Each one of us faces the need to craft a resume to get involved in a job search sooner or later. This is inevitable; so, you’d better prepare yourself for the process. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. You only have to follow generally accepted rules such as creating a bot-beating resume, tailoring it for each job posting, and getting ready for the interview.
However, many job seekers seem to be utterly intimidated by these procedures, especially those who do it for the first time. Sending out applications and communicating with recruiters indeed seems to be outside of the comfort zone for many.
Nevertheless, professionals at skillhub.com have a few ticks and tricks on how to help beginners feel at ease when it comes to hiring. Fortunately, they are willing to share some of them with us now.
Plan Your Strategy
If you have everything under control, you have nothing to be afraid of. You know your goals, follow your path, and simply get what you want. It all comes with thorough planning.
Firstly, sit down and define your objectives, companies you’d want to work with, expected salaries, employee benefits, and other details. The better you envision your future workplace, the easier it is for you to find exactly what you are looking for.
Secondly, turn the application process into a routine. Send out your resume to no more than two companies per day because each time you’ll have to google the company and tailor your resume. Create a diary where you’d account for every position that you have responded to.
Craft a Winning Resume
Treat your resume as a document. In other words, don’t think as if it is just a piece of paper with your history on it. Instead, find out about the main rules for resume writing and follow them to the dot. If you feel that you can’t do it, get professional help.
Your resume is likely to get scanned by an applicant tracking system before it reaches a human hiring manager. Thus, making your document meet all the established resume writing rules is your duty that influences your success.
Also, make your resume simple. Even if you are a Biotechnology guru with lots of projects, describe them in simple words that are understood by many. The idea is to make sure that your resume makes you an obvious fit for the job.
Make Changes
Do not view your newly crafted resume as something constant. Yes, it might look great. However, to get more interviews, you should change the wording, add new key skills, and even swap bullet points here and there. Each job posting is different. Your goal is to make your resume fit the position announcement and portray you as a perfect fit.
There Will Be Companies That Won’t Hire You
Having the privilege of choice is great for a junior specialist. However, it doesn’t mean you should all of the companies you’ve applied to will respond to your application. It doesn’t work like that. You’d better be prepared for the worst before you start looking for a job.
Not being selected as a candidate is fine. It’s not the end of the world. In many companies, resumes of unsuccessful candidates remain in the database, so don’t be surprised if they call you years later. However, at the current time, not getting employed by this particular firm means you’ll soon find a job at the place that fits you better.
Think of Your LinkedIn Profile
Today’s recruiting process is quite simple thanks to instant messaging, emails, and professional social networks.
Many recruiting firms pay more attention to your LinkedIn profile than to the resume you might have sent. It filters candidates, suggests the best ways to reach out, and even provides professional training. Both sides – candidates and recruiters – benefit from this network.
Thus, before you get to looking for a job, ensure your LinkedIn profile looks fine. Having a great resume is not enough today.
Don’t Be Boring
Being professional does not mean being boring. Here are some tips for a good resume. Don’t use cliches that you find common. It’s absolutely unnecessary. Instead, be yourself while describing your skills.
When you make it to the interview, do not respond with ‘correct’ answers that you’ve memorized. This falseness will not help you land a job. On the contrary, demonstrate your sense of humor, speak from your heart, and show them what kind of person you are.
You are unique. Don’t make yourself look like hundreds of other candidates. It’s the memorable, amiable, and likable who get the job in the end.
Prepare for Every Interview
Obviously, unprepared candidates don’t land the position they want. Interviewers don’t like to negotiate with people who have no idea what company they’ve applied to. Therefore, before you send your resume to an organization, do spare a few minutes to read about its mission and vision.
When you make it to the interview, Google as much as you can about it. If you look for the information, you’ll have your questions to ask. That means your interview won’t look like an interrogation but a discussion. That is very much appreciated.
Even if you can find very basic and pretty general information, it’s still better than going unprepared. You can be misled but you can’t be unprepared; their job is to help you figure out whether the company fits your goals.
Thank Others
Many beginners do know how they should initiate the job search. However, they have a false understanding of how it should end. They believe that the interview, whether successful or not, ends the whole process. It’s far from being true.
Recruiters have lots of resumes to process per day. Hiring managers and interviewers have lots of selected candidates to communicate with. Having that in mind, interviews couldn’t be the final conversation you have with the hiring team.
It’s absolutely necessary to write a thank you letter. It serves both goals – you actually thank your interviewers for taking the time and remind them of your candidature at the same time. Also, you confirm that your interest in the company didn’t fade following the interview.
Knowing all that is supposed to ease the job search process for you and make it structured and comfortable. Yet, don’t expect it to be absolutely stress-free if you do it for the first time.
