How to remain relevant in the market as a Job Seeker
One of the impacts of COVID on the Global Labour market has been the inability to source skilled talent from other countries. As a result, some industries (such as Tech) have incredibly low rates of unemployment. This has been challenging for employers but is great news for job seekers. A by-product has been that employers have been forced to think more flexibly about how they might fill available roles. While the labour market conditions are positive for job seekers, it’s still important for job seekers to remain relevant and marketable to future employers – so what are some strategies to do that?
- Identify your Career Goals
Setting Career Goals provide a huge amount of clarity about what your next role should involve and how it can help further your career. The first step is to articulate the theme of your goals. Away to uncover this might be to ask the question: ‘What type of activities attract you most?” Is it selling, writing, building things? Once you have this defined, you need to think about what type of role you would like to have in 10 years, aligned to this theme. You then break or ‘chunk’ it down into smaller, more achievable short-term goals to help make your career decisions.
- Research
If you are looking for a new role in your current field, it’s important to understand what you are worth in the market. We suggest researching similar roles and trying to uncover the average pay range to avoid underselling yourself or having unrealistic expectations. You should also research ‘typical’ businesses that recruit for these types of roles and target those in your job seeking efforts.
- Build your Brand
LinkedIn is a fantastic resource to increase your visibility and your marketability. To start with, ensure that your profile is up-to-date and provides some detail of your accomplishments. The next step is to become an active participant, which is both creating personal, engaging content yourself and also engaging with the content of your peers. Showcase your knowledge on a topic by including well-thought out responses to topics and enable your personal brand to be showcased. There are some great groups aligned to industries that are also good ways to network with peers and get yourself noticed.
- Be open to ‘out of the box’ opportunities
As employers are re-thinking how they fulfil their business labour requirements, new opportunities might arise that could include freelancing and working in casual or part-time positions. It’s important to consider positions that are non-standard as they can broaden your skill set and might lead to other, unexpected opportunities later on.
Contact our Recruitment team for more helpful ideas for staying relevant in the job market.
