The current job market is currently saturated with job seekers looking for new opportunities and it can be hard to know what to include on your CV, what to say (and what not to say) in interviews and how to optimise your job search to see the greatest success. We’ve shared 5 CV and job searching tips from our recent webinar in partnership with free mentoring app, Sistr. Our consultants Lizzie Harding, Lauren James, and Jade Watson shared their best CV, job searching and interview tips.
Sistr connects women who are looking for a mentor or would like to mentor others. The Sistr community is free to join and gives you access to webinars, podcasts and resources including tips and advice on getting a new job, networking, advancing your careers, and more.
It is undoubtedly a difficult time to be searching for a job right now. Our consultants discussed the current job market and whilst some industries are struggling, there are some industries and sectors that are growing such as Health Tech, Legal Tech and eCommerce. Sales Manager Lizzie advises targeting your job search in these high-growth industries as they’re more than likely hiring.
1. Tailor your CV
You’ve probably heard this before but it’s really important to tailor your CV. Your CV is someone’s first impression of you so you should put your time and effort into it. Ecommerce Consultant Jade spoke about making sure your skills are at the top of your CV (after your profile) and that they include the ones mentioned in the job ad. This is also handy to catch the employer’s eyes when they’re quickly scanning your CV.
Your profile is your elevator pitch and your chance to show who you are as a person. Start with a short summary of yourself and your skills, your experience (keep it brief) and what you are looking for. You don’t need to include your date of birth, marital status, ethnicity, religion, gender, GCSEs or A-levels.
2. Go specialist
When looking for a job, it’s much more effective to go as specialist as you can from reaching out to recruiters who are specialists in your field, whether that’s eCommerce to cybersecurity, to using specialist job boards. Sales Managing Consultant Lauren also recommends learning how to do Boolean searches, where you type your specialist skills, i.e. Sales or Business Development when searching on LinkedIn or job boards.
3. Show how you add value on your CV
Lizzie revealed that companies right now are looking for people who can impact their growth positively, especially in terms of financial growth, so it is more important than ever you show your value. When writing your CV, list your achievements making sure to include the ones that impacted growth or helped the company make money. Don’t just list your skills or achievements, make sure that you share them in a way which shows how you met a particular objective, what you did and what the results were (including how you helped the business).
4. Speak to people you know
There is a lot of power in utilising your own network. A lot of people are finding new jobs through internal employee referrals so start the job search by asking family and friends if they can give you a contact or an introduction. Similarly, you can go onto LinkedIn and reach out to your connections. You never know if you never ask.
5. Get organised
Lauren advises keeping a spreadsheet when applying to jobs. Make sure it has on there the date you applied, company’s name, and a contact.
She suggests following up after sending your CV which can help you stand out. Find out who is responsible for hiring (usually on the job ad) and then write an email or LinkedIn message tailored to them. Let them know you’ve applied, why you’re excited about the role and then ask if they’re available to chat. It could mean someone will go out of their way to check out your CV.
If you didn’t have a chance to join or if you would like to watch the recording on-demand, you can see the webinar below:
