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Table of Contents

Introduction

STEP ONE:

• Start Your Job Search
• Creating a Job Search Plan
• Getting into the Jobseeker’s Mindset

STEP TWO: Take Advantage of Job Websites

How to Use Job Websites

STEP THREE:

• Make Use of Social Media
• Using Social Media as a Research Tool
• Using Social Media as a Self-Branding Tool
• Using Social Media as a Networking Tool

STEP FOUR:

• Create a Great Resume
• Presentation: Structure and Format
• The Importance of Keywords
• Important Resume Tips

STEP FIVE:

• Perfect Your Cover Letter
• A Writing Guide

STEP SIX:

• Prepare for the Interview
• How to Make a Good First Impression
• The Power of Story Telling
• Job Interview Preparation
• Coping With Nerves

Conclusion

Introduction

Considering how competitive the job market has become, jobseekers need all the help they can get to land a job. Regardless of the number of opportunities or their suitability for a job, many jobseekers find that getting their foot in the employer’s door is very challenging.

For that reason, jobseekers need to learn how to effectively promote themselves in order to stand out from the competition. Luckily, there are many strategies to help ensure that jobseekers maximise their chances of getting a job.

This easy-to-read guide contains valuable tips and insightful information to help you plan your job search, use job websites and utilise social media as part of your job search strategy, create a powerful resume and cover letter and finally prepare for your next job interview. Each of the following six steps is explained in detail to provide you with valuable help on the most demanding, yet rewarding journey of your career.

1. Start Your Job Search

Since a job search can take three months to a year (although the average job search lasts for about ten months), it’s certainly a long, stressful, exhausting process that needs a lot of planning and commitment on your behalf. Searching for a job is a full-time job in itself, so you need to make sure you are managing your time effectively. Doing so is important as it helps you prepare yourself before you dive into the competitive job market.

Being organised is the secret to a successful job search. As research has shown, organised people are more likely to achieve what they want provided that they follow a clear strategy. Therefore, the first step to landing a job is planning your job search. This includes preparing yourself physically and mentally by developing a realistic plan.

Here’s why it is important to have a job search plan:

It gives your day structure.

It helps you control your job search.

It allows you to set priorities in your job search.

It keeps you focus on your goal.

It makes you more productive.

It boosts creativity and motivation.

It reduces anxiety and stress.

In a 2009 study, Professor of Management at the University of Missouri, Daniel Turban, found that planning activities and positive emotions can greatly increase the chances of success in finding a job. Turban found that planning and goal setting are essential for every jobseeker as this can help them assess their progress. He also noted that these two elements were particularly helpful at handling potential rejections and developing a coping strategy in advance.

PLAN

who

where when

what

why

how

Creating a Job Search Plan

First you need to identify what your goals and expected outcomes are. Then think about the strategies that you need to implement to achieve these, and how you will monitor your progress.  

Here are 4 questions you need to ask yourself to create an effective job search plan:  

Where do you want to go? – Not only where you physically want to go, but also what type of job you want?   Make sure you are well-aware of what kind of job you want as well as your own abilities. For example, is this a full-time or part-time job? Is it a routine or a technical job? Be realistic about what you can handle and define the job you really want. Remain professional and do not abandon your dream simply because your job application was declined at one company.  

How will you get there? – These are the steps you need to take to get the job.    Think about what you need to do in order to begin your job search and who may be able to help you. Are you going to talk to your university tutor about it? Are you attending a networking event any time soon or do you know of anyone in your chosen industry who could offer you some help or guidance? What job websites are you familiar with? These are just some of the resources that may be beneficial to help kick start your job search and get you closer to your next job.  

How will you measure success? – Monitoring your progress.   Before contacting employers, create a list of their names, their company and contact details (telephone numbers, emails, addresses). Make a note of those employers you are most interested in working for and set a date for phoning them, sending them your resume or even requesting an informational interview. Then update your log to remind yourself what actions you’ve already taken and what you’ve discussed. If only 1 out of the 5 employers respond, it is still a positive result.  

How can you improve? – Looking for alternatives in order to maximise your chances of getting noticed.   Asking yourself this question will help you identify everything you need to do to make your job search as effective as possible. From attending networking events and exploiting contacts in your immediate circle to customising your social media profile to fit a specific role, there is a wide array of measures that can be taken to help you increase your chances of landing your next job. The only skill you’ll need is some creativity. Apart from setting goals and prioritising tasks, you also need to get into the jobseeker’s mindset and practice positive thinking.

Getting into the Jobseeker’s Mindset

The most important element of the initial stage of your job search is getting into the mindset of being a jobseeker. This means that you need to make sure you are ready to present yourself to employers as the ‘problem solver’ and ‘high-achiever’ they want to see in their employees. From a jobseeker’s point of view, there are going to be some disappointments along the way. But, searching for a job should be regarded as a great learning experience, if nothing else and you should always stay positive.

