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Job hunt is a challenging task for both experienced professionals and fresh graduates alike. Job hunt experience is often described as a mix of thrill and perplex due to the exploration of new opportunities and rejections. However, applying proper strategies and maintaining the right mindset can greatly impact your career growth chances.
Our recruitment agency, RFS HR Consultancy has compiled the five most effective strategies based on reviews of our top recruiters. By reading this entire blog, you will have a greater understanding of the job hunt and tips for landing the right job that most other job seekers are still unaware of.
Let’s dive into the tips…
Fix Your Resume for the Job Hunt
Fixing your resume is one of the essential and most effective tips for starting your job hunt journey. There are two vital aspects of this tip that are explained below, so make sure that you internalize each one correctly.
Make Resume Relevant, not Attractive
Always be aware that your resume is not about you; it is for your employer. A very common mistake made by job seekers is that they flood their resume with every detail of experience they have.
Such an exhaustive and extensive resume is unattractive to your recruiters, as they may find it irrelevant because your resume failed to outline the relevant experience and skills required for the job role. Crafting a relevant resume is an essential skill that you must learn for your job hunt journey.
Your resume must seem relevant to your employer. The very first thing that recruiters see is whether you have a relevant background or not for the advertised position. All else, including your degree and achievements, or whether you form a good fit for the company or not comes secondary. If you pass the initial screening phase, only then you will be questioned about secondary things during the interview stage.
Thus, organizing relevant skills and experience on your resume is crucial for a acquiring job, and this requires keen insight and abundant experience. Therefore, top recruiters in UAE suggest young talent to seek expert’s assistance and professional coaches.
Give a Summary of Yourself and Your Most Recent Experience
When hiring, companies are looking for candidates whose credentials match most closely with the requirements of the job role. Since recruitment is quite a challenging task, companies operating in competitive markets outsource staffing roles to recruitment agencies.
Now, as recruiters, we would like to know who you are as a professional; your key accomplishments, and important things about you in a short paragraph of four to five lines. For recruiters, this is a very important part of your resume; this is probably the first thing we will be looking at.
After introducing yourself the next thing you should be focusing on is to include your most recent work experience. Companies and organizations prefer individuals having similar or relevant skills and experience than a person with abundant experience but not relevant. For example, if a company is looking for a marketing manager then it will prefer hiring an individual with experience in managerial roles and marketing than a person experiences and skilled in HR management, financial manager etc.
In essence, having relevant skills and experience matters. So, if you are applying for a job and think that you possess relevant experience, then make sure to include it in the top section of your resume, clearly visible to your recruiter. You have to make sure that your recruiter does not have to dig for relevant experience throughout your resume.
Also, as a bit of additional advice from recruiters working in recruitment agencies in Dubai: avoid including details like home address or a motivation statement. Additionally, refrain from using stylish fonts, or adding basic skills such as Microsoft Office or Google Docs.
Networking and Working with Recruiters
Both networking and working with recruiters are important for you as an individual on the job hunt. Networking with professionals who are working in your desired industry will open you up to a dozen new opportunities. Expanding your network by engaging with alumni or attending workshops will add to your professional connections who can refer you for a new position, or at least inform you about new job openings and guide you.
Additionally, working with a recruiter operating in your desired industry is also a great strategy to start your job hunt. Many recruiters have exclusive access to job positions as companies and organizations partner with recruitment agencies to fill their vacant positions.
For instance, recruitment agencies in the UAE maintain extensive networks with companies that directly approach the top recruiters in the UAE to fill their vacant job positions. Therefore, working with recruiters will give you an edge in landing your dream job, as recruiters will likely connect you with opportunities within your scope.
Attend Job Fairs
Organizing job fairs and attending them are equally important for both the employers and the individuals on the job hunt, respectively. Through job fairs where companies can target and acquire skilled and talented individuals, it is a great opportunity for you to get exposure to many companies at once.
But before you decide to attend a job fair, make sure to research the companies you want to apply to and learn about the job openings there. It will give you an idea of what a company is looking for, and the kind of employees already working there. This will give you an idea of how to custom-draft your resume to target maximum companies’ roles with one resume. Moreover, it will also give an opportunity to draft multiple resumes to apply for job positions at different companies. Make sure that you bring a printed resume to a job fair to hand out to companies.
Internships and Volunteering
If you are a fresh graduate on a job hunt, then landing your dream job straight away might prove challenging. For inexperienced individuals, it is strongly recommended to start by gaining experience through internships. Internships will not only build your resume but will also help you make connections in the industry, thereby expanding the networks you can take leverage of later on.
Additionally, some internship opportunities transition into a full-time role. So, if you happen to secure such an opportunity, make sure to give your best effort during the internship period, proving that you are the best fit for the full-time job role by taking additional responsibility and helping the company achieve the desired outcomes.
On the other hand, volunteering is relatively less rewarding than internships, as they do not involve financial compensation for your time and effort. However, to kick-start your career and increase your experience, volunteering is encouraged and looks good on your resume. It is also beneficial for your personal growth, as it not only enhances your skills but you will get to make connections. It is also a way to get employment at an organization, most likely an NGO, that currently lacks funds to hire you.
Staying Resilient and Using New Technology to Level Up Your Job Hunt
For job seekers a job hunt experience is filled with excitement and hopes that are often met with disappointments. Individuals often take initial setbacks to heart and give up trying. However, as an individual on a job hunt, you must bear in mind that you will face rejection. But persistence and resistance is the only key to success. Taking measures like updating the resume, following job hunt strategies, seeking reviews from peers in the industry, and assistance from consultants will give you strengths in moving ahead in your professional journey.
Additionally, another thing you can do to level up your job hunt is to utilize new technologies like AI to gain a competitive advantage. Using AI to simplify lengthy job descriptions and summarizing the job role’s requirements are a few smart ways to make a relevant resume and enhance your chances of selection. This information can also be utilized to assess whether you form a good fit for the specific job role.
If you’re an employer looking for effective recruitment services for your business in the Emirates or the Gulf region, then contact us immediately. As one of the best recruitment agency in Dubai, we seek to provide the best market solutions and recruitment services to our partners.