#JobSearch : Hiring Has Restarted. Here’s What You Need to Know to Land a New Job, Now. Question: What are your best strategies for job-hunting in the pandemic era?
One year since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, there are glimmers of a sustained jobs recovery—and that means new opportunities for prepared job seekers.
There are reasons to believe the latest uptick in job creation has more legs than similar spurts last summer and early fall, even though Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned at The Wall Street Journal’s Job Summit last week that the economy remains far from maximum employment.
The number of help-wanted ads returned to pre-pandemic levels in January, fueled in part by more high-wage openings in technology and finance, according to job-search site Indeed. Weekly unemployment claims have fallen to their lowest levels in months. There also are signs that economic activity is poised to pick up as more people are vaccinated.
As hiring accelerates, millions of unemployed Americans will be vying for openings alongside workers jockeying for new jobs and promotions. Yet, the pandemic’s impact on the job hunt is likely to linger: Workers will need to be prepared for virtual interviews and onboarding. They may need to pick up new skills, or reinvent themselves for the next phase of their career.
Whether the pandemic has left you unemployed, underemployed or gearing up for the next step, you will need to stand out in the crowd. Economists, executives and career coaches offered advice to thousands of job seekers at the Journal’s Jobs Summit. Here is what they said:
Get your résumé in front of a human
Before your résumé even reaches a recruiter, it will need to charm a piece of software. Adding certain keywords—the terms most relevant to the job you’re seeking—is essential. For an engineer, that can mean listing programming languages you are fluent in.
“Using those words that are going to be important to the recruiter in your résumé is a key first step,” said Scott Bonneau, vice president of global talent attraction at Indeed. He recommends keeping a résumé to one page: “Once your résumé makes it to a recruiter, they may only have a few seconds or a few minutes to spend on an initial scan.”
After your résumé clears the robots and recruiters, it has a chance to gain the attention of hiring managers. Mr. Bonneau said a succinct summary or objective statement at the top of your résumé can help. “That is your brief but important way to give that hiring manager or that recruiter a contextualized overview of your experience with respect to the role,” he said.
Paige Ross, senior managing director and global head, human resources, at private-equity firm Blackstone, studies outcomes when reviewing résumés. “What have you worked on, and what were the results?,” she said.
Laura Fennell, executive vice president and chief people and places officer at financial-software maker Intuit, seeks clarity: “Résumés can get super flowery and hard to understand, so real clarity around what you’ve done—I love that.”
Work the system—but don’t try to game it
Though it is important to be strategic, overplaying your hand can backfire, Mr. Bonneau said. Key words are vital to get your résumé noticed but cramming in phrases lifted verbatim from the job description or make your résumé hard to read won’t get you far. You may get past the applicant-tracking-system algorithm only to end up alienating the recruiter who receives a résumé filled with key words that don’t genuinely reflect your abilities.
“It’s important to make sure that we focus on the relevant experience, the relevant words, but backed up by your accomplishments and what makes you the best candidate for that role,” he said.
Once a job is posted online the clock is ticking, and applications that come in at the end of the submission window may already be handicapped, recruiters said. Sifting through applications and interviewing candidates begins almost immediately, and there likely will be internal candidates as well as finalists for previous vacancies all jockeying for the role.
Applicants should make thoughtful—but swift—edits to their résumé and cover letter, Indeed’s Mr. Bonneau said. “A couple of days might be the difference between a job being there or being filled by the time you apply,” he said.
He suggests setting alerts on Indeed and other sites for when relevant jobs are posted. “Let the tools do some of that work for you,” he said.
Like this Article? Share It! You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award-Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-g-laughter-b46389198/
Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc
Best Daily Choice: Follow the Best of FSC Career Articles/Blogs @
https://twitter.com/search?q=bestoffscblog&src=typeahead_click
Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?
Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search: https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/
What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?
Article continued …
“Network, network, network”
Even as you’re working to get your résumé noticed, don’t forget networking. Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation, a nonprofit focused on unemployment, recommends that as job seekers tap professional contacts they include details that may elicit particular advice.
“When you’re networking with the people you know, don’t say ‘I’m looking for a job,’ ” said Ms. Oates. “Say instead, ‘I really have great organizational skills. That has to help me get a job. Do you have any idea about that?’ Be a little bit more specific.” Even if you don’t know anyone at the company or the field where you’re applying for a job, she added, try making contacts at professional or trade organizations.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your best strategies for job-hunting in the pandemic era? Join the conversation below.
You don’t need to check every box
Some job descriptions may read like an unachievable wishlist—but that shouldn’t necessarily stop you from applying.
“‘Preferred requirements’ or ‘nice to haves’ doesn’t mean that you have to have that skill set to apply for the role,” said LaFawn Davis, Indeed’s group vice president of environmental, social and governance. She recommends explaining in your cover letter how your skills can translate to the role you are seeking.
“You should go for it if you have most of those things because, I guarantee you, the skills that you have will work out well in that role,” she said. “If you’re ready to get into something new, if you’re open to stretching yourself, you can learn those other three to four things that maybe you don’t have right now.”
WSJ.com | March 7. 2021 |