This need for positive thinking is why statements like ‘there are no jobs’ or ‘I am not good at anything’ are dangerous for jobseekers. Not only can this negative thinking kill your confidence, but it can also eliminate any chance you’ve got of getting a job you are a perfect match for. Just because the financial crisis left the economy unbalanced and caused a considerable increase in unemployment rates, does not mean you should despair.

In fact, on the contrary, there are plenty of jobs out there; you just have to know how to find them through scouring the marketplace for hidden opportunities and staying proactive. In order to succeed as a jobseeker, you need to think like a winner and stay positive. So what if you don’t have the necessary skills or experience for the job! Show employers your personality and willingness to work and voila you've got yourself a job.

When job searching, there are factors that you can control and others you can’t. Attitude, anxiety procrastination, self-confidence, assertiveness, a lack of skills and ambition are some of the ‘personal obstacles’ that you can control and eliminate. But ‘external obstacles’ such as the economy, competition and a lack of information are some of the factors you can't control and you need to work around to succeed.

So, what you need to do is find out what abilities you can change and work on them to make you a better jobseeker. If you believe in yourself and your abilities you will have a much better chance of landing a job. Once you can do that, you will be more optimistic about your own efforts, and you will become more resilient to rejection, which can be quite discouraging when job-hunting.

In 10 Insider Secrets to a Winning Job Search, Todd Bermont explains that being optimistic is an important component of job search success and suggests a number of ways to develop and maintain a positive attitude.

These are:

Visualising success.

Believing that ‘you are great.’

Getting some rest, relaxation and reflection.

Convincing yourself that ‘you can do it.’

Thinking of interviewing as a numbers game.

Not taking rejection personally.

Treating the job search like a job.

Focusing on what you can control.

Becoming aware of the fact that everything happens for a reason.

Surrounding yourself with positive people.

Starting your job search is extremely challenging and many people fail. However, as long as you have a solid job search plan to ensure that you are making the best use of the resources available and you get into the jobseeker's mindset, you are on the right track.

Take Advantage of Job Websites

Long gone are the days when a job application was sent through the post or newspapers were the first place to look for job adverts. Now, job boards and websites (which are essentially the same thing) are king. The vast majority of jobseekers now credit job websites as their main resource for jobs.

On a job website, you can find a wide range of useful information to help you with your job search. So, not only can you apply for a job directly through job boards, but you can also improve your job hunting strategy by reading the vast amount of free resources available online.

Job websites also give you access to company profiles and a range of other tools that can help you create your online resume and track your job application history. In this way, job websites can help you organise your job search more effectively, improving your overall strategy

Some of the benefits of using job sites include:

Offering a range of jobs from different sectors to choose from.

Allowing you to instantly apply for a job.

Offering options to create an online resume or upload your own.

Offering quick and easy access to niche job boards and specific industries.

Given these advantages, it is easy to see why jobseekers prefer applying for jobs online as it's easy and direct. A not so-obvious use of job boards is when they are used as a research tool to find out information about organisations that are currently hiring. For example, when you visit a jobsite, you can use the information provided to figure out which companies are hiring and assess your chances of getting a job by looking at the available opportunities within the same companies. In this way, job boards can be used as a useful supplement to your job search instead of just a way to apply for jobs.

Despite the numerous benefits, it’s impossible to rely solely on online job boards as there are also numerous pitfalls. The only way to make sure you’ll succeed is to implement other strategies to your job search such as checking out official company websites, networking and using social media.

These are some of the most important limitations of using jobsites:

They represent a highly competitive online marketplace.

There is no control over when your resume is going to be reviewed.

There is the risk of exposing personal information (resume, contact details) that may be used by criminals.

Potential employers are often granted anonymity (blind job ads).

After you press the ‘Submit Your Application’ button you have absolutely no control over when your resume is going to be reviewed, if at all. You also can’t be sure that when doing so you won’t become a victim of identity theft; hence you should only use jobsites that are credible and trustworthy.

Blind job listings prevent you from finding out the name of the company which means you can’t conduct the necessary research on the employer before you apply for the job. This can be extremely off-putting especially if you want to assess whether an employer meets your own requirements at the initial stage of your job search. 2

How to Use Job Websites

Over the years, there has been a lot of debate over the effectiveness of job websites. This is most likely due to the inappropriate use of these online resources. Despite the fact that different job websites use different tools and instructions to help you out, they usually operate in a relatively similar way.

Let’s go over the steps you need to take when using a job website:

Create an account.

Upload or create your resume.

Set preferences to narrow your search e.g. job title, location, pay levels.

Save your searches.

Search and apply for a job (look at the dates of listings – new job ads).

Read instructions carefully and send your application.

Decide how you want to receive jobs e.g. job alerts, email postings.

Even though there is no definitive guide on how to use every job website, it might be helpful to follow this small seven-step guide to make your job searching experience easier and more effective.

