5 Ways To Find Work In A Tough Job Market

This is a guest post by Aussie Tom. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Are you having a hard time landing a job in this tough economy? Then there are 5 simple ways you can get yourself a good opportunity and build your career.

1. Revamp Your Resume

Your initial objective should be to land as many interviews as possible. The entry point for gaining an interview is a resume that makes the job of the Human Resources officer easier. HR officers calculate resumes through keywords and skill sets that match with the job opening.

• Try to use terms such as ‘Defined’, ‘Lead a team’, ‘Accomplished’, ‘Achieved’, ‘Supervised’ and many concrete terms that are self-explanatory about your role in your work experience.
• Avoid using “Responsibilities” in your resume because the recruiter will want to see what you have ‘accomplished’ rather than what you were assigned to do. Show the results of your job description and duties so your experience would look more substantial.
• Quantify your experience as much as possible. If there was cost cutting or profitability involved in your work experience or projects then make sure you display an estimated figure to give the recruiter a good idea about your scope of work.
• Use bullets to save space and be concise with your words so it is easier to read and skim through your resume.

2. Be Persistent, Be Positive

One of the basic qualities of a successful sales person is that he is persistent and has a positive mindset about landing a good sales figure. Giving an interview is just like selling yourself as the perfect candidate for the job. Some people choose to dwell on the fact that they’ve been rejected before and that simply makes their situation worse. It is important to be prepared to assume the problem is the tough economy and to become resistant to rejections. When you get a call for interview, do not stop your search for a new job. It is good to have the comfort at the back of your mind that there is another interview you can look forward to – so you can stay positive and motivated, and market yourself better each time.

Today companies are more worried about cost than their future plans. If they plan to hire someone, they will surely want to look for a candidate who would bring cost savings or lucrative business enough to keep these future worries at bay.

3. Lookout For Unpopular Industries

Many industries have already been exhausted of job vacancies because just about every graduate applies for a position in them. Popular industries will always invest in promoting their human resource and quality of work life even in a tough economy. This does not mean that other industries would be boring or will have less scope in terms of job descriptions and projects. Search through directories or magazines on your country’s economy to find out sectors that are growing and making good progress. Profitable industries will have profitable companies with good quality work waiting for people like you.

4. Follow Up Interviews

While you may have given your best in selling yourself in an interview, you should continue to take advantage of the time and make a follow-up to reiterate how you feel about the job opportunity, without sounding desperate. There are already many capable people in the market, the recruitment officer simply wants to look for people who are enthusiastic to work in their company and have a plan in mind to offer the company from their skills. You can write a thank you note and mail it to the interviewer after an interview as a courtesy letter for assessing the opportunity and that effort stands out from the crowd.

5. Research

There is nothing like a candidate who already knows the issues and the opportunities with in the company before getting hired. If you do sufficient amount of research about the job and the company, you will be in a good position to ask good questions, which allows you to make a great impression. You will even be able to prepare a plan in mind that would show your interest in the company and motivation to turn things around in this recession. The recruitment manager does not want to see how authentic your research is but rather your interest in performing well for the company.

photo by o5com

The mining industry is one such market that has a lot of current opportunities. With mining jobs in a range of different fields and experiences, contacting a mining recruitment agency would be a great place to start you search.