04/01/2018

The simple equation of New Year + new you = new job seems a fairly easy and straight forward one, and it’s one that many people promise themselves they will act upon. However, changing yourself and sometimes your job or career can be difficult.

Most people begin the year with good intentions and great expectations; which is why the New Year means a lot of people say they will: lose weight, quit smoking, get into shape or get a new job.

What you need to do

Personalised plan and career goals

New Year’s resolution can be difficult to stick to, especially if it is something that you have to work towards. It is very easy to lose motivation after a week, or a month, of trying something and still feeling like you aren’t getting anywhere.

Creating a personalised plan or writing down futuristic career goals can be a good way of keeping yourself on track. In order to make sure that you have a personalised plan in place, you need to review your goals;

• What is it that you don’t like about your current role?
• What do you want from your new potential job?
• What do you want from your career and will this job help you flourish as a person and a professional?
• Where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years’ time?

Research companies

If you have a specific company you want to work for, make sure you research them thoroughly. The more you know about the company the better, because it will make your application stronger.

Research the company’s:

• Culture, mission and values, to help you better understand what it is they want to achieve and how you will be able to help them with their goals.
• Clients, products and services, to help familiarise yourself with what the company do and what your role will entail.
• Skills and experience that they look for in employees, in terms of the role you want.
• News page on their website, check out what they have been up to lately.
• Employee’s reviews of the company; the website Glassdoor makes it very accessible for you to see what other people are saying about the business that they are working/have worked for.
• Employees; sometimes there’s nothing wrong with some harmless stalking, to find out who will be interviewing you and who works for the company.

Search, search, search

To give yourself the best chance of finding a job, you need to look everywhere. There are various places you will hear about jobs:

• All of the job sites; Monster, Indeed, Totaljobs, Guardian jobs, etc.
• Newspapers
• The company’s websites (not all of them post on the job sites)
• Community boards
• Career/job fairs
• Register with recruitment agencies
• Ask around to see if your friends or family know of any potential job positions available

It is also worth subscribing to daily job alerts, so that when new jobs are posted online, you will be notified through your emails and will be able to apply as soon as possible.

Sort out your CV

It is very important to ensure that your CV is not only grammatically correct, but also that it is up-to-date and relevant for the job that you are applying for.

When assessing your CV, check that:

• All of the information is correct
• There are no grammatical errors
• That your work experience and history is up-to-date
• That the CV structure and layout is easy to read for the employer
• That all information is relevant to the role that you are applying for

Invest in/enhance your future

If you don’t have all the desired skills for your chosen job or career, dedicate the time:

• Receive training for the skills you lack
• Sign up to classes that will help you get the right qualifications
• Volunteer/take part in work experience for a company that will help enhance skills and improve your experience
• Read up on the skills that you will need

Remember that this is a necessary step to take, and that by no means are you failing your new year, new you goals! Maybe you get a job that you don’t really want, in order to gain more experience, so that you can pursue the career you do want in the future. By investing the time now, you will be taking a big step in pursuing the job or career that you actually want.