One thing is certain; there is no such thing as the ‘best job search website’. Whether a job site is helpful to you or not largely depends on your field of interest as well as personal preferences. For example, if you are after a job in a big company, it will be easier to find on a broad-based site for all industries. But, if you are looking for something more specific e.g. a job within a specific industry and prefer to work for small to medium-sized enterprises (SME), you could apply for a job through aggregators or niche job boards.

Your selection criteria will be individual to you, so you need to figure out which type of site is better suited to your own needs. Generally, for a jobsite to be considered effective, it should include the following:

A search-and-match tool that works correctly.

Links to social media resources and company profiles.

Easy-to-use delivery options e.g. email, mobile, RSS feeds.

Tools to save and manage searches.

Unless these options are provided on a job website, you are going to find it does not meet your expectations and is inadequate for your purposes.

Below, you will find a list of the most popular and effective job search sites.

Broad-based Job Sites:

Indeed: Currently the most popular and biggest job board on the web that gets more than 140 million visitors per month. It allows you to search for a job stating the title of the job and preferred location as well as upload your resume and review other people’s resumes.

Monster: Another famous site that has more than a million jobs available. It also offers a range of options for jobseekers including tools and valuable career advice. Here you can create your own career portfolio and search for a job by specific industry and location.

Career Builder: The site helps jobseekers find a job throughout the US and offers some helpful tools to make navigation easier. It allows you to search for jobs by state, category and company and also offers an advanced search that refines your requirements by the type of job e.g. full-time or part-time, and internships.

Simply Hired: The jobsite offers a variety of jobs throughout various industries such as healthcare, engineering, construction and technology. What’s unique about it is the fact that it also presents useful data on industry and occupational trends.

The Ladders: This job board first started as an employment website for managers. But it evolved into one of the biggest jobsites today offering a range of services from daily job matches to getting hiring alerts from different employers.

Glassdoor: Although this website is most commonly known for providing company reviews and valuable insights, it also offers job search tools to help you find a job from the 6,000 vacancies it advertises every day.

Niche Job Sites:

Dice: As a niche jobsite, Dice offers a wide range of tech jobs to choose from. It allows you to search for a job from the 87,000 tech jobs that are posted on the site and define your criteria based on your skills, company name, job title, and type of job.

HealthcareJobsite: On this site you can search for any job in the US related to the healthcare sector. More than 500,000 jobs are available and you have the option to create your own career portfolio.

TalentZoo: Specifically targeting the most creative individuals including marketing professionals and designers, this site offers a range of positions in the media industry. Over 87,000 jobs are posted on the site and you can filter your search by the date it was posted, job title, company name and location.

Idealist: This is another great site that needs to go on your job search list as it allows you to look for internships and volunteer opportunities. Creating an account with Idealist, means you will get a list of available vacancies related to your interests on a daily basis.

eFinacialCareers: A website ideal for business professionals and more specifically those interested in the banking and financial sector. This site also offers salary surveys and job market information.

Job boards are still relevant to recruiters, and where recruiters go, jobseekers should follow. A job website should be the jobseeker’s first – but not the only – choice when searching for a job. Job boards and websites are easily accessible and much faster than any other networking site. They also have a much bigger database of available vacancies and offers easier search tools to work with compared with social media.

If you think about it, this makes sense. Consider how much time it takes you to search for a job on LinkedIn or Facebook. Although the two social media platforms are much more effective at networking – making and maintaining new contacts – they are somewhat lacking in the area of job hunting as they don’t offer as refined and targeted search options as job boards do. But as we live in the digital age and society has transformed itself into a big social networking bubble, social media must also have its place in our job search.

Make Use of Social Media

Over the last decade, social media has become very useful for recruiters, so much so that it’s impossible for jobseekers or employers to ignore anymore. The need to gain access to a wider pool of candidates and the mass adoption of these networks by the younger generations has led to employers making increased use of social media. This has begun a shift from the use of job boards that had previously been the only available online resource for jobseekers.

Social media plays an important role in the way modern employers hire candidates. According to a 2014 survey by Jobvite, 93% of recruiters said that they review a candidate’s social media profile prior to making a hiring decision. This means that in an attempt to decide whether you are the right person for the job, employers will examine your online profile looking for evidence of:

Professional Experience

Mutual Connections

Cultural Fit

Examples of Written or Design Work

Industry Related Posts

Length of Professional Tenure

Job-related Skills

So, what does this mean for you? As part of refining your job hunting strategy, it’s essential that you keep your online presence as professional as possible. Jobseekers have started taking advantage of social media and customising their profiles making themselves – or better yet the content they share on social media – more appropriate to the role they are applying for. An impressive 46% of jobseekers have already changed their privacy settings opposed to removing their accounts, which shows candidates are becoming more aware of the importance of social media in their job search. The most recent Jobvite study on jobseekers identified Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as the top three social networking sites jobseekers use as part of their job search. But, what is even more interesting is that other popular social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram and even Snapchat are starting to be used in recruitment:

Exploiting social media and more specifically LinkedIn, is a win-win situation for both recruiters and jobseekers. The world’s biggest professional networking platform, for example, provides passive jobseekers access to the recruitment scene; the pool of candidates who are already employed and are not actively looking for a job, but may be interested in a better offer. 67% r

But what is the correct way to use social media to search for a job? And how can you ensure your social media strategy maximizes your chances of getting a job offer instead of killing it entirely?

