Equipping Yourself To Hit The Job Market
Posted on April 29, 2019 by Benedicte Flouriot, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
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It is important to me to stay on top of the latest happenings in my industry. This goes with staying abreast of the latest from career coaching, professional development techniques, and job search strategies. I have recently come across Adzuna that I am pleased to add to my coaching toolbox and will hopefully be of service to my clients currently looking for their next job move.
Recently nominated for the Digital Leaders 100 awards, here is finally an online tool combining all you need to position yourself on the job market. You can upload your CV and have it spell-checked, get a rough estimate of how much you would be expected to earn, and be matched with career paths that you may not have explored before. Here is how you can use such a search engine and better equip yourself to hit the job market:
- Boost your CV
You spent hours writing your CV, you tried many different formats, asked yourself tons of questions and you are still not sure this is your best version. Should I trim my resume to one page? Should I only use bullet points or describe my tasks in text form? Should I use a traditional format or be more creative?
ValueMyCV by Adzuna will answer all these questions! It will automatically check your CV for common mistakes, analyses spelling, career gaps, and length. It will look at your CV the way an HR pro would! There are many different ways to write a CV and not one version is better than another one. The most important is conveying specific and personalized information in the most accessible and simple way for the recruiter, while being able to justify whatever is mentioned on your resume during a job interview. Be proud of your experience when sending your CV out. That’s all I wish you!
- Know your worth
Once your CV uploaded and ready to go hit the job market, make sure you check your worth. It is important to be clear about what your salary requirements are. Your salary expectations may be asked at the very beginning of the recruitment process to ensure that they don’t spend their time in a selection process only to find out at the end of it that they cannot afford you.
Give the salary range you know the market is paying for someone like you rather than being specific about your exact needs. To do so, do your homework! Search online on search engines such as Adzuna. Cross check the information with Glassdoor and LinkedIn Salary to get closer to the reality.
Salary questions are tricky; you never know when you are going to be discussing it and you better be ready to do so. If the question is, “How much did your company pay you?”, then answer with showing you have done some research on what people with your level of experience and skills are earning and you have found that the total compensation is between $x and $y". Make it be a conversation, a brainstorming around what would make sense for you and the organization, rather than “asking” for a $ number.
In most cases though, salary discussions should generally happen towards the end of the recruitment process, when the employer has decided to hire you. Do not bring it on the table unless the employer does.
- Get inspired and choose a new career
Changing job is always a good time to evaluate where you stand in your career. Am I in the right position? The right industry? Is it time for a career change? How can I keep growing and take new challenges?
The job world is so varied that we often do not know what professions are out there. Be curious and be open to explore all the variations of what you do. Talking to professionals and getting to know what they really do is the best way to do so. When socializing, “what do you do?” is probably the very first question you would ask when meeting someone for the first time. Go beyond their “most of the time superficial” answer, and instead ask how they help people in their job, ask them to share an anecdote with you, share your skills, interests and motivations with them and identify the bridges.
Another way to get inspired is to upload your CV on Adzuna. Their algorithm, trained on hundreds of thousands of CVs, will match your skills and experience with new career options. Why not giving it a try?
- Find jobs and apply
You have finalized your CV, you know your worth and you are ready to discuss it, you know what role you want and why…it is now time to apply!
Adzuna searches thousands of websites and brings together over 1M live jobs in one simple search. You can search by interest, or by preferred location, salary and type of contract. Adzuna is a UK-based organization but covers the world and brings International opportunities to your doorstep. Apply as soon as an offer is out, and make sure to follow up 7 to 10 days after your first contact, making sure they have well received your application. A good excuse to also start a conversation and ask questions about the recruitment process.
You are now better equipped and ready to hit the job market! All the best!
