this job is something that you would be happy doing. Check the job requirements and only apply if you meet at least 80% of them.
Meeting all requirements is not a must, however, make sure you meet the most important ones before submitting your Resume.
For example, if the job requires 3 years of experience and a Bachelor’s Degree in that field, however, you have 5 years of experience without a degree, you can apply without having to worry about it.
A degree is a must in fields like Engineering, Computer Science, Architecture, Health, Education and others where you cannot perform without having gone through college.
Polish your resume
Your resume is your business card and the most important thing in your job search.
It makes the difference between getting a job interview or not, so you want to make sure that your resume looks neat, it has no spelling or grammar errors and it’s easy to read.
Don’t forget that recruiters spend an average of 6 seconds scanning a resume before deciding if it’s worth reading it in more detail or throwing it in the NO pile.
Also, the information in your resume is relevant to the position you are applying to. Make sure you put an emphasis on the past job tasks and experiences that are most relevant. Exclude everything that is not relevant.
Research the company
Researching a company before applying to an opening is crucial and can increase your chances of getting a call dramatically.
The company’s website, LinkedIn or other social media profiles, can provide you with a lot of useful information about how the company operates and potentially, their pain points.
Pain points – are areas where the company needs improvement.
This research will help you understand the company’s culture as well, a this is something very important in evaluating if this would be something that suits your character.
Write a customized cover letter
If you need to send a cover letter, together with your application, by all means, please send a customized cover letter.
If you’ve done your research properly (Step 3), and you were lucky to find pain points, you should use that in the cover letter.
Writing a few lines about how you can help solve those pain points, should guarantee a call for an interview.
Research the company’s employees on LinkedIn
Researching current and past employees gives you a great understanding of employee turnover. If people are not staying long in the company, this is a red flag and you might want to reconsider applying for a job with that company.
Checking current employees’ profiles also gives you an idea of how much experience they have, so basically how demanding the company is. Usually, this gives a boost of confidence when realizing that your potential future colleagues are not superhumans.
Polish your social media
Many hiring managers and recruiters check the candidates’ social media, therefore you want to make sure you don’t have anything compromising. If you’re not sure and you don’t want to go back 5 years to polish your posts, make your profiles private.
Regarding LinkedIn, you want to make sure that it’s neat and there are no inconsistencies between your resume and your LinkedIn profile.
Good luck with your job hunt!