There are three main ways social media can be implemented effectively into your job search: Using social media as a research, personal branding and networking tool:

Using Social Media as a Research Tool

For the modern jobseeker, the ability to research is a lifesaver. In the digital age we live in, this skill is not only critical to most jobs, but also in the pre-employment stage. While searching for a job, researching the companies you are applying to is essential. Apart from checking out their website, the best way to find out more about them is by examining their social media profiles.

Using social media to find out more about a prospective employer can be extremely beneficial to your job search, especially as part of your employer-assessment process. When you come across a job advert you are interested in you can look deeper into a company’s profile to assess whether it’s an organisation that meets your own job requirements. Just like recruiters are using social media to screen you for a job, you too need to conduct your own 'screening process' to decide whether you would actually like to work there.

As a social media detective, by just visiting a company’s social media profile you can:

Become familiar with the culture of the organisation (even just through photos, videos).

Get a useful insight into the working environment (tone of voice).

Search for and connect with company employees (check-ups).

Learn more about their development plans and current projects (content, posts).

Using Social Media as a Personal Branding Tool

Who would have expected marketing and job hunting to become so interlinked in the 21st century? However, today, personal branding (essentially marketing yourself into a job) is considered to be amongst the most effective ways to get hired.

Employers have their own techniques of luring you in for a job interview, so why can’t you develop

your own marketing strategy to get their attention? Thinking of yourself as a package or a product, can help you create your own advertising campaign to find yourself the perfect job. This refers to the most important skill you can master as part of your job search which is talking about and promoting yourself.

Personal branding, which is the ongoing process of managing and customizing the way you are presented to others - or better yet, creating an impression of the person you are to others

is most effective online and more specifically via social media. To help you understand the power of personal branding think about this, even the seemingly meaningless act of taking selfies has its place in personal branding. Selfies project a much more personalised view of a person who promotes ‘the brand’, which in this case is you.

In Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (1981), Al Ries and Jack Trout, explore the power of self-positioning and using it as part of an individual’s career advancement strategy. Essentially, they claim that the ability of jobseekers to position themselves the way employers want to see them can have a profound impact on their career development.

So, sharing bits of your working environment, written work or any content that’s related to the job you are interested in on social media, can increase your chances of getting noticed by employers. Whether jobseekers are doing it consciously or not, many have started encouraging employers to access their personal brand assets including their personal blog, portfolio or LinkedIn profile as a complement to their resume.

As self-absorbed as it sounds, personal branding is considered to be essential to getting yourself known to employers. So, in order to build your own personal brand on social media and reach out to recruiters, consider doing the following:

Think about what sets you apart from everyone else First you need to work out what your key selling points are and invest in them. This is what you are going to be known for so you need to be absolutely sure about the image you want to project to the public and how you want employers to see you. This might refer to your expertise, passions and interests or the things other people say you are good at.

Make your social media profiles consistent The reason for coming up with a personal brand is that you want employers to find out more about you. To make things easier for them you need to make sure your social media profiles are consistent. This means that across your online presence, you need to have the same name, profile photo and relevant content. This should help them picture you when they hear your name or read it on a resume. It also makes it much easier for them to find you on the web. A single Google search should do it, so make sure you check what the big search engines say about you.

Update your accounts daily

In order to stand out, you need to be active on social media. You can’t expect employers coming to your profiles to be interested if you haven’t posted anything for several months. Being idle on social media will damage your professional image and quite possibly hurt your job hunting efforts. Research suggests that the ideal frequency of posting content on social media is at least 2 times per day on Facebook, 5 times per day on Twitter, once per day on LinkedIn and 2 times per day on Google+, so make sure you update your accounts frequently.

Think about how you will connect with your audience As well as posting useful content, you also need to figure out a way to engage your audience, including employers. The best way to do this is by joining a group or a community where you can contribute to a discussion and share your opinion. Sharing valuable advice related to your field of expertise will eventually help you get noticed by key professionals in the field who might even be in a position to offer you a referral for your next job.

Using Social Media as a Networking Tool

You can’t conduct a successful job search without networking and social media is all about networking.

Connecting with the right people online who can help you advance your career is extremely beneficial

to your job hunting efforts. Starting from your most immediate circle of contacts, you can begin

creating your professional network to help you get your next job.

Here are some of the benefits of incorporating social networking into your job search:

Getting valuable insights into your industry.

Gaining access to unadvertised job openings.

Exchanging relevant information and advice.

