5 Ways You Can Improve Your Job Hunting Prospects

Job hunting can be a challenging task to do, whether you are an amateur or an experienced player aiming for one big shot to boost your career. People spend most of their lifetime working hard day and night but unfortunately in the wrong direction.

Have you ever thought about how your life could have been if you were moving in the right direction at the right pace?

The job hunting market is getting more and more ruthless every single day, as the level of competition is rising at a lightning speed. On one hand, you are trying to keep up with the market trends, and on the other hand, trends change overnight.

The whole hiring process, from your resume selection or to the personal interview, everything has made a 180.

To improve your job hunting prospects you need to be ahead of the trends and time.

Here are 5 surefire ways that will help you increase your job hunting prospects:

1 – Get Active Online

One of the biggest mistakes job seekers commit is that they don’t follow the right path and limit their search to only newspapers and job news magazines. When in fact, nowadays these ways are of little to no use.

Move away from newspapers and magazines and start finding a good job online. Sites like Monster, Indeed, etc. will surely help you raise your opportunity in finding a great job.

In order to make a long-lasting impact, it is necessary to make a resume that is not only creative and innovative, but one that is also able to speak for the work you have done over the years. My Perfect Resume does an incredible job of making a sensational resume for you in just three easy steps.

2 – Clean Up Your Online Reputation

It is highly recommended that you get active online more often, but as they say, there are always two sides of a coin. Most people tend to use the internet carelessly, which might cause great harm.

According to recent surveys, more than 75% of recruiting managers search online and explore a candidate’s profile even before calling them for an interview. Yes, social media accounts beware.

Why not try something exciting that can clear all the trails to your personal data online and make a picture perfect profile for youself on Google? To get a better idea of how to reinvent your online presence, there is an exceptional website called Brand Yourself.

This website works like a magical wand. It lets you select the list of links that will appear in order of preference when someone searches your name in Google’s search engine.

3 – Acquire New Skills

Trust me when I say that a basic undergraduate degree will make you eligible for a basic job with a very basic paycheck. So, if you want to make it big this time, you have to work hard for it too.

As mentioned before, market trends tend to change overnight and monitoring those changes is near to impossible. To raise your chances of getting hired, you need to acquire new skills related to the job post you are applying for.

You are never too old to learn something new, especially when you are actively looking for a job.

From Wikipedia to YouTube, sources are infinite. Helpful websites like Coursera and edx assist with giving you the resources to learn anything you want to.

Before you start with your e-learning voyage, first you need to evaluate what the job entails and what skills are required. And then acquire those skills.

Even Jack Ma, the self-made Billionaire and CEO of Alibaba says that, “It is what you do with the free time which determines who you are.”

4 – Work On Your Communication Skills

Imagine a situation where you know every answer to the question asked in a test but you don’t know how to write. Similarly, in order to excel at an interview, great communication skills is one of the most important aspects.

70% of employers hire employees with good presentation skills, but over 89% of the employers believe that good communication skills are the most important trait they expect a potential candidate to have.

To improve your communication skills, you need to follow an interactive routine where you take up mock interviews on websites like Skype and record yourself while doing them in order to build your confidence with in-person interviews. You can visit Interview 4 for mock interviews.

Additional methods of establishing great communication skills include:

• reading books and blogs related to communication skills
• listening to the interviewer carefully before you answer
• keeping your replies short and quick.

5 – Research Your Employers

If you’ve ever gone to a job interview, you must be aware that there is one question that we all expect in a personal interview and that question is, “What do you know about the company?”

You have already come really far in your journey to raise your job hunting prospects, why not take things a step further by presenting your best self?

It’s a good idea to research everything about the company and the employees, if possible. Keep yourself updated with news, achievements, and industry trends related to that company.

The entire world is booming with the impact of digitalisation, so it’s time to pull up your socks, buckle your shoes, and keep with the trends and ways of the digital era.

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Source: Lifehack.org