Finding a job when unemployment is high can take all of your James Bond skills to employ them for your job search, because you know that half of the jobs you see advertised have been filled before you apply and for any of the remaining jobs you might like to consider, you’ll be standing in a queue with hundreds of other people and you need to find a way to stand out in the crowd. Here’s how.
1. Make your search easier for you
Decide on a strategy to find a new job and stay focused. You will see lots of jobs advertised, but you don’t have to move jobs for the sake of it unless of course, you don’t have a job at the moment and then almost anything is better than nothing.
Once you know the position that you would be ideally suited for, consider approaching companies to see if they have a vacancy now or in the near future that matches your requirements. You may just save them some advertising costs by thinking of you in advance.
You should not waste time applying to companies who are offering positions that don’t match your skills, your qualifications or your interest. It takes time and effort to apply for a job and with many companies failing to acknowledge your job application and CV; you’ll simply be wasting dollars and sweat.
Find out who the key players are in your industry, sector or chosen company. With sufficient background knowledge, your interview will flow much smoother and you will have good questions ready to ask. Completing research will help you find out if you are entering a growing or shrinking market. Who do you know that has an in to the company you want to talk to?
2. Finding out where jobs are listed
Don’t just consider the traditional lines of focus – local newspapers and word-of-mouth. You need to think about all of the off-line and online ways to find out about jobs as soon as they are listed.
You can approach companies and find out if they have vacancies. The same applies to local and national government positions.
In the modern era, you must consider all of the online opportunities to see where jobs are listed and by reading newspapers online and off-line, you can find out about companies that are planning changes in the future, which might bring employment opportunities, enabling you to make the first move.
3. Make networking work for you
Although you might not want to discuss changes with over talkative people or wish your current employer to know that you are looking elsewhere, having careful conversations with the right people might lead you to information, not readily available elsewhere.
Living on a relatively small island, communities are very close. While you may need six degrees of separation in the US or Europe, locally a friend of a friend might be the right person to speak to, to find out about job opportunities. A friend or relative might know someone in a managerial position who can be in the right place at the right time.
When the right people know that you are looking for a change in employment, they can call you when they hear about suitable positions. You must ensure that your network among the right people that can help you and in time you may be able to return the favour.
4. Make your CV irresistible
An employer doesn’t know you. They may have your CV in front of them, but they might have several hundred others at the same time. It is essential, that while your CV follows standard conventions in presentation, it needs to stand out from the crowd;
• check the terms used in the job description and repeat those in your CV
• ensure you have addressed all the main tasks for the job
• tell the employer what you’ve done and how you did it – shout!
• give the employer every opportunity to want to talk to you and make it easy for them to write, telephone, e-mail offering every communication possible
• have experts edit your CV to your benefit
Using a summary at the beginning of your CV ensures that the potential employer would know enough about you in the first two or three sentences to give them encouragement to read the rest.
5. Preparing for the interview
Check out all you can about the company. Check their website and any news about them. Check their Facebook and Twitter accounts to see if anything useful can be raised during the interview.
Find out who their customers are to provide you with great discussion pointers during a meeting.
Plan all of the points you wish to raise during the interview and have a range of questions from which you can ask some, because they might answer your questions before you had the chance to ask them if you’ve only prepared a few in advance.
Check the route to the interview and allow enough time to get there and don’t choose your clothes an hour before your interview is due to begin.
Deepak Chopra might have been talking about something else, but his sentiments sum up your search for a new job – “All great changes are preceded by chaos.”
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Samuel Rosenberg is the founder and CEO of Axcel Finance Ltd., the leading regional microfinance institution. Share your thoughts and email your questions to srosenberg@axcelfinance.com