Creating a strong professional reputation.

Boosting your self-esteem.

When discussing networking and social media, it’s impossible not to refer to LinkedIn, which is

currently the world’s leading professional networking platform. Although other social networks can

assist you in making smart connections, LinkedIn takes the lead in helping you build strong

relationships with like-minded professionals and as such, it’s an essential tool for jobseekers.

In order to network effectively, however, you need to learn how to use LinkedIn to its full potential.

The platform offers a range of features you need to become familiar with to customise your profile

and promote your personal ‘brand’.

Here are some great networking tips to help get you started on LinkedIn:

Create a core contact base: Start by connecting with your friends, university colleagues and co-workers so that you gain access to their connections.

Reach out to your alumni: See how you are connected, ask for their advice and find out if they can help you out.

Search for new contacts: Join LinkedIn groups, contribute to discussions and discover more people.

Follow LinkedIn influencers: These people have a broad network that can help you reach out to professionals with whom you share similar interests.

Using social media as a research, personal branding and networking tool provides the perfect formula to find your new job. This ideal combination shows how important social media has become to searching for jobs.

Create a Great Resume

Your resume isn’t just a piece of paper; it’s an indispensable part of your job search. It’s the document that begins the initial contact with the employer, so it needs to make a strong first impression and present you as the ideal candidate. In many ways, your resume is the most important element in your job search as it encourages employers to contact you and invite you for an interview.

The secret to creating a powerful resume lies in your ability to describe yourself as well as effectively engage employers in the document itself. Considering that employers only spend about 6 seconds looking at each resume, yours really needs to stand out. Your goal is to make employers want to spend more time looking at your resume.

Here are some general guidelines for creating a glowing resume that will get to the top of the pile:

It needs to be comprehensive, but concise.

It needs to be informative and easy-to-read.

It needs to be well structured.

It needs to be impressive and creative.

It needs to emphasize your skills.

Presentation: Structure and Format

There are many elements that make up a successful resume. The information needs to be presented in a structure that flows easily and may follow this order:

Contact Details: Include your name, date of birth, email, mobile number and address.

Career Summary: This should include a short introduction in which you refer to the number of years of experience you have, areas of expertise, skills and accomplishments that set you apart from the competition and can justify your suitability.

Education: This should state the subjects you studied, any degrees and qualifications you have achieved as well as the dates you obtained them.

Work Experience: Write down your previous job roles and describe what they involved. Don’t forget to include dates and job titles.

Skills/Achievements: Focus on 2 or 3 job-related skills first and then refer to your transferable skills e.g. time management, problem solving, teamwork, communication skills.

Volunteer Experience: List any volunteer work or activities that you carried out.

Hobbies/Interests: Although this is optional you could refer to what you like doing in your free time. Make sure that you keep this section relevant and professional e.g. avoid activities such as watching TV or going out drinking.

References: If you have space, include two references; an academic and a professional one. These could be your university tutor and previous employer.

Even though the majority of resumes follow the structure above, there are many different variations in the type and format. So, the first step to creating your resume is determining what type of resume would best suit your needs. This should depend on the job you are applying for, your career interests as well as your skills and experience.

Take a look at the six different types of resumes below to help you decide which one is best for you:

Chronological:

This type of resume lists your most recent positions and qualifications at the top of the document. It’s the most common type of resume and the style preferred by most employers.

Functional:

This resume puts the focus on your skills and experience. It’s ideal for jobseekers who want to change careers.

Combined:

This combines the chronological and functional formats into one. It’s ideal for jobseekers with a lot of relevant work experience as it focuses on detailed work experience.

Targeted/Profile:

This resume is tailor-made for a single position. Although this is the most time-consuming resume, it can be extremely effective as it shows how closely your qualifications and experience align with a job's requirements.

Non-traditional:

This refers to any infographic, video, and web-based profile or resume that uses graphics and images that have a strong visual impact. These are best suited to creative positions or companies that value innovation and creativity.

Mini:

This is the condensed version of the traditional resume and is usually used during networking events. It’s extremely convenient for jobseekers that are using networking as their primary job hunting resource.

Choosing the right resume format will help you sell your skills to employers more effectively. To make your resume a success, you need to highlight the elements that you regard as most important and relevant to the job you are applying for. According to a Ladders 2012 report, employers spend almost 80% of their time looking at specific elements of your resume including your name, job history (current and previous job title/company and dates), and education, so make sure you focus on them.

The most crucial part of writing a resume, however, is the way you present yourself and how you position your personal brand using the right keywords and action words. The words should be dispersed throughout the resume, but the most important section to use them in is your career summary. For the majority of jobseekers writing a career summary is a challenge as this asks them to talk about themselves.

So, here are some example career summaries to help you create your own:

“Results-oriented and dynamic call center advisor with excellent customer service skills and 3 years of experience in the insurance sector. Currently, pursuing a BS in Marketing. Excellent communicator and problem solver.”

“Marketing and sales executive with 10 years of experience in managing multiple projects and global advertising campaigns for popular brands. Possesses strong leadership and time management skills.”

“Highly creative and self-motivated career development professional with over 5 years of experience in diverse educational settings. Strong presentation skills with an MA in Human Resources Management.”

Since this is the opening section, your first statement needs to be powerful enough to immediately grab the employer’s attention. Failing to do so might ruin your chances of landing your dream job. A few important words left out here or there can mean you have to say goodbye to the biggest opportunity of your life.

The Importance of Keywords

There has been a lot of debate about the importance of keywords in a resume. Career experts generally support that these words are powerful as they can bring value to your resume and help you customise your skills to specific job roles. In an attempt to figure out which are the most useful keywords to use, Katharine Hansen from Quintessential Careers claims that you need to analyse job postings in detail to “see what keywords are repeatedly mentioned in association with a given job title.”

As to how they should be used in your resume, Hansen continues by saying that they should be spread throughout the document instead of inserting all of them at the top of the resume. This could be either in your Skills/Achievements or Areas of Expertise sections where you go into more detail to justify how you are an excellent match for the job.

The ideal way to use keywords in your resume is to combine them with strong action words that will highlight your core competencies. So let’s say you are applying for a job as a Marketing Specialist.

Here are some great examples of using action words (verbs) and keywords (nouns) within a sentence:

Conducted research analysis and marketing campaigns and developed various advertising concepts.

Liaised with partners and advertising agencies.

Implemented media communications and social media into a successful promotional strategy.

Assessed market place trends and consumer behavior

The underlined phrases indicate the keywords that are relevant to the job. As you can see, they work well with powerful action verbs such as ‘conducted, liaised, implemented and assessed. This can increase the strength of your resume and show evidence of strong writing skills.

Using the right keywords can also save valuable space on your resume so that it is no longer than two pages. Not only that, keywords can help you beat the applicant tracking system (ATS) many recruiters use to screen out a lot of applicants and provide them with an easy to read online resume containing the skills and qualities they are looking for in a candidate.

Important Resume Tips

Since there’s a fine line that distinguishes a strong resume from a poor one, you need to be careful in terms of not overdoing it. For example, you can show your originality through the design – which is a must for the more creative roles– but you shouldn’t make your resume look like an ugly piece of colourful canvas.

When you are creating your resume, you need to pay attention to those details that make the difference when getting picked by employers. On that note, there are things that you absolutely must include in your resume to help present yourself as a true professional and others you need to avoid at all costs.

Here are some important Do’s and Don’ts you need to be aware of when you are creating your resume:

Do’s

Use positive language: Negative words will only give employers negative impressions.

Use bulleted sentences: It’s best to avoid long sentences and keep your resume brief.

Include a second page: It may be necessary if you have a long work history.

Use action words and keywords: To power up your resume and make it relevant to the job.

Use of white space: Avoid overcrowding your resume with words and long phrases.

Proofread your resume: Prior to sending your resume, ensure it doesn’t have any grammar/spelling mistakes.

Don’ts

Lie on your resume: You may be asked to provide evidence and face legal action.

Use personal pronouns (I, my, me): They make you sound unprofessional.

Go beyond the two pages: The two-page-resume is considered to be the ideal format.

Include cliché action words: These may have the opposite effect to what you want.

Leave out dates: Employers want to see details regarding your job history.

Make your resume a list of duties: Instead focus on your main achievements.  

Repeat yourself: Avoid using the same action words, keep it interesting and engaging.

There are many things you need to consider when creating your resume. Having a clear structure an

d knowing what you should and shouldn't include, will help you construct a great resume that will give a massive boost to your job hunting efforts. As the doorway to your next interview, a powerful resume is the key to impressing employers and getting called in for an interview.

Perfect Your Cover Letter

As soon as you finish creating your resume, you need to start working on your cover letter. Just like your resume, the cover letter is essential to your job search, and it’s the first thing employers see when they receive a job application. As such, this document needs to present a powerful introduction to your professional profile to encourage employers to look into your credentials in more detail and eventually meet you in person.

Overall, the main purpose of a cover letter is:

To introduce yourself to the employer.

To demonstrate your interest in a specific job or company.

To encourage employers to review your resume.

To explain how you are the ideal candidate.

Although writing up the perfect cover letter is actually a relatively simple process, many people find that it can be quite confusing and frustrating. But as long as you equip yourself with the right information and figure out what needs to go into the document, you will be fine. Since you’ll need a cover letter specifically targeted for each job you apply for, you will need to create multiple copies of your cover letter. However, this shouldn’t be much of a problem; after completing a few, the process will become quite easy.

A Writing Guide

A powerful cover letter should be brief and concise while at the same time covering all of the essentials. What’s important here is to ensure that you are not repeating your resume in your cover letter, but instead expanding in detail on the skills and experience you regard as most important and relevant to the job. Also, considering that your cover letter provides the opportunity for employers to assess your writing skills, you need to make sure the document has no grammar errors and is well-structured.

