There is no surprise that the global pandemic made the job market highly competitive. With a lot of layoffs and closed businesses, the job search may appear gloomy for the average job-seeker. From now on, simply sending an excellent CV won’t be enough to land a good job.
It’s high time for standing out and giving companies a strong reason to choose you over other applicants. So let’s discover the most meaningful steps to help you land a job during a market downturn.
Approximately 95% of recruiters go through LinkedIn profiles to research more about talent. So a strong profile is a must-have if you want to get more interviews on your list.
1. Pimp your LinkedIn headline to get noticed
Having a catchy LinkedIn headline is the very first step to make recruiters and hiring managers to notice your profile in the ocean of job seekers.
Instead of typing your current or previous job position (LinkedIn does that by default), use the headline to name your biggest expertise or the job you’re looking for right now.
Add multiple positions if you’re handling different projects at once. The more precise your title is, the faster it will draw recruiters’ attention.
2. Broaden your location, think remote
Job market decline during the global pandemic made finding new career opportunities harder.
At the same time, it finally pushed most companies to review their working policies and allow people to work remotely. As a result, now you have a huge chance to get a dream job from any location worldwide.
Set your LinkedIn location as a whole country rather than one small city. This will make it easier for companies to find you.
Tip: If you’re applying for a job in other countries, you could set your LinkedIn location to that country to show up for recruiters looking for talent in their local region.
You will also get more job offers in the MeetFrank app if you select “Remote work possibility” and “Relocation” while setting up your profile there.
3. Bring life into your LinkedIn summary.
Most people are pretty lazy to invest some time into the LinkedIn summary in the “About” section.
Why is it so important? Because summary can quickly show up your skills and expertise in the most interesting and engaging way, like a universal “cover letter”.
Put some effort and write a memorable summary of your career that says exactly who you are, what is your professional passion, and what value you can bring to the companies. Don’t overload it with the information listed in the “Experience” part.
Let your professional summary be your most important content masterpiece. Rock it, make it sell you as a top talent. 🚀
Here is an example of a well-written summary section from Karola Karlson, Growth Marketing Consultant.
Why is it good?
✅ It answers the question “Who are you?”
✅ It mentions all key expertise and skills
✅ It shows up the most important experience being handled so far
✅ There is a call to action in the end
Tip: Do an extra step and record a short 2-minutes video clip. Add the link to your summary part. It will bring a human touch to your personality and help to catch recruiters’ attention faster.
You can also use it later when applying to job openings via the MeetFrank app or during your interviews. ☝️
4. Start building a personal brand to stand out from the crowd
A nicely presented personal brand is a powerful tool for marketing yourself and your career expertise. It shows what you stand for and what you’ve achieved so far.
Before you start mastering your personal brand, think how would you answer on these 3 questions:
- What motivates you to tackle the day after waking up every morning?
- How are you unique?
- What is your biggest passion?
This information will help you to set the right focus for your further steps.
The best way to make you visible through the brand is by creating content.
Don’t be scared about that word. You don’t have to be a super copywriter. All you have to do is to present your daily job experience in a format you like the most:
- Written – daily posts on LinkedIn, articles on Medium or your own blog
- Audio – podcast
- Video – Youtube channel, IGTV series
Start generating content regularly. Tell your best stories and key lessons learned.
Don’t be afraid to share what challenges you’ve met. This is a nice chance to show how you’ve overcome them.
Here are the links of nicely built personal brands in different formats:
- Overreacted.io – a personal blog by the main developer of React.js, Dan Abramov
- Neil Patel – a youtube channel by professional marketer Neil Patel
- The Advanced Selling – a podcast from sales trainer Bryan Neale
Don’t be shy – share and pin your content on your social media profiles to get more reach.
When you published your first article – Image Source
5. Ask for recommendations
One more step to improve your personal brand on the job market is to get references from your previous employers, supervisors, clients, suppliers, and co-workers.
LinkedIn recommendations are a vital part of an effective professional’s profile. It supports your skills, experience, and accomplishments as well as brings light on your soft skills.
How many should you get?
A rule of thumb is to get 10 recommendations. If you ask 2-3 different people in each company you’ve been working for, you will quickly get enough of them written from different angles.
How to ask for the recommendation?
When you’re asking people for written feedback, try to give a specific context of what you’re looking to get. Explain what kind of job you’re trying to land and what skills and experience are essential for it.
Thus, you will make it easier for the person to outline meaningful information about you as a talent and highlight your key results.
Check out a constructive example below. 👇🏻
6. Grow your network
The job you want to get may not be advertised at all. Here is where networking might matter the most.
There are a lot of ways on how to build and maintain a professional network in normal times.
But the fastest step you could do during social distancing is to reach out to people via social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Who to connect?
Put effort into using every networking resource at your fingertips:
✔️ Alumni network
✔️ Job industry online communities
✔️ Local and worldwide friends
✔️ Classmates
✔️ Previous and present colleagues
✔️ Managers you’ve been working with
✔️ CEO’s of the companies
✔️ Career coaches if you had one
✔️ Industry thought leaders
Final word
Job searching is like cooking. If you read the recipe and have all ingredients in place, you’ll definitely achieve success.
Nothing propels a candidate’s level like meaningful hustle does. Do your best to position yourself on the job market professionally.
Implement the listed tips as soon as possible, and you will yield results sooner than expected! 🚀
Stay up to date about the latest job market trends and coolest job offers within your industry by using our Job Market Insights page.
To apply for your dream job opening not available elsewhere, get the MeetFrank app. 😉
