Job Hunting Strategies for Gaining Employment in the Philippines
It has been eight months since your departure from a previous post or your college graduation. You are a candidate with over six years of experience or a fresh graduate. It may feel like you can still get a job immediately. However, being vacant for eight months is already alarming, and something must be done to jumpstart your career.
Individuals tend to panic and worry about the future of their careers, especially if they have been idle for months. With the scenarios mentioned above, job hunters must create a process that can help them master the essentials of job hunting.
In this article, we’ll give you a rundown of effective strategies you can utilize during your idle time to continue developing your career and expanding your opportunities for growth.
Write Down a Checklist
A checklist enables a candidate to create a structured approach towards job hunting. Pen down a list containing the necessary steps required for the job hunting process. For example: identify your strengths and weaknesses, take note of industries that will match your skill sets, and do research on other companies similar to the previous company you worked for.
Manage every move you make and revisit any steps you might have missed. The examples above are just one of the many parts of a common checklist. Mastering job hunting may take some time, but with the right checklist reminding you of upcoming tasks, you can develop a clearer understanding of how the process works.
Create or Update Your Resume/CV
Your resume or CV (Curriculum Vitae) represents not just your work experience, but also your educational background, skills, and abilities. For your reference, we created a resume/CV writing guide to help candidates create or improve their job applications.
Focus on the essential sections of your resume. Most fresh graduates will utilize the chronological format to describe their skills and competencies, while experienced talents can choose between functional and combined formats to highlight their skill sets and work experience for the recruiting managers to take notice and emphasize in the interview process.
Develop Your Personal Brand
A personal brand can help a candidate stand out from other applicants vying for the same position. Before creating a job application or preparing for an interview, you must have an idea of how you can sell yourself as the ideal candidate. Start with your work performance and skill-sets and let these factors stand out.
You can look good on paper to impress recruiters, but recruiters are looking for output-driven candidates. How will that work out during interviews? Remember that you must “understand your value”. Recruiters will focus more on your abilities rather than your work background.
Craft an Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch is a fifteen to thirty-second summary of who you are as an employee and what you can contribute to the company. You can create your elevator pitch before the employer invites you to an interview. Your recruiters might ask you this question: “What can you do for the company?”. At that moment, you can utilize the elevator pitch to answer the question.
Begin creating your pitch by highlighting your Unique Selling Proposition as a candidate while keeping it short and simple. Identify the goal of your pitch and practice them days before an interview.
Expand Your Network
You might want to reconsider attending events focused on the industry you want to work in. Socializing with peers helps you create new connections, and maybe a bridge towards a great job opportunity. This is where you can start expanding your professional network. Don’t forget, your personal brand can also help you gain traction from different networks.
During gatherings, socialize with the people around you. Share your work experience as they do the same. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a house party, an expo or a seminar. You can also rely on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter or discussion boards such as Reddit, The Verge, and other sites to connect with different professionals.
Stay Calm
Every job hunter has their own pace when it comes to their job hunting process, and while it is a common tendency for some job hunters to panic, don’t feel tensed and impatient if the job hunting process feels tedious. If you are confident in your skills and abilities, it only means that you are ready to face recruiters and present yourself as a future asset to their company.
Keep calm and focus on the job hunt. Glassdoor believes that rushing the job hunting process may not clarify what career path you want to take and you might end up at the worst position possible, thus, generating a tedious experience.
As a job hunter worried about what the future holds for them, the best solution to curb such sentiments is to practice proactivity. Who knows? Maybe after reading this article, a chance to begin a unique opportunity is at hand. You can’t afford to miss out on a job offer or a prestigious job interview. Get moving and start your job hunt!
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
– C.S. Lewis
