Education is a must, regardless of whether you’ve just finished your high school studies, your BA, your MA or a community college course. Sadly enough, having a bunch of diplomas in your hand does not guarantee you with an actual job. There are other things you can do though and they may matter even more than any diploma when it comes to putting yourself out there, on a very competitive job market. Which are these things? Read on and find out which are the things that are the basics for anyone preparing for a competitive job market regardless of where in the world he/she would live.
Interview (Creative Commons)
Building Skills
Employers don’t search for academicians. Universities do. But most of the companies hiring people off the school benches are looking for people who can actually do something. This is, in fact, one of the main issues young people nowadays have to face when it comes to employment. If you want to build real skills, then you will need to volunteer. There are many, many organizations out there where you can help out and help yourself build skills as well. In some of them, you can take key positions that are actually related to what you want to do with your career. For instance, you could act as the PR of an NGO fighting to help poor children.
Building a Solid Resume
Your resume is your gate to the interview, which is consequently the gate to a job. So, start building a good resume. It should look good and its contents should be revealing for what you have been doing until now. Even more, if you really want it to stand out from the crowd and if you are applying for a position that requires a bit of creativity, you should allow yourself to be a bit creative with the way in which you present your resume. Think of what your future job would be about and then create a resume that is according to that. Also, remember that you should actually have resumes optimized for various positions you are applying. You can’t use one and apply with it for all the jobs out there.
Jobs Wanted (Creative Commons)
Practice Your Interview Skills
Your first interview will be downright terrifying so don’t be disappointed if you cannot nail it. Do practice your interview skills because they can be really important. If that’s what it takes, get together with a friend and practice questions and answers that could appear in an interview. Also, always keep in mind that self-confidence, positive attitude and determination can go a long way.