Generally, a cover letter should follow the following format:

Greeting

Introduction (Paragraph 1)

Body (Paragraph 2,3)

Conclusion (Paragraph 4) 5

In terms of content, there are many things you need to consider. Take a look at the following basic

cover letter template to give you an idea of the correct structure and what should be included:

Dear Mr/Ms/Dr [Contact Person],

[Greeting]

The best way to open a cover letter is by addressing the person in HR or whoever else is responsible

for receiving job applications. For the majority of jobs, this is found in the instructions for the

application. If the person’s name is not listed, however, you might need to find it yourself by visiting

the company’s website or LinkedIn page. If you still can’t get hold of a name, beginning the letter

with 'Dear Hiring Manager' should do it, though it’s not the ideal.

Avoid ‘To whom it may concern’ as this shows that you haven’t taken the time to research the

organisation to find the correct person to contact. It also shows no signs of personalisation which is

crucial to making a positive impression.

[Introduction]: Paragraph 1: State the purpose of the letter

The opening line of your first paragraph is the most important part of the whole cover letter. This is

where you are telling the employer why you are applying for the job. Here you need to state the

name of the position you are applying for and how you came across the job advert.

[Body]:

Paragraph 2: Talk about the organisation and job role

This paragraph gives you the opportunity to demonstrate how much you know about the company

you are applying for. Provided that you’ve done your research, you should be familiar with the

projects the company is currently working on as well as their mission statement.

Refer to the reason you want to work for this company and how you could be a great addition to

their team. Make sure that you state how the employer can benefit from having you work there.

Paragraph 3: Explain how you meet the job criteria

At this point, you get to talk about yourself focusing on relevant skills, education, work or voluntary

experience and achievements. Choose one or two points from your resume and expand on these to

demonstrate to employers how you meet the job requirements. Try to promote your skills in a

creative way by experimenting with different phrasing, slogans, testimonials or mission statements

that demonstrate your career goals.

[Conclusion]: Paragraph 4: Refer to next steps

In your conclusion, you need to demonstrate your interest in meeting the employer and refer to

future plans. For example, you could say you will call them to see if they need additional information

giving them a specific timeframe. Also, don’t forget to thank them and point out that your resume

and other relevant documents are attached to the email.

Sincerely/Respectfully/Cordially,

[Your Full Name]

This template is considered to be appropriate for the majority of jobs. But, depending on your situation you might want to take a look at other types of cover letters to see what format suits your needs best.

Choosing the right type of cover letter will largely depend on your job/industry as well as why you are contacting them:

Standard, conservative style: This cover letter is appropriate mostly for business professionals since it uses a rather strict, direct and professional tone.

Standard speculative letter: This is used when the jobseeker is interested in a company that doesn’t have existing job openings. It can be used to get an informational interview.

Creative cover letter: This one represents an unconventional type of cover letter where the jobseeker writes in a less formal tone.

Just like your resume, the cover letter needs to present a great deal of information to help employers understand who you are. Even though you may find having to make several versions of the letter time-consuming, it’s essential to targeting different jobs, and most employers expect to see a cover letter. The real challenge when writing a cover letter is that it needs to be engaging enough to attract the recruiters and encourage them to further review your job application. Since this is your gateway to getting the interview and ultimately your next job, you need to make sure you put some real effort into it.

6 Prepare for the Interview

Interview preparation is the final ingredient in a successful job search. Getting the interview is a small win,

but a success you should be proud of nevertheless, especially in the current economic climate. In order to

ensure that you are giving 100 percent, however, you need to go into that interview room well-prepared to

face the interviewer.

Similar to writing a winning resume, your interview also needs to help you make a good first impression. In any case, employers should let you know roughly of what to expect on the day. If not, you need to be ready for anything whether this is a face-to-face interview, a phone or Skype interview, getting assessed on work-related assignments or meeting a panel of interviewers.

How to Make a Good First Impression

Without any preparation, you could probably make a fairly decent attempt at answering all of the questions and getting a job. But, taking into account the competition, you need to do far more than that. You need to remember that you are essentially offering something to the employers. Even if the job has nothing to do with selling, your primary goal will be to promote yourself and your skills as effectively as a salesperson would do when selling a product.

The Power of Story Telling

In order to succeed, you need to put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. This should help you tell them what they want to hear. Just like a successful marketer, you also need to assess the needs of your target market – the employer – aligning them with your own needs, and preparing your own plan. This means coming up with a great, compelling story that backs up the information provided on your resume with concrete examples.

Since most employers will start off with the most basic interview question ‘Tell me about yourself’ and use competence-based questions throughout the session, you need to ensure you impress. Luckily for you, the story-telling technique has the power to make you shine.

