Jewellery > E-zine 2 > E-zine May 09 > Life Coach

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 Getting back in the game...

Jennifer Collier

How can you manage redundancy and the current job market?
 
Statistics have revealed that job advertisements in Australia fell by 8.5% in March as unemployment rose to a four and a half year high of 5.5%

Statistics such as this being published daily have meant that more and more employees are feeling increasingly uneasy about their job security.

So, if you have been made redundant what can you do? How can you ensure that your job applications will be selected or even read? How can you perform at your best for interviews? It is now more essential than ever to ensure that your job search activities are well planned, strategic, and fully informed.
 
Follow the four basic steps below to increase your “hit rate”:
 
1) The Right Job
 
When the job market is increasingly competitive, job seekers tend to go into panic mode. They will apply for every job they see and undertake a scattergun approach to their job search. Although it is perceived that the more roles you apply for, the higher your chances of finding a job, this scattergun approach can actually reduce your chances significantly. Many recruiters and large organisations will have the electronic capabilities to see every job that you have applied for. If your applications are diverse and have no clear logic, you may find future applications are dismissed without the recruiter even reading your cover letter, as recruiters want potential employees who know the direction in which they are headed.
 
Take time out to think about the job that you really want. Is it a good time to add to your skills and take time out for personal or professional development? Is the job you are currently doing the right job? Do you want to make a move into a totally new direction? Once you have focus, you can plan your methods of attack.
 
To find your ideal career, Incite Coaching’s – Career Transition Advanced Pack can help visit www.incitecoaching.com.au/careers.html
 
2) Interpreting Job Ads
 
You’ve just decided to look for a new job and after trawling through seek, mycareer and careerone, you are exhausted. You have a number of jobs which you would like to apply for and have no idea where to start. What do they actually want from you? Can you send a generic resume? Do you need a cover letter? Why can’t someone just do it for you?
 
Feeling overwhelmed is common. The key to overcoming these issues is to take a deep breath, find a quiet spot, get a pen and paper and a highlighter. Read through the advert and highlight the relevant points, for each of these points, think about your experience and brainstorm all the examples you can think of which demonstrate this particular skill. Once you have this information, you have all the information for your resume and cover letter. Yes, both are essential.
 
3) Winning Resumes
 
There is so much information out there about writing a resume that it can get very confusing. Some people say to keep it to 2 pages, other people say to get all your experience on there. What do you believe? In times of high job competition there are a couple of factors that you need to consider; the number of people applying for the available jobs; how you can match your skills to the employers requirements, succinctly; and what message you are trying to convey.
 
There will be increased competition for every job you apply for - fact. Recruiters and employers are now receiving a high number of applications for each position they advertise (in some cases over 100). In order to get through such volume, very tough "culling" activities are common. You need to make your resume stand out. Tailor the resume for EVERY role you apply for, ensure the layout is clean and the language is concise. Your resume should be long enough to describe your key competencies relevant to that job, however keep it to less than 5 pages if possible. I don’t know how anyone who has been in the job market for more than 2-3 years can write a 2 page resume, it takes half a page to write your contact details, education and training and you haven’t even started with your experience or achievements.
 
Your resume is your sales tool and you have approximately 3 to 5 seconds to entice the reader to continue. Make sure that key information is on the front page, use bullet points to explain your key competencies which are relevant to that SPECIFIC job. To increase your chances of interview, ensure your contact details are on every page in case they are separated.
 
4) Cover letter
 
Your cover letter should explain why you are applying for this particular role and why you would like to work for the company. It gives the recruiter a significant insight into your personality, so think about how you would like to come across and what information is vital to mention immediately. Succinct and well prepared cover letters will be more likely to get the recruiter to read on to the resume.

5) Acing the interview
 
Preparation, preparation, preparation. Make sure you have researched the company and what they do and know why you want to work there. Read the company values and think about how you demonstrate these values on a daily basis. Read through your resume and make sure you can explain your experience fully with examples.
 
Remember that 57% of your communication comes from the way you present, 36% comes from the tone of voice you use and only 7% from the actual words you use. Think about how you are dressed, how you sit and how you answer each question.
 
So that you are not running late or putting yourself under any additional stress, plan how you will get to the interview, what time you will need to leave, what mode of transport will you use and what you are going to wear.
 
Incite Coaching provides one on one support to assist you through the recruitment process. Visit www.incitecoaching.com.au/careers/html for more information on how we can tailor our services to you.

Additional articles are available at www.incitecoaching.com.au/articles.html

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