These days, jobs are scarce and applicants plentiful. It can be a very discouraging environment to look for employment in. The following tips can offer you helpful advice in your search for a job; take the expert information and use it to power-up your search and land the job you are looking for!
If you are currently employed but scanning for other opportunities, do not allow your performance to suffer. You could damage your professional reputation by slacking off. You never know when word might get to potential employers. If you wish to do well, working hard is the only way to do so.
Instead of accepting that you do not have what it takes to land a specific job, ask yourself what you can do to become a better candidate. For example, if you lack experience with a certain software program commonly used in your chosen field, look for online tutorials and how-to books. MIT and other prestigious universities offer a variety of free, non-credit online courses. Topics range from marketing research to XHTML, and completing the programs demonstrates your willingness to go the extra mile.
Come up with a professional sounding email address when job hunting. Include your full name so that people can easily search for your email, especially if it has your resume attached, when they need to fill a position. You can stop using the email address once you’ve found a job.
Take the time to write a quality cover letter before applying for a job. Your cover letter is a reflection of your communication and writing skills. Do your best to describe your experience in details, talk about your motivations and explain why you would be a good fit for the job.
For organizational purposes, get a separate email address for job hunting. Sign up with gmail for a quick and easy throwaway account. This ensures all your job emails are in one place, and that they’re not buried under your personal email or heaps of spam, making searching simpler for you to do.
Consider giving your cell phone number on job applications and your resume instead of your home number. This opens up the opportunities for you to immediately get the call, no matter where you are. In fact, you can take your cell phone with you to the garden, bathroom or anywhere else you might need it.
Your resume will often be the first thing that a prospective employer will see, and without a good resume, you can rest assured that you won’t be called in for an interview! Show your resume to your friends and family members whose opinions you value to get their feedback and advice.
You should not use the same resume or cover letter to apply for different jobs. You should create your resume or cover letter in function of the position you want. Make sure you draw attention to relevant work experiences or specific skills that represent an advantage for the job you want.
As trivial as it may seem, be sure you are getting enough rest the night before an interview. Most people simply do not function properly when they have not slept enough. This could affect your ability to answer questions the interviewer may ask you at your interview. You also do not want to appear haggard.
When you are going on an interview, come alone. If you have a child, make sure that you take care of the babysitter in advance. You will need to focus on your interview and your interview alone, as other people will just shift your focus away from what really matters.
Be careful that you do not bad mouth your former employer at all during a job interview. Even if you left your job on bad terms you do not need to get into all of the details. Explain that you are looking for a new opportunity and try to put a positive spin on it.
If you are trying to find temporary employment during the holidays, the key is to apply early and often. The sooner your application gets in, the more likely it is to be seen by the person doing the hiring. Furthermore, you increase your odds of getting hired if you submit applications to 50 places instead of only 5.
Keep your resume to one page. For the majority of people, a resume one page long is enough to get your story across. Longer resumes have a tendency of getting trashed before ever getting considered. So unless you’ve got a wealth of experience that just can’t fit on a single page, aim for brevity.
When the numbers are stacked against you, you’ve got to pull a few rabbits out of your hat! Since there are probably a great number of other job applicants you are competing against for a single position, use these tips to give you an advantage! Put the information from this article to work for you and finally join the ranks of the employed again.