According to Jennifer Aaker, General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, stories are astonishingly “22 times more memorable than facts or figures alone” and can be used as an excellent persuasive tool. Successful stories not only have the power to influence how other people see you, but also engage the listeners and build an emotional rapport.

To help you come up with your own attention-grabbing story and give an interesting answer to the most common interview question, here are the steps you need to take using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Activity, Result):

Step 1: Decide on a situation

First, you need to think about a situation when you had to solve a problem. This might have been in your last job or when you were volunteering and could include a situation where you had to face a difficult person or customer. For this part, you need to ensure that you go into enough detail describing the event that the interviewers can picture it.

Step 2: Determine the task

In the second stage, you will need to describe the task that was given to you. This would be the challenge you had to face or the responsibilities you had. You could also refer to the importance of the task to stress the fact that completing the task was critical to your job and the company as a whole.

Step 3: Explain the activity

You then need to explain what actions you took to resolve the issue. Refer to what you did that made you go the extra mile focusing on leadership, teamwork and initiative. Even if this was done as part of a team, make sure that you focus on your own contribution to help employers see what you have achieved. At this point, it’s important to refer to what you did, how you did it as well as why you did it. This should help employers assess your reaction to the problem putting your skills to the test.

Step 4: Refer to the result

Lastly, explain how the situation ended. Refer to the result of your contribution and how well you have managed to handle the problem. Also, describe your own accomplishments and learning outcome(s) to demonstrate how they helped you attain the skills needed for the job on offer. As you can see, this is all about providing employers with convincing evidence that you acquired the right set of skills and experience in your previous job roles. Deciding on a real-life story to tell employers will make you look like an interesting and exciting candidate.

Job Interview Preparation

As well as the most basic interview question that asks you to talk about yourself, most employers also like asking questions that help them discover other characteristics of your personality and find out if you are a good fit for their company. Since employers usually prefer to hire candidates who are determined and have some solid career goals in place, you need to be able to provide concrete and convincing answers about yourself.

Forbes (2013) identified some of the most common interview questions you always need to be prepared for:

Discuss your resume.

What are your strengths?

What are your weaknesses?

How would you describe yourself?

Why are you interested in working for us?

What do you know about our company?

What makes you different from everyone else?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Why should we hire you?

What are your salary requirements?

What is your biggest accomplishment/failure?

Tell me how you handled a difficult situation.

What is your dream job?

Are you willing to travel/relocate?

What questions do you have for me?

If you prepare an answer for each question, then you have a very good shot at acing the interview. Since most interview questions represent variations of the most common ones, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to answer them. When preparing for the occasion, try writing them down so that they stick in your mind and make sure you refer to multiple real-life examples to justify your words.

Coping With Nerves

For the majority of jobseekers, stress is the biggest barrier to a successful interview. But who can blame them considering that job interviews are an incredibly nerve-racking experience? Even so, stress is something that everyone needs to be able to control and the best medicine to job interview anxiety is practice.

Since nerves can have a negative impact on your performance, you need to make sure you practice in advance. The anxiety you feel is usually a result of believing job interviews have unexpected outcomes. Obviously you don’t know how each one is going to end, and it is only natural to worry about it. However, you should try to eliminate negative assumptions related to the interview itself and instead focus on giving your best performance.

Practicing your answers, talking to your career advisor or having a mock interview will help you become more confident and handle interview stress better. Also, improving your body language can give you a boost of self-confidence and encourage you to think about the interview as a casual meeting.

Here are some vital interview preparation tips to ensure you are giving 100 percent at your next interview:

Do your research: Research the company beforehand so that you understand who you are dealing with.  

Keep calm and practice power poses: Sit up straight, relax your shoulders and use your hands more when you talk.  

Read the job description multiple times: To help you remember important key points to talk about.  

Practice your answers: Prepare a list of answers and practice them before the interview.  

Dress to impress: Wear appropriate and professional clothes.  

Prepare your own questions: Prepare a list of good questions (3-4) for employers.  

Carry out reconnaissance: Become familiar with the place in advance and find available parking.

If you make sure you are well prepared for the job interview, there is little reason to worry about the result.

To help yourself feel more comfortable about being interviewed you should treat every job interview as an

opportunity and consider your attempts as valuable experience. The more you practice interviewing, the

more you learn about impressing prospective employers.

Conclusion

So, how do you become a successful jobseeker? The answer is by exploiting all of the available resources and integrating a variety of techniques into your job search. This means designing a great job search plan, using job websites and social media effectively, making a great resume, creating an awesome cover letter and preparing properly for your interview.

As a final note, considering that job market trends are constantly changing, you need to be flexible enough as to make things work for you. Even though there have been major changes in the structure of the job market over the last few years, new opportunities are emerging; what you need to do is ensure you are well-prepared for them. As Charles Darwin once said, “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one more responsive to change.”

If you want to succeed in your job search, you need to stand out from the crowd in order to get noticed. Following these six steps should help ensure you are on the right track and maximise your chances of landing your next job.