Despite the economy still being in recession, unemployment continuing to rise and some figures showing job prospects being being bleak, specifically for graduates, there are signs that the employment market is picking up with recruiters reporting signs of increased activity from employers. That said the competition for advertised vacancies is as fierce as ever.

As an example of this 2 recent roles advertised on the Internet, a junior IT Helpdesk job and another, more senior, IT Management position attracted 1250 and 600 unique applications respectively. For both of these roles the client required a shortlist of suitable candidates within 2 days!

Recruiters have invested heavily in IT systems to help manage this process but the sheer volume of applications mean some qualified and able candidates will slip through the net and there simply isn’t the time to speak with every applicant and pass constructive feedback on every CV.

Job Hunters today must take personal responsibility for finding the next opportunity and must understand the new rules of job hunting

5 Things Every Job Seeker Should Know:

• The world has changed! Your approach to finding a job must also change. The old approach of putting a CV together, posting to an online job board or randomly sending to job adverts, and expecting the phone to ring doesn’t work anymore. Sure you will get the odd call, even an interview but this is luck, who wants to rely on luck? Be creative, network with everyone you know, use social media facebook, twitter YouTube etc. Don’t understand social media? Learn it, it’s not going away!

• Everyone should have a personal advert! Recruiters and Hiring Managers are facing a huge volume of job seekers, it is critical to engage them immediately. Take the time to prepare a 30 second advert, something you say every time when you meet people (in the US it is known as an elevator speech). It must be something that says who you are and what you do and it must be interesting. It’s should be friendly, positive, ideally with a bit of humour and should prompt a question from the recruiter.

• CV must sell! Nobody wants to read an 8 page document detailing every project or task you’ve carried out – it’s just not interesting! Be relevant and think about the role you are applying for, who will be reading it, what will they want to see. Highlight specific areas of expertise or areas of work that are a great fit and be specific. On a practical level, it isn’t good enough to present CV’s that are poorly formatted or with spelling mistakes (that’s what spell-check is for!) There is a wealth of information out there on CV preparation, spend some time on getting this right.

• What does your personal brand say about you? What personal brand? Exactly! Do you have a personal website, if not why not! It doesn’t cost much and can be another way of advertising yourself online. It can say who you are, what you do and what you stand for. Everyone prepares (or at least should) for an interview; do you think that employers don’t do this? Of course they do, and what do they find? What does your facebook page, twitter account, YouTube channel say about you to a future employer?

• It is tough out there, stay positive! Easy to say but harder to do when you are facing rejection. You must stay positive as your attitude is projected in everything you do, read positive books, speak to positive people and believe in yourself. Remember positive things happen to positive people. Finally when you get those interviews, prepare, prepare and prepare some more. That will be the difference in who gets the job.

It all sounds like a lot of hard work! It is, that’s the world we live in! Most people will not do these things, will not take action, and if you do you will have the advantage.

Written by Richard Morgan, Remit Resources

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