When the U.S. economy begins to balance after the pandemic, you’ll likely find your searching for a job in a highly competitive market. When you’re competing with many others for the same position, you’ll need the right combination of skills, experience, and education to stand out from the crowd.
You may even find it’s important to develop your own personal brand, which can go a long way toward helping you stand head and shoulders above other candidates. It’s normal for the job market to shrink and grow over time, but the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unusual circumstance for which you can be ready when you start now.
How to Succeed in a Competitive Job Market
You don’t have to be actively looking for a new job in order to get ready to look for a new job! This is a good time to start honing your skills and preparing your strategies to stand out. Here are a few tips to help you get started.
Volunteer work
One of the advantages of unemployment or working part-time is you’ll have extra time to develop your resume, so when the time is right, your future employer will be impressed with your experience and skills. However, experience and skills do not have to be in a paid position. Volunteering gives you an edge since you’re often in a position to be able to fill multiple roles for the same organization. For instance, when you’re hired, your job description is finite and structured. However, when you work with a volunteer organization, it’s often all hands on deck to get the job done.
Resume and References
As you’re building your experience and skills, it’s important to keep your resume up-to-date and current. The additional networking you can do through volunteer work or by joining organizations helps you expand the number of people who can provide personal, character, and professional references when you’re ready to start working.
But don’t wait! Ask if you can use someone as a reference when you’re working with them, and your relationship is good. Don’t wait for months to go by when you may need a reference from someone who doesn’t remember you.
Social Media
It’s time to build a professional online presence that speaks volumes about your skills and experience. LinkedIn is the perfect place to network with others and develop a professional profile; you can quickly and easily share with potential employers.
Seek Out Marketable Skills
It doesn’t matter what field you’re in when you’re searching for a new job your potential employer wants to know the hard and soft skills you have that can improve his business. Whether you’re hoping for a senior job in which you’ll need to lead a team or you’d like to return to your previous level of employment, employers are going to be looking for people who spent their time improving your skills, gaining new experiences and becoming better all-around employees.
Anodyne Can Help
One of the simplest, strongest, and best strategies you can use in a competitive job market is to use a competitive recruiter. The professional recruiters at Anodyne are poised and ready to help our candidates find jobs in the current market and in a competitive job market. Call our recruiters today! You’ll be happy with the results.
