Every year, competition in the job market gets more intense. With new people constantly entering the workforce and employers becoming more selective, it’s no longer enough to do just the bare minimum when searching for a job. Now, you’ll need to pay more attention to even the most minor details to stand out and position yourself as the ideal candidate.
Is finding a successful career at the top of your resolutions this year? If so, it’s essential to understand the reality that job hunting is a stressful process that comes with many headaches. However, it makes a huge difference when job seekers come in prepared. So check out this guide containing tips and advice to help you find high quality careers in 2022.
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Start Your Job Search on the Right Foot
It’s easy to think that you should rush to send applications when a company puts up new job postings. But mindlessly doing this can cause you to lose more opportunities than you may realize. So whether you’re applying for a company directly or through employment agencies in Charleston, SC, here are vital steps to take to start your search on the right foot.
Clarify Your Career Goals
Whether you’re fresh out of college looking for work experience or a seasoned professional planning a career change, it’s important to know what career path you envision for yourself. Assess your goals and think about what you want to do and what type of company you want to work in. By having a clear direction in mind, you can better focus your efforts on searching for the right jobs and highlighting the right skills.
Update Your Resume
It shouldn’t be surprising to learn that your resume will be a key aspect of your job search. It’s often an employer’s first contact point with job applicants, so think of this as your big chance to make yourself known and leave a good impression. Before you start sending out your resume, update it with your recent accomplishments and experience to attract employers.
When writing your resume, remember that content matters more than design. While it certainly needs to be presentable and visually appealing, you don’t need to go overboard with colors and designs. An artistic resume design is only applicable if you plan to enter a creative field that requires such skills. Otherwise, you should keep the design simple to ensure readability and maintain professionalism—doing this can increase your salary potential by 7%.
If you’re struggling with this step, here are some resume writing tips that can increase your chances of landing your desired job career:
- Tailor your resume to match the position you’re vying for
- Include only relevant information and subheadings
- Use a readable and professional font
- List your achievements and work experience
- Highlight recognitions and accomplishments
- Start sentences with action words
- Make your contact information visible and prominent
- Proofread and edit your resume as needed
Polish Your Online Profiles
Similar to how you might research a company before applying for their position, employers or staffing agencies in North Charleston, SC usually also do a quick search on applicants to verify their credibility. In fact, you might be surprised to know that out of 90% of employers who research their applicants’ social media profiles, 79% of them have rejected candidates due to what they’ve found in their search.
This staggering statistic just proves how important it is to check all your social media accounts and remove inappropriate content, if any. No matter how qualified you might be, a single negative post can lead to rejection. You never know what may be buried deep down in your profiles—especially the personal ones—so make sure you go over them thoroughly.
You can also take some time building your personal brand and incorporating this into your online profiles. Beyond your professional bio on LinkedIn, your personal Facebook and Twitter accounts can also give you an edge if you successfully showcase your personality, work ethic, and skills. For instance, a CareerBuilding survey revealed that 34% of hiring managers found a candidate to be highly creative based on their social screening.
Practice Your Pitch
Job interviews will vary for every position and employer, but the one constant will be your elevator pitch.
If this isn’t your first rodeo looking for a job, you probably know that most interviews start with the line “Tell me more about yourself.” As intense as it may sound, the next 30 to 60 seconds can very well affect the outcome of your application. Thus, it pays to put in some time and effort to practice and perfect your pitch—whether in front of the mirror or with friends and family.
So, what makes up a good pitch? Ideally, you should be able to explain who you are, what your career goals are, and why you’re interested in the company or position. Similar to how you’d market a brand, you also want to market yourself by highlighting what makes you unique. Ultimately, your goal is to be memorable, so employers remember you even after interviewing several other candidates.
Career Advice to Help You Land Your Dream Job
The to-do list above highlights the key things you should do before kickstarting your job search. However, as mentioned in the beginning, the job market is highly competitive today. So here is some valuable career advice to help boost your chances for success in your search:
- Don’t ever stop learning
If you’ve been paying attention to the job market in the past few years, you’ve noticed how skill demand is constantly evolving. As such, it’s more important than ever to upskill yourself. There’s always room to learn something new, and the key to staying relevant in a dynamic world is lifelong learning.
