Do you get that sinking feeling on a Sunday when you know you’ve got work tomorrow? Or perhaps you’d love to get a job and would like to look forward to work on a Monday morning?
Chances are, if one of the above sentences resonates with you, then you are ‘stuck’.
There are 4 stages where you could be stuck, so identify what stage you are at and then read on for some handy tips and advice.
Stage 1: You don’t know what job you want to do / or would be good at
Get an A3 or A4 piece of plain paper out and make a mind map with following headings:
What’s my goal or purpose in life?
What sort of people do I like to work with?
What are my transferable skills?
What are my areas of knowledge or fields of interest?
What sector would I like to work in? I.e. Financial, Charity, Marketing
In what location would I prefer to work? Would you move area?
What is the minimum salary range I would be prepared to live on?
Are there any gaps in my skills that I need further training on?
Start mapping all your answers out and I guarantee that a path will start to emerge
Stage 2: You don’t know where to look for that type of work
The Internet is a good place to start but rather than trawling all the jobs boards, use one that is a ‘catch-all’. I use www.indeed.co.uk as I like the fact that you can search by area and salary. For instance, if your minimum salary is £25,000 put that into the ‘What’ search box and then put the location in the ‘Where’ box.
Make good use of Social Media. Are you on Twitter? If so, follow all the companies that you feel you’d like to work for, and then you’ll get alerts the minute they advertise a vacancy. Same with Facebook. Not tried LinkedIn yet? You should! There are 300m+ users on LinkedIn and that’s companies as well as people. So ‘fish where the fish are’. Companies who have their own profile page will often advertise their vacancies on LinkedIn, as that is where they feel the business community is!
Word of Mouth. Does everyone you know, know what you are looking for? Let others be a ‘scout’ for you too. If they hear of anything that suits you, hopefully, they’ll hot foot back to you and let you know. Don’t ‘assume’ that people know.
Stage 3: Your CV is not opening doors to interview
It always amazes me how clients keep sending out the same old CV and expect to get a different result. If you’ve sent it out 20 times and you’ve not even got a sniff of an interview, then there’s something wrong with the CV! That’s where people like me can help with a FREE CV Review. Just send it along with a note of what type of role you are trying to get in to and I’ll give you my honest feedback and some useful notes on how to change it, for FREE.
Email: christine@high10.co.uk
Stage 4: You are getting interviews, but not getting the job
Then this is definitely your interview technique that is letting you down. Again don’t go into the next interview with the same old patter, as you’ll get the same old result! If cash is tight then invest in a book. I’d recommend ‘Brilliant Answers to Tough Interview Questions’ as a starter. And if cash is really tight then the library will have a copy. If you can afford it, find a good Career Coach in your area and ask them to take you through a mock interview and give you honest feedback.
As always, if you have a quick question, or need my help, do contact me – I don’t bite! Email: christine@high10.co.uk