A Guide to Find a Perfect New Job
Being laid off is a difficult and emotional experience that can make you feel lost and uncertain about the future. It is important to remember that you are not alone in this situation and that there are ways to deal with it and come out stronger. In this article we address 6 successful strategies for finding a new job that fulfills your work aspirations quickly.
1. Give your emotions time
It is important to take time to process and acknowledge your feelings. This can help you reflect on your career path, successes and mistakes to set up your job search in the best way. You want to and can start your search only when your state of mind is purposeful and productive. Try to make clarity in you, answer some of these questions:
– What do I like about my job?
– What don’t I like about my work?
– I want to be an employee, a freelancer, or do I want to work on my own entrepreneurial project?
– Do I want to work for a startup, scale-up, or large company?
– Do I want to have the responsibilities of a team? And if so, how large?
– I feel that the past balance between work and personal life has been adequate or do I want to give more space in the future to work/my interests/family?
– What would make me really happy in my next work experience?
– Are there any knowledge gaps that I would like to bridge before I set out to find a new job?
– Minimum wage for my next work experience?
– What are my values? What are indispensable in my new workplace?
2. Reach out to your support network
The first step in coping with job loss is to talk to someone you trust and ask for their support, this can be a friend, family member or even a former colleague whom you value highly. Sharing your situation, feelings and concerns can help you process your emotions.
We advise you to avoid choosing a person who has lost their job with you; it could easily lead to a spiral of self-pity that is better to avoid. Conversely, choosing a person who has lost a job in the past and has managed to find new employment that they are happy with may be the most appropriate choice. You can learn from their experience and draw strength from their example.
3. Create your own enriched profile on OnlyTopTalent
Our online platform allows you to create a personal profile with a range of information that catches the attention of recruiters and headhunters and saves you up to 505 of the time in your job search. in fact, the profile contains a range of information about your personal and professional characteristics and your professional aspirations and desires that make your job search easier and more effective. your page also contains the results of language, hard skills and personality tests.
The profile also includes a video screening interview of you. Instead of repeating the usual information each time to different recruiters and headhunters, your page provides all the elements to make an initial assessment of your skills and abilities, and this allows you to move directly to the most interesting stages of the selection process (such as the interview with the hiring manager). Find out how to become a top talent and have your own page here.
4. Update your resume and LinkedIn profile
Your resume and LinkedIn profile are the basic tools for dealing with a job search. Make sure they are up-to-date, highlighting your latest experiences and showcasing your skills and accomplishments. Use specific keywords and phrases related to your desired industry and role to get noticed in searches, but avoid keyword stuffing. Also avoid adopting an overused template for your resume and using fonts that are too small. The CV should have space for recruiters to take brief notes.
Try to keep your resume to one page if you have less than 5 years of work experience, two pages if you have less than 10 years of work experience, and a maximum of 3 pages if you are a senior talent. Don’t go too long in describing the jobs you have performed and focus on your significant achievements in each role. Add data and KPIs achieved, if possible and legal. Do not badmouth your previous employers in your resume (nor in interviews).
Add to your LinkedIn profile and to your resume a link to your personal page on OnlyTopTalent and see how many more interviews you can get!
5. Research and identify job opportunities
Use the major job search channels and tools available online such as LinkedIn and Indeed to find job opportunities that align with your skills, interests and goals. Try to make smart use of the keywords and search filters provided by these platforms. Remember that searching on these channels takes up an average of 11 hours per week for candidates active in their job search. The keywords used and the selection of opportunities is critical to avoid spending 20-30 hours per week on your job search alone. If you want to have companies applying to you instead you can create an account on OnlyTopTalent.
Follow companies and recruiters in your desired industry and role, contact them directly to express your interest, and share your OnlyTopTalent enriched profile, your resume and LinkedIn profile. Don’t be afraid or shy to contact recruiters, founders and headhunters, evaluating talent like yours is their job and if you don’t get a response or if you get rude responses don’t stop, you are actually getting invaluable information. Would you like to work for a company where the recruiter doesn’t have the time or inclination to respond to you or where the founder doesn’t dignify you with a response? I don’t think so. Would you want to rely on a rude headhunter? Nah.
6. Expand, engage and groom your network
Your professional and personal network can be a valuable resource in your job search. Reach out to former colleagues, classmates, friends and family and share your situation and goals. Engage your LinkedIn network by posting, commenting and sharing relevant content that demonstrates your knowledge and skills; for some roles/fields, even posting content and contributions on Youtube, Twitter or GitHub can be important in finding a suitable job quickly.
Each week you can add 200 contacts to your LinkedIn network, try to add at least 100 relevant to your search, but avoid unnecessary and sometimes harmful and counterproductive spamming. Avoid sounding desperate in your search, keep your tone professional, but not boring.
Clean your social profiles of content that might scare off possible employers on a first impression. I’m not urging you not to show who you are and your passions, I’m just saying that maybe that video of you drunk dancing in your underwear over a table might not be my best business card.
7. Stay organized and keep track of your job search progress
Keep a log of your job applications, connections, posts, interviews, and feedback to help you stay organized and focused. Keep an organized schedule of your interviews and avoid not showing up for an appointment or arriving late (also for online video interviews). If for reasons of force majeure you are late or cannot take part in an interview write to your contact person for the role as soon as possible, apologize for what happened, and suggest rescheduling the meeting.
For this purpose I also recommend that you create a shared calendar where companies can freely schedule interviews (online or physical) with you. Use Calendly or similar products available online for this purpose. Activate reminders from these tools and/or your online calendar so that you can prepare for interviews in time. Be presentable for the interviews, wear for the role and based on your personality and style, but always look tidy, clean and in order. if you have an online interview make sure that your background is simple and not distracting and that your face gets enough light to be seen.
Post-Interview Communication
Send a written note (an email is enough) at the end of each interview to the contact person for the role. Be frank, if you are interested in continuing with the process make this explicit and briefly state your reasons for wanting to continue. Conversely if you are not interested in continuing, communicate this freely and try to be diplomatic in explaining your reasons.
Avoid writing things like ‘The hiring manager is obnoxious’ or ‘You want too much and pay too little.’ Staying in the examples you could justify your decision with phrases such as ‘I don’t think there is a union of views and working methodologies with the hiring manager’ and ‘I think the profile sought is beyond my current skills and therefore I wish you to find candidates more in line with your needs.’
Conclusions
Finally, always remember that a layoff can be an opportunity to pursue new career opportunities and make positive changes in your professional life and why not your personal life as well. Be positive, persevere and take advantage of all the resources and networks at your disposal. Don’t accept the first offer you receive if it doesn’t fully convince you; take time to make the right choice.
