Have you been unemployed for a while and want to find a new job?
Whether you’ve just emerged out of the wilderness after a long “gap yah”, been made redundant from your last job or simply decided to take some time off to look after your newborn, getting back into work isn’t always easy.
Depending on how long you’ve been out of the loop, you may quickly realise:
- The market has changed, leaving you underqualified.
- It’s hard to motivate yourself to apply for positions and attend interviews.
- The gaps in your CV is making securing a job extremely challenging.
Whatever the situation, don’t panic and throw in the towel.
There are loads of great jobs out there with your name on it.
In fact, according to the Financial Times, now is a good time to strike if you want a job in hospitality, IT, communications, construction, health and social work, leisure or transport and storage.
The key is to make small adjustments and don’t let negative feedback hamper your spirit.
To help you land your next job, here are a few factors and tips for you to consider.
Do your industry homework
After spending a lengthy amount of time out of work, it’s easy to fall behind on current trends – especially in the marketing and technology sectors.
Before you hit apply, make a list of buzzwords used in several blogs, articles and relevant job descriptions.
There’s a chance a new role might have developed during your time away, which you are perfectly capable of filling.
What’s more, you may realise that new or particular skills and qualifications are required to be seriously considered. In which case, take a look at your nearest college or university and enrol. Or for a more flexible way of learning quickly, The Open University has a range of diverse courses for you to take.
As you make your list of buzzwords, it’s also worth writing down a few company names where you’d love to work at. You can then get in touch with the particular employers and ask them if they have anything in the pipeline.
Finally, set up Google alerts to send you relevant articles on your favoured job industry. To give yourself the best possible chance of getting a job, you need to stay relevant and be up-to-date with current trends.
Revisit your CV
According to research, your CV may only be viewed for around 5-7 seconds! So, if you haven’t got the structure and content right, there’s a high probability that your application could be discarded instantly.
The reality is, some naughty employers and recruiters (not us), will reject a CV for some ridiculous reasons, including:
- having a strange email address
- including inaccurate dates of employment
- including an image of yourself
- making your CV too long
- writing longer paragraphs
- telling porky pies
- mentioning strange hobbies.
And that’s just scratching the surface. You can find loads more reasons for rejection in our previous blog here.
Your job is to make any necessary amendments to keep all information relevant, up-to-date and succinct.
If you don’t, the person looking at it won’t hesitate to hit delete.
Do some networking
Networking is a great way to boost your profile and get you onto the radar of recruiters and employers again.
There are a number of ways you can do this, including:
- volunteering to work on projects and local committees
- attending job fairs
- taking part in classes or webinars
- getting in touch with recruiters.
It’s also worth reaching out to your connections on LinkedIn to see if they know of anyone on the hunt for a person of your calibre.
Be prepared to make waves and you’ll cause a stir among the recruitment community.
Get some guidance
Searching for jobs on your own can be long and tiresome, so keep in constant touch with a recruitment specialist.
Once you open up the passage of communication and form a relationship, you’ll get people looking for you on your behalf.
It’s kind of like having a job search buddy!
Stay organised
The key to finding a lot of jobs after a long layoff is persistence.
Don’t just dip in and out of searching, make an Excel spreadsheet and allocate set periods of time where you just look for work.
You can then record all of the jobs you’ve applied for on your Excel document, enabling you to stay organised and aware of what’s in the pipeline.
After all, there’s nothing worse than a recruiter calling you about a job you’ve applied for and you’re not sure which one they’re talking about.
Giving yourself structure will keep you focused on the prize ahead and able to adapt your CV more efficiently to suit certain industries or job types.
Final thoughts
Hopefully, these tips have given you a basis to successfully step off the unemployment sideline and start ramping up your job search.
The main thing to remember is to stay confident and positive – despite any setbacks you may face.
Not every company will progress your application to the next stage, so you should learn to fight on and be open-minded enough to make any necessary tweaks to your CV along the way.
And don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from the employer or recruiter.
The best way to improve is by learning from your mistakes and adapting appropriately.
