Personal branding keeps growing in importance, you can barely go online without reading about it. We are now at a stage where most professionals and business owners really need to dedicate time and effort to strengthen their own brands as a part of their daily routine. With business being ever more competitive, your best way…
Category: Workplace
Employee experience can seriously impact your bottom line. The Employer Brand Index gives you insight into what talent really thinks about your company.
How to Land Your Dream Graduate Job
Earning your college degree opens doors to a number of career choices, but it takes surprising effort to step through those doors. No one expects to be handed a job, but many don’t expect challenging interview questions and online assessments either. Graduates must carefully prepare for their job search. They must know who they are, what they want and the proper steps to succeed. The following tips will help you maximise your potential for landing your dream job.
Get your CV together
Know who you are and be expected to share that information with potential employers. This is where the curriculum vitae (CV) is important. Employers request a CV from every applicant, which means they’ve seen one from every person who’s received an interview. Your CV must stand out to them.
There are a number of templates from which you can work, but as that’s the route many will take, it is worth the extra time and effort to start from scratch. Begin with the job description for each job you are applying. What important points and key terms stand out to you? These are items you’ll want to include in your CV. Along with your personal details and references, you will list your educational background, your work experience and any relevant skills that aren’t work-related. With each of these sections, include achievements and responsibilities wording them specifically to fit with the information gleaned from the job description.
Be sure to keep it between two and three pages; use reverse chronological order as well as action verbs when describing your education and work history; and search for CV examples to help you perfect your formatting. With an all-inclusive, custom curriculum vitae, you’re ready to prepare for your interview.
More on CVs at Why Your CV is Boring and Ineffective.
Get your applicant collateral together
Your CV already holds a wealth of knowledge, but you will be asked to expand on the information you provide. Write out a list of examples describing times you’ve led a team of others, solved a problem or handled unexpected obstacles. Add to that list any instances you are particularly proud of explaining what happened, how you were involved and the outcome. Now memorize this list, and you will be equipped to answer any of the questions that typically catch interviewees off guard.
Get suited and booted
Knowing what to wear is equally as important as knowing what to say. Dress as though you already have the job. Is a suit required, or is it a business casual environment? Never wear denim trousers or t-shirts. In fact, if it’s a casual workplace that has no dress code, the interviewee should still dress professionally. There is only one time this rule can be disobeyed: if the interviewer specifically tells you to dress a certain way, listen to them.
More on how to dress at Professionalism in the Workplace: Myth, Mystery or Must?
Get in the right frame of mind
Your choice of clothing won’t matter if you do not have the right attitude. Being negative, arrogant or outwardly terrified will be detrimental to your job search. Instead, keep it simple: be friendly and be confident. Remembering you manners, using eye contact, sitting up straight and speaking clearly and thoughtfully will guarantee you your best possible interview.
Get ready for interviewing
Many employers are using pre-screening online assessments to filter through applications even quicker. These tests examine your skills and ethics, and while answering honestly is the easiest way to pass, many applicants find them to be intimidating. The fact is, by following the tips above; you’re already prepared for the test. You need to know the company, and you need to know yourself. By completing a custom CV preparing for your interview, you’ve already got these answers.
Familiarize yourself with additional information about the company that could be quiz-worthy, read each question carefully and take your time answering. Finally, take practice tests beforehand. Online assessments are available from a number of sites for your benefit. Practice tests will familiarise you with the structure as well as providing sample questions.
More on interviews at 17 Ways to Interview Like a Pro.
Get ready for success!
Writing a custom curriculum vitae, preparing for your interview, dressing the part and practicing sample pre-screening tests will guarantee you a successful interview and a higher probability of landing the job. Earning the degree was your first step. Now making it count is your second.
More on this topic at How To Apply for Your First Graduate Job.
Why doesn’t your CV get you noticed? I’m a technical recruiter. I look at CVs all day long. I’ve been working for Conex Europe as a .Net specialist for over 6 years – if I said I look at probably 100 CVs per day, the math is astounding – I’ve viewed somewhere in the region…
Do you have an artistic vein but you’re not quite ready to join a commune in Paris and drink red wine seven days a week? Becoming a graphic designer could be the answer; you get to be creative AND make an honest buck. In a nutshell, a graphic designer is a professional within the graphic…
Know any jobseekers out there? Are they struggling on social media? Then look no further than Joshua Waldman’s new book “Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies“. I had a chat with Joshua the other day to get some pearls of wisdom for jobseekers out there. In this interview we discuss how important Personal Branding…
You are going to apply for that first job, right? But how do you feel? Well, different people have different kind of feelings when faced with this situation. Some jobseekers feel really excited. Some of them are nervous. Many others are quite confident about it. As a matter of fact, nervousness and excitement are all…
“I want money (that’s what I want!)” -The Beatles Money. It’s on your mind, it’s on my mind, and it makes the world go ‘round. As a job seeker, money takes on a new role. While your ideal job should be something that in itself is satisfying, it’s also what gets you more money. When money…
I’ve interviewed people almost every day for almost ten years and I have to say I love it. I love meeting new people and I feel a huge responsibility to make sure I ‘bring it’ to the interview and by ‘it’ I mean the very best version of myself. After all, the job seeker has…
With the London startup careers fair SiliconMilkRoundabout taking place in East London, the good folks at Adzuna have gathered some start-up and technology employment data below that might be of interest to companies and job seekers alike. Key Findings: One thing is for sure, London startups drive a hot tech employment market, and here are…