6 Useful Tips For First Time And Early Career Job Seekers

Decide Which Career You Want To Follow

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How can you look for a job when you don’t know what career path you want to follow? There are plenty of ways to figure out which job is your ideal fit. Any one of the following may be enough to find the right career path for you but it’s probably better to use a combination of all three.

Skills And Education

Skills are the tasks you can do well and your characteristics. Hard skills are technical abilities that help you to do your job, like touch typing, computer programming, or bookkeeping. Soft skills are more linked to your personality, such as communication, negotiation, and leadership. Write down a list of your hard and soft skills.

What qualifications and training do you have? This could be from high school, college, university, online courses, or training provided by your employer.

What job would be a good match for a combination of your skills and your education?

Your Values

What is important to you? What do you care about? These are your values. It might be equal rights for all, caring for the environment, or having a secure job. Working for a company that aligns with your values will create greater job satisfaction.

If you still don’t know how to identify your values, these questions should help:

• What motivates and energises you?
• When have you felt fulfilled at work?
• What are you passionate about in life?

What job or career path would be a good match for your values?

Your Personality And Traits

Skills, education, and values aren’t the only factors that can help you find your ideal job. What about your personality and traits? Working in a role that is a great match for your personality increases your chances of enjoying your job and improves your performance and productivity.

You may already be aware of your personal traits and preferences, such as:

• being an extravert
• preferring a high level of autonomy at work
• being open to new experiences

but if not, there are plenty of personality tests out there. To find out more, read Can personality tests help you find the right job? By the way, the answer is ‘yes’.

 

Create A Basic CV

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Your CV and cover letter create a first impression on the employer. While a well-written cover letter is important, a relevant, targeted CV is essential. The starting point, however, is to write a basic CV.

A basic CV includes all of your:

• experience,
• achievements,
• qualifications and education,
• and skills,

plus a basic personal statement.

Once you’ve created your basic CV, you can adapt it for each job you apply for. For instance, you can reduce your list of skills to only include those that are relevant to the job. You can also adapt the wording of your work experience entries and personal statement to demonstrate your suitability. Don’t forget to save a copy of your basic CV. This will be the starting point of each job application.

You can find out more about cover letters in How to write a job seeker cover letter.

 

Set Up A Professional Online Presence

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Sending in your CV and cover letter isn’t the only way to get noticed. More and more, employers and recruiters are finding the right candidates online, for instance, on social media or by reading your CV on a job board. So how do you set up and maintain a professional online presence?

Choose Your Social Media Platforms

Most people use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, keep up with their favourite brands, or follow developing news stories. Employers and recruiters also use social media to find potential employees. As a jobseeker, a well-constructed and professional social media presence can get you noticed. While all social media platforms provide opportunities to find job openings, LinkedIn is the one platform most useful for job seekers. Here’s why:

• You can set up your LinkedIn profile to reflect who you are as a candidate now and adapt it as your employment needs change.
• You can use keywords and phrases that will pop up in employer and recruiter searches, for instance, engineer or customer service.
• LinkedIn is an excellent platform for building a network of contacts.
• You can apply for job adverts and connect with recruiters on LinkedIn.

The other social media platforms can be useful too. Look out for job opportunities in relevant Facebook groups or on company accounts on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube.

Upload Your CV To Job Boards

Another way to get noticed by employers and recruiters is to upload your CV to job boards like JobLookup. You can use your basic CV, or you can try out adapted versions if you’re targeting a particular job or company. But don’t forget to keep your CV up-to-date.

 

Always Prepare For Each Job Interview

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The best way to make sure you perform well in an interview is to prepare for it. That means:

• Do your research: Research the job, the company, and the industry that the company is part of. This will help you decide whether the job and employer are right for you, and give the impression that you’re enthusiastic about the opportunity and a proactive individual.
• Think about the questions you’ll be asked: These might be common questions like ‘tell me about yourself’ or questions that are most specific to the job or the industry. Practice your answers, and remember to keep your responses relevant to the job.
• Write a list of questions you want to ask: The interview process isn’t a one way street. You want to get answers too. It might be questions about the job, the company, or the recruitment process.

You might also like to read How to avoid the top 5 interview mistakes.

 

Make Sure You Understand What A Salary Package Includes

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When you apply for a job, salary is probably an important factor. But it’s only one element of what you’ll receive in return for your work.

In the UK, a salary or remuneration package includes:

• salary
• workplace pension
• paid holiday
• sick pay
• parental pay (maternity, paternity, and adoption)

On top of this, you may receive bonuses, commission, and perks such as gym membership or child nursery vouchers. Pension, paid holiday, sick pay, and parental pay all have minimum levels that employers must legally provide. Some employers may provide more than the minimum.

It’s worth looking into the full remuneration package when deciding whether a job is right for you.

 

Know Your Rights As A Job Seeker And Employee

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Whether you’re a job seeker or an employee, you have rights and protections under the Equality Act 2010. The act protects you from being treated less favourably because of any of your protected characteristics, such as race, age, or sexual orientation. It also provides guidance on lodging a complaint if you feel you have been discriminated against.

These anti-discrimination laws mean that you can’t be discriminated against at any point in the recruitment process, including being selected to be interviewed, the questions you are asked during an interview, or being offered the job.

You have every right to complain if you feel you have been discriminated against by an employer.

 

Wrapping it up

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Whether you’re looking for your first job, second, or more, it can take time to get into your job search stride. The best way to build your confidence and smooth the process is to follow the six steps discussed in this blog post:

• identify which job you want to land
• learn how to craft a basic CV and adapt it to each job application
• present a professional and relevant face online
• prepare for each interview
• understand what a salary package includes
• know your legal rights as a job seeker and employee

These are the building blocks of any effective job search. Get these under your belt and you’re halfway to landing that ideal job.