The way we look for jobs has changed a lot in the last decade. With the rise of LinkedIn, dominant online job boards and new technologies for recruiters to find suitable candidates, job seekers have had to change their tactics too.
If you’re on the hunt for a new role this year, here are seven fool-proof job search hacks that will help you on your way to a job offer.
1. How to write an awesome LinkedIn headline
If you’re out of work and happy to broadcast that you are looking for new opportunities, then writing a good, but informative LinkedIn headline can work wonders. Rather than falling into the trap of the commonly used “Looking for new opportunities”, be sure to use your headline to highlight your expertise. For example, “Digital Marketing Manager looking for a new challenge”, tells employers and recruiters a bit more about what you are looking for.
Even if you don’t want to broadcast that you are looking for a new role, you should still ensure you have a punchy headline as recruiters will approach you on LinkedIn about relevant roles. This brings us to the next job search hack…
2. How to let recruiters know you are looking for roles
LinkedIn now has a handy feature that lets recruiters know you are looking for a new role without alerting any of your connections and, more importantly, your current employer.
You can amend this setting by going to your privacy settings and then job-seeking preferences. From there you can choose to ‘let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities’.
3. How to create your personal brand
Your professional brand is all about who you are, what you do and why you do it. Your personal brand should be clear in your CV personal statement as that is one of the first things an employer will learn about you.
Personal branding isn’t only helpful when looking for new roles, but also throughout your career. Discover more about creating your personal brand here >
4. How to set your salary expectations
Before you even begin your job hunt, you should set yourself some realistic salary expectations. There are a number of key salary tools you can use to help you with this. Once you’ve done your research and set yourself a salary bracket you are happy with you can start applying for roles that fall within that bracket.
5. How to discover unnamed employers
It’s not uncommon for job adverts to hide the employer name. This shouldn’t be off-putting as many recruiters and employers do this for confidentiality reasons. However, there is a little trick that can help you to get around this.
Keep an eye out in the advert for any key phrases used to describe the company. Then copy and paste the full phrase into Google with quotation marks around it and see what comes up. This doesn’t work every time, but if the phrases they use in the advert matches their website phrasing then you’ll be able to uncover who the company is.
6. How to answer questions about your salary
If you have a desired salary bracket but think your current salary could hinder you in reaching that then you may prefer to skirt around the question, “How much are you earning in your current role?” A good way to answer this question without revealing too much is to say: “In my current job hunt, I’m focusing on roles in the £30,000 range. Does this job fall within that range?”
TIP: Revealing your current salary to a recruiter shouldn’t harm your chances of getting a much higher salary in your next role. Recruiters usually earn their fee on the salary you receive, so they will want to get you the highest salary possible!
7. How to make the most of your interviews
When attending an interview, it can feel like you don’t have a whole lot of control over how it pans out. You just have to answer the interviewer’s questions as well as you can, right? Wrong!
You should ensure that you are well-prepared for your interview, have some questions of your own prepared and have a plan about exactly what you want to talk about. You should know what the interviewer is looking for, ask them about their challenges and relate those to your own expertise and experience.
Having your own plan of action will also help you to combat those interview nerves.