It has never been easy to find a job but considering the current climate we live in, this has become even more difficult. I’d like to share a couple of techniques that you can potentially relate to and that will help you with your job hunt.
Check your social media behavior
We have embraced social media sites and we often don’t realize what impact our status updates, tweets and comments in forums could have on recruiters. It’s crucial to be aware of this because recruiters take advantage of the development of Web 2.0 and will research you before considering if they will present you to their clients, i.e. your potential future employer.
If you are a constant Facebook status updater, then consider hiding this from the public. Your pictures should be hidden as well unless they are all professional. However, if you are very conscious about your personal brand, like myself, then you may want to show your status updates. These status updates should, however, be relevant to the jobs you are looking for and should, just like twitter, be useful to your friends.
The same counts for twitter, if you’re an active twitter user, then make sure that you post relevant links for your followers. What’s also important here is how you promote your unique selling point. For example, my unique selling point, i.e. your differentiating factor, is that I speak Dutch, German and English. I incorporated this into my twitter profile description so it looks like: “Susanna Cha | Recent MSc international Marketing Graduate | Tweets in Dutch, English and German”. Recruiters will see that which will in turn, establish more credibility and give you a positive image.
Check your CV
Recruiters look at hundreds, perhaps thousands of CV’s on a monthly basis so you need to ensure that yours stand out. I’m not saying that you should have bright letter types and crazy fonts, but do consider the layout of your CV. Don’t go for the generic CV with the common structure, i.e. Personal Details, Educational Achievements, Work Experience, Skills and Interests, but ensure that what makes you different will be the first thing recruiters read. So start off with your Personal Details on the right, and then list your skills on the left side. Describe every skills with an example of your previous work experience, followed by your educational achievements and interests. This way, your CV will be different than the others, which will increase your chance of getting the job.
Impress at the Interview
It is vital to do your research before you are being interviewed because this is your only chance to impress your potential employer. Most job seekers are preparing themselves for the usual stuff like strengths and weaknesses or being able to give a description of the company. From what I have experienced, interviewers don’t ask these things that often anymore. What they want is personality and confidence so by ensuring that you’ve done your research will impress the most. In terms of preparing yourself for the interview, the most important thing is to be able to name examples. So if they ask you if you are organised and can work well under pressure, don’t just say yes but come up with a really good example. These things can be practised beforehand, think of at least 5 examples that you know you can bring into the interview which can be used for all of your CV listed skills.
I hope this helps all the job seekers out there! What other job hunt tactics do you think 2012 job seekers should know? Happy Hunting!
Tagged as: career tips, graduate jobs, job search, social media