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Smart Strategies To Help Secure The Career Of Your Dreams
Landing the career of your dreams isn’t easy in today’s job market. After all, there can be hundreds of applicants for every post or training position that you apply for, something that makes it a lot more competitive and difficult to be successful. However, there are some strategies that you can use to boost your chances of ending up in your dream career, to find out what they read the post below.
Linkedin profile
OK, so no matter how you feel about social media being on Linkedin is a good way to boost your chances of getting that job you are applying for. Linked is so good for the career-minded primarily because of the information that it provides to potential employers, including your work history, activity in the sector, and recommendations from those you work with.
In particular, the fact that you can show how active you are in the field that you are applying for can help to shift a possible employers opinion in your favor. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to join and post in professional groups and publish links to any articles or videos you have made that relate to post you are trying to get. Check on the video below to help get you started.
It’s also a smart idea to ensure that you fill in as much detail as possible on your LinkedIn profile, something you can get some tips on at inc.com. This is important because it can help current open jobs suggestions pop up. Something that means you are likely to have first access to the best roles and can get in quick with your application before anyone else.
Good references
Glowing references are essential to landing you the job that you want. For some folks, this just isn’t a problem because they have worked their socks off enough in their previous post or education to have impressed someone high up that can act as referee on their application.
You will often find that many people are used to providing references if they hold a senior role in business or an educational institution. In fact, these are often the best people to approach as they know precisely the sort of thing that goes down well with recruiting companies.
However, not everyone has the luxury of a good reference from every place they have worked or studied. This may be due to a disagreement with colleges or superiors, or due to mistakes that they have mad in the past. Luckily, though you don’t have to let the possibility of a mediocre or even poor reference affect your chances of getting the job you desperately want.
First, it can help to ask your previous employer before leaving about the type of reference they would give you. Then if there are any issues, you can address them before you go.
Then as fastcompany.com suggests, If you reference is negative in the extreme then it may be worth getting some legal advice, because there is a line between being honest and being defamatory. If you believe that the reference that they are providing is the latter you may have recourse for league action, and in fact, sending a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the CEO is usually enough to nip this problem in the bud.
The right qualifications
The right qualifications are essential to getting you into the career that you want, and in many cases, they can represent an additional convincing factor on your resume that may get you an interview or mean you are considered before the other candidates.
Of course, it helps to know exactly what qualifications are needed for the field that you want to be in and go after those before you begin your application and interview process. Therefore if you are looking for a role where you work with computers in an IT support capacity pursuing qualification like a level 5 CMI awards, CompTIA can be useful.
While if you are looking to get into a teaching or support assistant role working with kids, having a first aid and CPR qualification like the ones offered at cprheartcenter.com can help you stand out above the candidates. This is because employers often have to fill quotas of employees with these qualifications to be able to run, making you a more valuable asset.
Although it is also worth remembering that there are particular qualifications that you will need to enter many professions. Some of these will be an undergraduate degree, and some will even be postgraduates certificates and qualifications. This is something you can research more about on sites like mycareercalculator.com and brazen.com that will help you define and clarify your career path, and ensure you get to land the job you want in the long term.
Previous experience
Too many people find they are caught in the trap of having the right qualifications, but not having the experience they need to be considered for a post. Of course, it’s pretty hard to get the experience in a particular role when you are spending your time in full-time education.
Although, it’s not impossible, and this is where a little creative thinking can come in very handy. For example, it is possible to do education courses that include work placements, an option you can find out more about at topuniversities.com. This gives applicants a better balance better the qualification and knowing what the job is like in the real world. Something that so many employers value because it means the applicant can hit the ground running and doesn’t have to be trained so much before they are useful.
Another option here is study part-time or online while working in your chosen profession, usually in a role that is slightly lower than the one you hope to hold eventually. We often see this in practice with teaching assistant that are studying for the education degree, doctors assistants that are studying for the MD, and legal secretaries that are putting themselves through law school.
The advantage here is that because you know what the work situation is like you are much more likely to be making the right career decision for your long-term success. Again it also means that you can use the terminology and be immersed in the environment without it being a total culture shock. Something that means you can make quicker progress and be more effective in a faster time.
Lastly, if work placements and working while you are leaning aren’t a practical option for you, there is another choice, and it’s to volunteer your time in an industry that you are interested in joining. It’s likely you won’t get paid for this, and you can choose to do it as an intern or just as a volunteer depending on your other work commitment and life responsibilities.
It is, however, a precious thing to do, both for the impression it gives on your resume, and the positive reference you can provide from someone in a relevant industry potion. It is also hugely valuable because it allows you to test yourself out and see whether the field is a good fit for you. Something that can save you a lot of hassle and heartache in the long run because you are much less likely to want to change career later on, or drop out of training in which you are enrolled.
A clear and succinct resume
You will need a fabulous resume to get you into the career of your dreams. However, there seems to be some confusion about what a good resume looks like.
It is not your life story, it’s not a portfolio of your work, and it’s not a begging letter. What it should be, is a clear and concise information sheet about your previous experience and how that is relevant to the role you are applying for.
Yes, this does mean that you will need to tweak your resume for every different role you apply for, and that’s OK, because actually what your resume is, is a ticket that grants you access to the interview. For it to work the person reading it needs to see how you match what they are looking for, so feel free to edit it down or even add additional sections that show how you match the role and the value you can bring to their organization.
Also, modern resumes, templates for which you can access at skillcrush.com/, often have information about the key skills you possess and personal qualities. These are almost like a summary of the best bits of your resume, and I know if it was my job of going through hundreds of applications these are where I would look first! To that end, it can be useful to have this information at the top of the first page.
In fact, if you can get all the info in a single page then go for it, but whatever you do, do not go over two pages for a resume! The added detail can be placed in the cover letter, but again make sure it relevant and directly address the points of the job spec that they are asking for.
A great cover letter
If the application requires a cover letter, then you had best send one along with your resume. After all, the employer isn’t going to consider you if you can’t even obey request in the application process.
A good cover letter doesn’t need to be an essay about how you desperately want the job, and you will work super hard. Instead, it should talk about why you want to work for the employer, and the value you can bring to their company.
After all, that is what they are most concerned with at the end of the day, so it makes sense for your cover letter to play into this. Then you are making it as easy as possible for the employing company to help you secure the job and career of your dreams.