Nowadays, it’s no longer enough to have a degree as employers are now focusing on skills-based recruitment. Fortunately, there are tons of upskilling platforms you can explore, from Linkedin Learning to Coursera to Udemy and many others. With these, you can learn in-demand skills like data science and AI to stay ahead of your competition.
- Be flexible with your path
As mentioned earlier, it’s helpful to know your career path before you set out on your job hunt. However, you never know what may happen once you start your search, so you should also be flexible. You can have a general path in mind, but there’s nothing wrong with taking on new challenges and roles that may lead you in a different direction.
- Set realistic expectations
While there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious with your career goals, it’s also important to be realistic through the process. Searching for a job isn’t a one-time activity you can finish over the weekend. You’ll have to set aside time applying for jobs—and at the same time, understand that it takes time to hear back from companies.
- Widen your search options
You don’t need to limit your search to nearby companies or jobs. Remote work has become more prevalent since the start of the pandemic, so it’s now possible to work an online job remotely even if you’re on the other side of the globe. By expanding your search radius, you can find more job openings!
- Dedicate time to career networking
Networking is critical for all job hunters since it connects you to more job opportunities and increases your visibility among recruiters. Its benefits also go beyond the job searching process since it allows you to build long-lasting relationships with people who can help you advance in your professional life. So regardless of what stage of your career you might be in, always remember to put in some time to build your network.
Hiring Trends You Should Know About in 2022
If you’ve conducted a job search before, you’ll know that your first contact will often be a hiring manager or recruiter. As such, it helps to familiarize yourself with the hiring landscape to get a pulse of what employers are looking for and how you can stand out among other job applicants. Here are top hiring trends you should know about for the year.
Remote Work is Here to Stay
While offices have already begun reopening, remote work is expected to stay post-pandemic. Now that companies have seen the flexibility afforded by remote work, many are gravitating towards fully remote or hybrid work.
This means more opportunities for job seekers since you won’t need to worry about your work location. In addition, the remote setup is also beneficial for employers since they get a wider talent pool from around the world—ultimately resulting in a win-win situation.
Applicant Tracking Systems are Gaining Momentum
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is a software that helps companies streamline their recruitment process. In case you didn’t know, 98.8% of the Fortune 500 companies use an ATS to filter resumes for large volumes of applicants. However, even small and medium-sized businesses are starting to jump on the bandwagon because of how much time and effort the software can save.
Given this trend, it’s essential that you make your resume ATS-friendly. Aside from the tips mentioned earlier, another thing you can do is optimize your resume with keywords from the job description of the position you’re applying for. This will increase your chances of getting your resume in front of a human recruiter.
Employers are Expanding Benefits for Increased Satisfaction
Just as the competition for jobs is high, so is the competition for top talent. Now that you can scour job postings from just about anywhere, employers are offering more perks to attract more candidates. With this, you can expect companies to be more generous with salaries, bonuses, and benefits—but of course, remember to proceed with caution.
Before getting carried away with any benefits package, you should assess the company’s culture to see if you’re a good fit. Even if you work full time, work-life balance will likely still be at the top of your priorities so you don’t get burnt out.
How Bridges Staffing Agency Can Help Job Applicants Find High Quality Careers in 2022
Working with an employment agency can be extremely helpful, whether you’re an employer or an aspiring employee. As an employer, you can get help finding the best candidates to fill vacant positions. And as for applicants, you can find opportunities that may otherwise be difficult to search for on your own.
If this idea interests you, Bridges Staffing Agency is here to help you out. As a staffing agency in Charleston, SC, we help companies find the right candidates to employ and provide qualified job seekers with relevant career opportunities. Bridges Staffing isn’t just another temp agency in Charleston, SC–we aim to help you advance your professional life and build a successful career.
To learn more about the job placement services at Bridges Staffing Agency, you can contact us at (843) 612-8414 today.
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