One of the greatest investments you can make for your health and happiness is
finding a job you’ll love doing. After all, the average person will spend 1/3 of their life at work, meaning you might as well be able to tackle those early mornings and boring meetings with a smile on your face.
Of course, it would be naive to assume that every day at work will be a good one – but if you find something you’re passionate about, you’ll find workplace stress much easier to manage and navigate.
With that in mind, here are some top tips that you can use to land your dream job!
Know how to sell yourself
The job market is currently more competitive than ever before, with the average job listing receiving more than 100 applicants. As a result, those looking to obtain their dream position (in any industry) must seek to increase their value in the job market. Thankfully, there are various ways in which you can achieve this goal:
- Be prepared to talk at length about your various achievements (in and out of the workplace). While you should not appear cocky, there is nothing wrong with confidence.
- Be confident during every stage of the application, and do not allow doubt or imposter syndrome to creep in.
- Seek out development opportunities, such as online courses that come with accreditation and certifications. This is a great way to pad out your CV and impress any recruiter.
- Work on your communication skills (verbal and non-verbal) as these are some of the most sought-after assets in any industry.
- Understand what skills employers are looking out for so that you can become an asset to any company you join.
- Demonstrate a keen understanding of the role you are applying for.
- Show that you are willing to learn new skills.
Refine your resume
Your resume is perhaps the most essential section of any job application – and for many, it can be your first foot through the door when entering a new career. After all, it paints a picture of the kind of employee you will be before you’ve even met the hiring manager.
However, high competition rates mean you must work hard to refine your resume if you want to stand out. You could achieve this goal by:
- Using resume templates to ensure your resume is well-structured and formatted, making it easy to read. Using a template helps ensure that all necessary information is provided, without the document becoming overbearing.
- Carefully proofreading your resume to ensure it is free of any grammatical or spelling errors. While this may seem like something of a no-brainer, a recent study found that over 50% of resumes feature spelling mistakes.
- Editing your resume based on the job description provided to you, ensuring that you cover all bases explored in the description. This is particularly important as many hiring managers use software to shift through applicants that will disregard those that don’t feature certain keywords and phrases. In fact, only a quarter of initial applicants are seen by human eyes.
- Ensure that your resume frames your experiences as ‘achievements’ instead of simply listing off your duties. This will help to present you in a much more favorable light.
- Remember that your resume must be no more than 2 pages long. This is because it will otherwise take too long for the employer to look through. As a result, you may need to omit certain details from your submission, based on relevance. For example, if you’ve been in the professional field for several years, you do not need to include any part-time jobs you carried out while studying unless they are particularly relevant.
Prepare for the interview
If you’ve been invited to attend an interview for your dream job, you should be proud of yourself. After all, only 20% of applicants reach this stage. However, the hard work is not over yet, meaning you should be willing to pull out all of the stops in order to impress. For example, you should:
- Research both the company and the role ahead of time, so that you are able to discuss them at length and answer any questions that may come your way.
- Raid your wardrobe so that you know what to wear to an interview, as this can help you appear more focused and professional. You should check ahead of time whether the company you are interviewing with has a dress code in place, and dress accordingly.
- Research basic interview questions ahead of time so that you are aware of the things you should not say during an interview. For example, if you are asked about your ‘greatest weakness’, don’t respond with a generic retort such as ‘I work too hard’, as this will come across as disingenuous. Instead, talk about a skill that you are working on improving.
- Work on your handshake. While this does not apply to a virtual interview, a good handshake can set “the tone and the perception of your abilities and trustworthiness”. As a result, it can help you kickstart your interview on a high note.
- Prepare a few questions to ask the interviewer at the end of your time together, as this shows a vested interest in the company/position. For example, you could ask about workplace culture or progression opportunities.
- Mirror the body language of the interviewer, this subtly implies that you are confident and at ease, despite the stressful nature of the situation. Furthermore, “using this technique can build a better connection where the interviewer feels more relaxed in conversing with you.”
While the above advice is definitely useful when applying for (and landing) your dream role, perhaps the most important piece of advice to consider during this time is to be confident. In fact, in many cases, confidence wins over hiring managers more than academic qualifications or previous experiences. This is because confident people are more focused and diligent, meaning that they’ll know you’re ready to take on any challenges that come your way.
