Tag: Job

Job Hunting 102: Secrets to a Successful Job Application

Paul
Job hunting by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

Crafting a Persuasive Cover Letter

Do I need to add a Cover Letter?  A persuasive cover letter can be quite challenging to some but if you really want to get that job this would be the something that you will need to do.  It however isn’t as difficult as it might seem.  The importance of the cover letter is tell the employer in your own words why you are applying for the job and what you might bring to the team.  It doesn’t have be multiple pages but a good cover letter uses one page to tell the employer more about you than what the resume can or will.   It is also good to have to make sure to highlight those skills that the employer is looking for.

Structuring the cover effectively can make a world of differences from being in the NO pile to being put in the YES pile.  The cover letter needs to be easy to ready and something that demonstrates why are a good fit for the company.   It could even show them that you are a good fit for team that you might have to work with.   Each Cover letter should be personalized and that can be difficult because that will take time but if you do it right then you will most certainly be put in the YES pile.  You’ll want to stand out and make them see you may bring a value to the company in one way or another.

Identifying Reputable Job Search Websites

Which sites are good for me to look for a job?  Not all Job search websites are the same, some are better than others and that can be negative to your finding a job.   You should strategically standout in online job portals.  You should have a resume that will draw people to ask for you to apply for a job or a even jobs.   The resume then can at least be showing people that you’re got some good talents.   What sites are good for looking for a job?  Here are a few websites that might work well with standing out, however these are just a few and you should look to figure out which ones you want to use:

These are just few that you can start looking for a job but you should optimize your profiles to show them what you are good at and to bring in those jobs that you are looking to apply to.  You’re online profiles are the first impression on what the employers will see when they are looking for potential job applicants that might be a good fit for the job they are looking to fill.   You should also setup email alerts for new jobs that show up and be ready to apply for them when they come into your mail box.   I am sure if you have filtered the right job searches for a particular field or industry you will be more likely to find those jobs that you want to work at.

Build and Expand Your Professional Network

You will most likely start getting job recruiters looking to fill a job that they have.   So you should keep the lists of people who have contacted you in the past and occasionally email them seeing if they have anything that you might be able to apply for.   Just be mindful that these recruiters make money by filling positions that companies are looking for so this isn’t always going to be the best approach but I’ve had some good luck with this in the past.  You should leverage all the social media sites you can from LinkedIn, Twitter(X), Facebook and maybe even put it out that you are looking for a job on Mastodon. As long as you know that it will be slow work trying to find recruiters that are specialized for what industry you are looking to work in, it can be a great way to at least find jobs that you might not find any other way.  Another good way to build and expan your professional network is to attend conferences or job fairs to possibly give the recruiter your resume.   These are the best way to make sure the employer gets the resume but isnt’ always going to bring you an interview it however is worth trying to help you job hunt.

If you liked reading this article why not check out the other article I’ve done already, Job Hunt 101: Mastering the Art of Applying for Positions.  I am not done with this topic and more are on the way, don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter for even more articles like this.   Don’t forget to share this article to help support this blog.

Job Hunting 101: Mastering the Art of Applying for Positions

Paul4 Replies

staff, applicant, apply, bad, business, businesswoman, candidate, career, company, concerned, considering, deciding, doubtful, employee, employer, employment, headhunting, hiring, hr, interview, job, listening, meeting, millennial, mistake, negotiation, offer, office, people, person, personnel, position, problem, professional, recruiting, refuse, result, resume, serious, skeptical, skill, thinking, uncertain, unconvinced, unemployed, unhappy, vacancy, work, young, table, computer, laptop, personal computer, gesture, interaction, tableware, window, suit, white collar worker, automotive design, chair, formal wear, event, technology, desk, conversation, leisure, management, drinkware, tie, collaboration, luxury vehicle, sitting, customer, fun, learning, recruiter, office equipment, team, tourism, room, eyewear, businessperson, education, software engineering, training, Free Images In PxHere

Photo by kaushik26795 from PxHere

Importance of Effective Job Applications

The importance of applying for jobs is more important than ever due to more people applying for the same job.   If you haven’t been watching more and more people are getting laid off and that is causing employers to get swamped with people applying for same job that everyone else is applying for.  It’s a real struggle to find a job for most and all, I am one of those that have been looking for a job for the past few weeks and I have come to understand just how hard it is to get that interview.

The overview of apply for jobs can be quite daunting and challenging for most because you really don’t know where to begin with or where to start looking.   Each person is just a little different and that can be a strength or a weakness, depending on your talents. Now it is one thing to know you are looking for a job but that doesn’t mean you are can’t at least start figuring out how you will do it.

Defining Your Career Objectives

Each person has a career objective whether you admit it or not.  You have some reason why you are looking for a job in area or industry because you want to accomplish something such as more money, more seniority, or even prestige.   You could be trying to get all three or just thinking you could be a better person and that would be only one area where you want to accomplish.  There are several different accomplishments people will want when they are applying for a job.

