15 Tips to Help Land a New Job In This Job Market
The job market is ever-changing. No longer is knowing Excel and padding your resume enough to land the type of job most covet.
Failing to plan is planning to fail, particularly in a competitive job market. Threats like artificial intelligence and an increasing population are steadily making it more difficult to earn what you want, so nobody can afford to turn down pointers.
Hopefully, one or more of these tips will provide a perspective that you can implement in your job search, interview prep, and general plan for leveling up professionally.
1. Learn About Artificial Intelligence
As someone in a field threatened by artificial intelligence, there is wisdom in the phrase, “Don’t fight it; embrace it.”
AI-specific certifications run the gamut, from Computer Science for Artificial Intelligence to Fundamentals of Google AI or Web-Based Machine Learning. Even easier, social media is full of free tutorials about how to start leveraging AI. You may even skip the job interviews if you’re able to use AI to make money on your own.
2. Expand Your Search
Most of us think we must leverage our existing skills and experience in a specific vertical. Sometimes, though, the grass really is greener on the other side of the hill.
There are many entry-level opportunities, such as managing online marketing campaigns, that may prove more lucrative than ascending the ladder in your current vertical. As you seek a new job, consider broadening your search by researching industries you’ve yet to tap (or even think).
3. Get Some Certifications
Traditionally, the move for those who decided to level up their skills to earn more money was to return to school. Now, certifications serve as a more affordable, more efficient means of exhibiting proficiency in a wide range of skills and subjects.
People earn certifications for highly technical fields (like Certified Information Systems Security) and less technical focuses (like Sales and Business Management). If you have an interest, there is almost certainly a certification (or fifteen) that can increase your chances of earning the job you seek.
4. Tap Into Your Network
Nepotism rules in the United States. While most of us have a desire to accomplish things on our own merits, if you’re at a professional dead-end, now is the time to explore your network.
If you have a friend, mentor, or colleague who is successful, what’s the harm in asking them if they have (or know of) an opportunity you’d be suited for? If you can skip the escalator of interviews and nonexistent callbacks by leveraging your existing network, you owe it to yourself to do so.
5. Leverage Online Application Platforms
While Indeed gets most of the shine, it’s hardly the only place to find professional opportunities. UpWork, FlexJobs, Monster, and CareerBuilder are among the many other options where your life-changing career opportunity may lie.
Another tip is paying the price of job aggregation sites specific to your industry. These job boards often find more niche opportunities, and your willingness to pay could lead you to job postings with far fewer applicants.
6. Personalize Your Applications
This is an age-old tip, but one that bears repeating. If you really want a job, crafting a customized cover letter is worth taking the extra thirty minutes.
Researching a company, explaining what about that company attracts you to the job, and knowing your company-specific tidbits during the interview will set you apart from most other applicants. Will such intelligence gathering and parroting land you the job? Maybe, maybe not. Even so, it’s a worthwhile step as you job hunt.
7. Find Industry-Specific Groups to Find Contacts and Leads
Scour the internet and social media (including but not limited to Linkedin and Reddit) for groups related to the industries you’re seeking employment within.
A simple “IT industry networking groups” or “marketing job board” search may turn up a rabbit hole of social media feeds, groups, and job boards specific to the industry you’re exploring. These outlets may provide networking opportunities, direct professional leads, and acquaintances who can help you find work.
8. Refurbish Your Social Profiles
It may be difficult to believe that a LinkedIn profile or X feed could be the difference between you attaining a job. However, you have to remember that employers don’t honestly know you, so they’re gathering every available data point as they decide who to hire.
At the very least, it’s worth taking a look at your socials, updating them, and making them seem as professional as possible. You might even get active on X, Instagram, and other relevant platforms by posting content specific to the position you are seeking.
9. Take Care of Yourself Physically
Confidence is critical in obtaining the job of your dreams (or the job you need), especially when conducting in-person or video interviews. A rarely-offered tip, therefore, is to take care of yourself physically as you search for a new gig.
While exercise and a reasonably healthy diet are beneficial in any circumstance, they can also help diminish the stress of a job search while keeping you in tip-top shape physically and cognitively.
10. Get Outside of Your Home Office
As daunting as it can be, and as far as the online job market has come, you cannot know what opportunities lie outside the internet if you don’t seek them out.
Networking events and in-personal applications are akin to being tarred and feather for many, particularly introverts. Yet, a little temporary discomfort may lead to years of gainful, fulfilling employment. Bite the bullet and combine some in-person action with your online efforts.
11. Comb Your Hair and Tie Your Tie
One of the most common complaints about younger job applicants is their casualness. From their language to their appearance, their outward impression can be an immediate disqualifier or advantage during interviews.
It’s shocking that it even needs to be said, but getting a haircut and putting on your nicest outfit (the tux is a bit much, but you get it) is a low-cost differentiator when you’re interacting remotely or in person with recruiters and prospective employers.
12. Don’t Scoff at Unpaid Positions
This may not seem ideal, but if you can drive Uber in your off hours, rely on temporary financial help from a loved one, or make it work otherwise, getting unpaid (or poorly paid) experience in the field you’re striving to enter could be worth the temporary financial sacrifice. This is especially true if the internship or volunteer opportunity is with an organization you’d like to work for.
13. Check in With (But Don’t Badger) Those You’ve Interviewed With
While you should toe the line of social etiquette, following up after an interview can communicate your genuine interest in the job. Be gracious, thanking the interviewee for their time and the opportunity to pursue your candidacy, and express once again why you believe you’d be a strong fit and how eager you are to deliver value.
A single follow-up email within 24 hours of the interview is generally best practice. The squeaky wheel often gets the job, but it’s essential not to be so squeaky as to irritate the person you’re seeking employment from.
14. Don’t Take Your Grievances to Social Media
Online reputations live forever, or at least for a couple of years. Rejections will happen during the job-search cycle, and keeping your composure is paramount to keep your name clean.
In fact, you might even ask those who say “thanks but no thanks” why they chose to pass on you. Ask for their brutal honesty and constructive criticism. This may sharpen your mettle for the next interview and may even lead the employer who rejected you to circle back in the future—they’ll know you’re a tough one who doesn’t shy away from growth opportunities.
15. Invest in a Website
You have a responsibility to embrace every available edge in a competitive marketplace. A significant percentage of applicants have personal websites that succinctly and flashily advertise why they are of value.
For the cost of a basic Wix or Squarespace membership and a few hours of your time, you, too, can advertise to prospective employers why you are worth hiring. Your site will be one of several pieces in the puzzle that, when finished, forms a lucrative career.
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