Make Job Seeking A Constant Thing

We should try and learn every new skill possible and continuously build our personal brand.

Most people start their search for a job after years when they feel they should start looking for a job (like after being laid off). By making the task of seeking a job a constant endeavour, we become more and more employable every year, even while doing the same job.

• Your skill sets are of no value if no one knows about them, and sometimes we ourselves do not know the value of our unique skills.
• Updating your resume regularly with a clear list of your old and new skills helps you understand and shape yourself for your next adventure.
• It is also a good idea to create a brand for yourself in a specific sector, listing out the relevant skills that are concentrated and leave an impact.

The last decade has changed the way a recruiter looks at a profile. You need to constantly update and restructure the content with the market realities and demands.

• A good resume has brevity, action verbs, and skills that fit the job being applied for.
• It helps to have a formal tone while providing hard, countable facts.
• Making use of keywords and familiar buzzwords(corporate lingo) makes finding and selecting easier for the recruiter.

• They have a vision for what they eventually want to be. Goals don’t help if one does not have a clear pathway, a strategy to reach there.
• We need to take into account the uncertainty and unpredictability that surrounds us, even if we are happily occupied in a job.
• Having a good network of friends that is nurtured and cultivated is a better strategy than calling up your old acquaintances after years asking them for helping you find a job.

Successful job seekers don’t just grab any job opportunity that comes their way and understand that they have to weigh in the long-term implications of any given profile, apart from the salary being offered.

One needs to figure out what would be the five-year or ten-year outlook of a certain profile if one invests their time and energy in it by accepting the current role.

Most of us look for jobs that we are comfortable with, something we have already done, even though it may not be something that is in demand by recruiters.

We have to let go of the mental blockages that prevent us from looking at profiles outside our area of expertise and are preventing our career growth.

• While listing our skills is important, it is also imperative that we are able to identify and articulate our skills.
• Certain transferable skills like an eye for detail or being able to communicate well are easily transferable across industries, but a specific skill like being well-versed with an accounting software may not be required in other companies.
• If we are able to list out and articulate all our transferable skills, it creates a value proposition.