First thing you’ll need to do is a self assess what is your strengths and identify your talents.  What are you good at?  Are you good at talking to people?  Are you good with your Hands?  These are the questions you should be asking yourself before you start to even consider applying for a job.   You’ll need to take a deep dive into what you are good at and what you where you’re strengths are.  Monster has some great career tests for you to use to figure help you figure out what you are good at and your strengths and weaknesses.  Even if you want to go deeper than that, you should check out Yale’s Self-Assessment and career exploration pages, where they will give you even more enlightened out look of who you are and what you might be good at.   There are to many websites to put in this blog but these are just a few that you can check out to learn who you are and what you are good at.

After you’ve done all that and know what you might be good at, the next step is to research industries and companies that might be good fit for your talents and strengths.   Each company can be different but if you know what you are good at then that’s at least the first part of the battle.  Knowing that you are good at typing or that you are better at your hands can be a big help with where you should look in the company whether it be in productions, office work, driving a car, or calling clients to do check up on what needs to be done to keep them.  The one way I research the companies is use Indeed to research the company and they even have great article on how to do it.   It just depends on how you tailor searching for jobs in certain industry and know that is where you want to pursue your career with.  It’s not going to be as black and white but it should at least keep you on the right path.

Creating an Outstanding Resume

Effective resume writing techniques for job applications can be quite challenging due to the fact that you have to know what the company is wanting.   They may want some specific soft skills, and they will most likely want even more hard skills or you having an education that is a requirement to get the job.   So you should create an resume and then change it when you apply for a job to better help you get that chance for the interview.

Craft a  compelling summary and objectives is something else you will need to do to stand out from each and every other applications.   Each application is going to be different so each resume should be slightly different from the others.   Although this isn’t the always going to work it however is going help you get that proverbial foot in the door as I would say. Highlighting your achievements and skills are the first part of creating a good resume.  You should make sure to have those in your resume to show them how unique you are and what you are good at.      Formatting the resume will help with hiring manager being able to a glance to see what you are are, so you should have bulleted lists or number lists to show them you qualifications and you’re experiences.  This sets the tone of the resume to better make your application stand out.

These are just a few ways for you to learning how to job hunt effectively and this is just the tip of the iceberg because I will be writing about even more of this in the future so you should bookmark my site or better yet sign up for my newsletter and keep watch on those other articles to come in the future.   If you liked this article how about sharing with your friends and family to help support my blog and my efforts.

Friday Video Picks : 2/9/24 Job Market and Aggressive Layoffs in March

Paul3 Replies

Aggressive Layoffs in March(2024)!

Economists estimate that we will have aggressive layoffs in March.   A very thorough look at what it could become like in the later months.   I am not going to say that she is right but I do think she has some very good points.  If you haven’t seen this video you should watch it and decide for yourself how much of this will happen.   Is there going to be a recession in 2024? Some information in this video actually shows me that someone is messing with the labor numbers and it is worse than than the US wants us to believe.   I am not going to say that we aren’t already in a Recession but I wouldn’t think we will be finding the jobs easier than we did in the past.   This is probably a good time to pivot and start applying to other jobs that are away from the tech industry for a time and then maybe when this is all over with you can come back to it.

Are they Lying to use about the Job Market?

Hyper Specialization is one thing that might be causing them to lie about the job market and this video goes into even more details about it. I’ve suspected something was going on with the job since I have started looking for a job the last few weeks. Nothing seems to correlate with why I haven’t gotten one interview in the last few weeks unlike previous where I could apply and have an interview at least once a week or twice a week and be feeling like I am accomplishing something.   This industry is not looking good for the for see-able future and we are going to have to consider other ways to make money.

I’ve been Applying

I will say that I’ve kept applying for jobs that I know I could do because of the my work experience.  I haven’t been in IT long so I have Production, Forklift, and Grocery store experience.   The problem I think is that with the mass amount of layoffs going on everyone is trying to find any job they can and that means everyone is applying for the same jobs and those in bigger cities will see applications for general work also skyrocket.  So the real questions is why does it feel harder to find a job and even get an interview than ever?  I’d be curious as to how long this will last but I am not going to hold my breathe on how long it will be before the real numbers actually show us that we are in the a Recession.

I’ve researched this as much as possible while not looking for a job to find out what I could do to get a job and so far everything I am a seeing is not promising and we should just tighten our belts on this to make ourselves get through the storm.   I am going to keep applying for jobs and networking to try to find people who might be able to get my foot in the door for places that I can work and hope that this doesn’t get to serious in the coming months.   I’m still hanging on to the fact that someone will hire me and let me work in IT but I will have to start looking other places also like Remote work, and Work From Home Jobs.  Again those will be flooded by people trying to find jobs and you are going to be Ghosted and forgotten most likely due to the high volume of applicants.  I don’t see this coming out any other way but we must be willing to take whatever we can to survive.

Are you looking for a job?  how is it going for you?  Have you had any success with interviews?  Leave a comment and tell me your story, I’d love to connect and find out what others have done and if they have had any interviews that didn’t pan out.   Remember subscribe to my blog for even more topics about this and other stuff.

