Hunting for a job is one of the testing and trying times of any person’s professional career. It takes persistence, concentration, and steadfast optimism, and that is because you are going to trawl through pages and pages on job sites and receive rejection and rejection. It takes serious courage and determination to keep your chin up.
But eventually you’ll find a job pop-up, and you’ll wonder how you didn’t find it before now. It is a company you’d absolutely love to work for. You seem to tick all the requirements they are looking for in a candidate. It is within the right salary range. Everything seems to be a great fit and you suddenly feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
However, before you jump the gun and send an application off without being ready, here are a few things you need to do first:
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Improve Your Online Profile
It is common knowledge that, when you apply for a job, the first thing the hiring manager and HR department is going to Google your name. They are going to look at your LinkedIn page, your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and why wouldn’t they? You would do the same thing. This isn’t to assess whether you drink occasionally, it is more to see if there is anything they should be wary of. It means looking at how up to date your profiles are and about how seriously you’ll take the role. It is about whether your personality will be a good fit.
Do Your Own Googling
Do not apply for a job without swatting up on everything there is to know about the company you are applying to. You’ve spend ages searching for a job, so you may as well spend ages making sure you know all you can about the job. It may be that you don’t need to exercise your newly gathered knowledge. However, it might be that you do, and you don’t want to seem unprepared. Pay special attention to the company’s career page so that you can see what they are looking for and what their ethos is. Look at their blog. Read any news articles you can find. Look at who is on the board. Check out the company’s journey. The more you can arm yourself with – the more you seem like you care – the better your chances of succeeding.
Do A Background Check On You
Any respectable and thorough employer will do a background check on you, so make sure there is nothing out there that could come back and sting you unexpectedly. A DBS check would be required which ensures unsuitable people are not employed, CRB direct make this process a lot smoother. If there is any niggling feeling at the back of your skull or a quiet whisper in your head that keeps asking do I really have a warrant out on me, then make sure you get it checked out so that you know for sure. You don’t want to find out during the interview process that there is a problem with your history, especially one you can’t explain.
Bespoke Your Application
A generic application is so obvious to anyone that has looked at more than 5 CVs. So make sure you tailor your entire application to the job role at hand. You don’t want to find your dream job, but miss out because of laziness. Yes, it is hard work tailoring each and every cover letter, and each and every CV, but it will be worth it in the end.
