2021 is here and everyone is on about a new year and wanting to set goals, or themes or words for 2021. I had a good laugh when my husband mentioned that using a word to describe a year was as silly as choosing a colour or shape. So, I asked what shape he would have for 2020 – he said ‘pear’.
Moving swiftly on from words, themes, and goals to Job Search. Why am I an expert in this? Having been retrenched 4 times, and when working in the corporate world, personally hiring over 200 staff. Having run a recruitment business for 5 years. Searching for all types of jobs for 1000’s of candidates and have found 10 amazing jobs in my career for myself. Been there, done that and bought the t-shirt.
If you are unemployed now or even in a job that you would like to leave, going on the job search is time consuming, boring, irritating, frustrating. But to make it interesting and successful (my theme for 2021 ) you need a few things:
1. Think out of the box (or board)
You can search on Job Boards like www.indeed.com ; www.gumtree.co.za ; www.pnet.co.za ; www.careerjunction.co.za ; www.careers24.com ; www.jobcrystal.co.za; www.bestjobs.co.za etc. (just search in google for South Africa Job Boards and you will get 48 million results!). You can look on www.linkedin.com or even www.google.com for jobs.
BUT Job Boards are not the only place to look, it is the first choice but do not make that the only option (and DON’T choose only 1 job board). Think out of the box:
- Contact your network and let them know you looking
- Put on your LinkedIn that you are looking
- Put your CV on Job Portals (more on this later)
- Sign up to Job Alerts (so you do not need to search every day)
- Use AI (more on this later)
- Contact companies you have worked for before to see if they have any roles
- Create your own company and create your own job?
What ever it is … there are lots of ways to search for jobs do not just use
2. Social Media and Job Search
We do not have statistics in South Africa but, in the US 54% of candidates were rejected for an interview based on their social media profile. Estimations would say it is a little lower in SA, but not by much. As a recruiter if we get an awesome CV, one of the first things we will do is check the person’s social media. This includes LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If you are outspoken or have some photos you would not want your possible boss to see – make it private!
3. Where it starts
Your CV is the first and only impression you have, in most instances, when applying for a job. Do not waste the time you spent in finding a job to apply for, and then to send a black and white boring typed CV. We get 100’s of CV’s a day – the ones that stand out are the ones that are in colour, done professionally and took some thought. You can pay someone to create your CV (we offer this on https://jobcrystal.co.za/our-rates.php) or you can do it yourself (word even has templates for you to use) but ensure you put time behind your first impression.
4. Job Portals vs Job Boards (who knows the difference?)
A job board is where jobs are advertised, a job portal is where candidates can add their CV’s so prospective companies can search and look at the CV’s. Some companies are both a board and portal like PNET and CareerJunction and some are only a job board like Gumtree.
The interesting part here is about using a Job Portal – add your CV! MANY MANY MANY jobs are placed before they are even advertised due to recruiters and companies searching on Job Portals. Ensure your great CV (see point 3) is uploaded onto portals. And like point 1, do not just upload your CV to 1 Job Portal, upload to many (most companies/recruiters only use 1 Job Portal – you do not know which portal your ideal company uses).
5. AI / TECH in Job Search
Let technology work for you, not against you. There are new and amazing systems coming out that use AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Machine Learning to find you the perfect job on the internet. Algorithms are coming together (finally in SA not just US) to find a job that suits you. Watch this space…
Many companies and recruiters cannot see the type of person you are, so why not take a personality or multimeasure test and put the results in your CV? Many of these tests are free and available on the internet:
–DISC tests are used extensively in SA – https://discpersonalitytesting.com/free-disc-test/
-Or an interesting one we saw recently from Red Bull – https://www.redbull.com/int-en/wingfinder
Overall
Overall, when searching for jobs when I was retrenched, I remember:
– the frustration (no replies);
– the time (I literally searched from 8am – 1pm each day);
– the boredom (have I not seen this job 10 times already?)
– irritation (I had around to 95% of no replies)
But I did make it interesting by using many more tactics to search and find my job, and I was successful each time in finding a new job. So, I want to wish you all the luck, creativity, hope and success in finding your next job. If I can help in any way, please contact me on sasha@jobcrystal.co.za