Getting the interview and how I will be ready for those questions

Paul

Young Man on a Job Interview

Getting that interview

I talked about the job market and how that will be more difficult to find a job. That seems to be changing for me.  If you didn’t read my post about Tuesday’s call, I will go back and say it was quite a surprise to get a call 30 mins after I applied a a technical support specialist job.   Fast forward two days, they call me and setup an interview time for Next Day.  This would be the Thursday after the call on Tuesday and my Interview is Friday.  So that’s been my week this week.   I am not sure what to think, but I thought it would be a good idea to at least talk about how to know what questions they might ask me or what even if I should have questions to ask them.

Questions and Answers

Some of the questions I saw and looked over came from Indeed and other hiring sites but I compressed them into a small subset of questions and you can go back and see what they might want to ask you in your interview if you ever have one for a technical support specialist.  Although this won’t be exactly what they might ask you but you should at least be somewhat prepared for the questions they ask you and have a few good answers waiting to give back to them.   I am sure what you do is going to be a little bit different from company to company but you should at least have a few good answers ready.

  • What made you get into technical support?
  • What is your troubleshooting process? (see some of how I troubleshoot motherboards post issues)
  • Where do you see yourself in five years?
  • Why are you interested in Technical Support?
  • Why should we hire you?
  • What do you feel your strong Points are?
  • What do you feel your week points are?
  • What’s your strength
  • Why do you want to work here?
  • Why did you apply to our company?

These are just a few of the questions that they might ask you for a technical support job.  I’ve went through as many sites as I could just to see what they might ask you but every site including Glassdoor has many different questions that might be relevant or not.   No matter how well we prepare, there will be that questions that might be a surprise to you and you should approach it with the best intentions.   Always remember that you are there for a reason.

Tell me about yourself?

That’s either where it begins or it ends depending on the interviewers point or if they need to know a lot about you.  The one thing I can tell you and know it works is being yourself and always smiling.  If they are going to hire you, that because they see potential in you.   That’s pretty much how I see it.   They are looking for the ideal employee but in life we rarely find that perfect person to fit the job description.   This is why you should always apply for jobs that might not seem like your a good fit.   You’ll know when they call you, take the ques from how they communicate with you.  Are they trying to be helpful?  are they trying to learn more about you?  are they open to your questions?  Sure you’ll have questions and that is a good sign that you want to know more about the company.  Also do some research on the company and be prepared to know more about it and that way you could be ready for those types of questions.

As you can see it is a whole new world for people to hire employees but most of the time it’s just takes a little bit of effort to do the job right and nothing we say or do will ever make the greatest impact that knowing we are making a difference each and every day in someone’s life.   What’s your experience been with interviews?  How’d that go for you?  why not leave a comment and talk about it with others who might want to know what to expect.

How to get that phone call for a potential computer technician job

Paul

Hiring now concept on bright office workspace background

How did I get a call for a Technical Support Specialist position?

I’ll tell you what I know and It might seem down right strange but it happened.   I applied to a company on Tuesday, the day after labor day.   Since this was labor day weekend, most places don’t work on Monday.   This job was put up on the local Indeed.com job boards, and they just put it up that morning.   I applied for the job and I kid you not, they called me like 30 minutes after I applied.   He even said I was the first one to apply.   We Talked for like 10 to 20 minutes and it seems really promising, and he said He’ll get back with my later on this week for a possible in person interview.   So How did I do it? What’s the secret?  I am sure people are curious to know what did I do to get him to pick up that phone to call me.

Cover Letters

The first thing I did was construct a cover letter, telling the potential employer why I was a good match for the job and give examples to that extent.   Indeed even has an example of a good cover letter to use as a template.   I did use that to at least get ideas on how to make my own cover letter, you can even find some good sample cover on the web for IT support.  Draw on what you have done, or what you have learned in the past to show how you can be a valuable employee to the company that you are applying to.

Have Relevant work experience

I don’t say this lightly, if you are going to try to go into technical support, then you will most likely have to something to show that you have experience working on computers or know how a computer works.   I’ve heard time and time again people applying to a job and not having the experience to back up the job.   They aren’t going to make you have all the requirements but they will want you to have some experience with customer service and even computers to do the job they might be looking for.   This guy I talked with today he’s had people who would apply and only put down they work for burger king or some other fast food restaurant and not show they know anything about technical support for the job they are looking to hire.   This might be a reason why they didn’t call back or consider your application.

 Be Honest on your Resume

Some people try to embellish there job skills but a hiring manager will know when they talk to you that you might not have the experience they are looking for.  You might not even get that job that you wanted because you wasn’t completely truthful on your resume.   I’m not saying it will stop you from getting that job or it might not even matter in the long run, it however will be hurdle if the hiring manager suspects you weren’t completely truthful on your application or resume.   So why not start off on the right foot and just be honest with them in the application process.

These are just a few things you can do to help get you that job you are looking for.   I’m sure these are nothing new to some of you but I thought I would at least talk about it as I go through the hurdles of getting hired and trying to find a job that I have always wanted to do.   It can be difficult to find that job and this might just help someone out that is looking into the job field.