Autumn and the new academic year can be a great time for job hunting
with lots of jobs out there, and also employers opening up vacancies
for Christmas and the New Year. It is
also rather like the last days of July, when there are vacancies, before it
becomes quiet for a while in August.
Hopefully the positive atmosphere of the new
season , its not all about the end of summer and the coming of winter, it is a
season of new beginnings especially academically, will help your enthusiasm and you will feel
more motivated, even if as it is for many, the job hunting is more about
getting any job, to pay bills and satisfy the Department Of Work And Pensions
that you have met the legal requirement to look for and get
a job, before they put sanctions on your benefits, rather than any excitement
about just fancying a change of job.
Some things I would recommend to maybe help the job search be more
fruitful, is to pay special attention when reading job ads to the job title and
description. Many applications come to nothing when we apply
for thousands of jobs because we read a job title and think we can do that,
rather than actually having the experience that an employer will ask for. When
considering making an application for a job, its a good
idea to Google the job description,e.g...Job description for an Admin Worker,to
get some job descriptions and know what the job will entail and what will be
expected of you if that is, the Job description
is not attached to the application. Just Googling Job descriptions will provide
links to many sample sites, where you can get a good idea about whether an
appealing job title is really possible for you.After all , not everyone is meant
to be Prime Minister, even if they may well be very good at it .
Sometimes when applying for jobs, less is actually more. To make a
good, strong application for three jobs that you really might have a chance of
getting is more profitable than fifteen chances,and I speak from experience !!!
Be crystal clear as to what work you want and whether or not you can do it.
True, whether or not there is the remotest chance you can do it, giving you one
more chance of a job , is these days often more the issue than if you want the
job or not, but remember that it is far easier to get a job,the ideal job, when
you are seen by an employer to be in work, than when you are out of it. Do
every practical and sensible thing you can do now to get a job , you can be
more fussy when you are in one , about eventually looking for the next .
Look carefully at what skills for the current job market you may be
missing and if you know of any local job clubs, its great to go, rather than
sitting indoors by yourself filling in job applications .For one thing, you
will be using their heating, lighting, telephones, electricity etc. rather than
your own, and secondly job hunting can get very lonely. You get to meet other
people, who are looking for work too, and that is all part of networking. It
often happens that you know of possible openings for other people and they will
know of some opportunities for you...one favour deserves another !!!
If you haven't already got a good system up and running I would suggest
also, that you start using a system to record your job applications and the
outcome of them, responses , follow ups etc, especially deadlines for
applications. When applying for jobs it is quite easy to get swamped and overwhelmed with applications and deadlines. You can
start with a simple Excel spreadsheet and do the headings yourself but, there
are some good systems online....
I especially like the Google template...
I like this because as a Google document it is easy to share,therefore
it is easy to make it available for your Job centre adviser if you have one,
and also as it is not a Word document you can easily
access it on any PC. however, I will be looking at some alternative formats to
share with you.
Have a good Autumn and winter !!!!
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