Pre-holiday Job Search How To

Pre-holiday Job Search How To As we head into the final stretch of 2018, we’re also coming up on one of the busiest hiring seasons of the year. For many corporate and for-profit organizations, hiring budgets renew at the start of the fiscal year on January 1, making the New Year prime time for  filling job openings. If you want to beat the competition and get a good start out of the gate in January, use  the pre-holiday job search time wisely. Hiring is typically at its slowest during the summer months and in late December, due to factors like holidays and time off. Use this time to update and refresh your resume, research companies of interest, and starting building a short-list of potential opportunities to apply to. Take inventory of your skills, identify gaps that are holding you back from your next position, and think about ways to acquire those in 2019. Thinking about asking for a raise, or brushing up on your interviewing skills? Maybe its a good time to consult a career coach who can help you with your presentation. To help you get your job search running smoothly and in full-force, Ive broken out some of this our most popular blog posts on everything from creating a digital brand presence to writing a resume summary statement, to figuring out what is going on in the human resources offices while you sit and wait. Behind the Scenes in HR: Whats Taking So Long to Hear Back? Avoid the unnecessary stress that comes with job searching by understanding how HR works, and in doing so, youll have a better comparison scale of what to expect during the hiring process. Taking Inventory of Your Personal Brand: A Checklist for Job Seekers Ive broken out the key components of building and maintaining a strong personal brand as a job seeker, which you can use as an assessment of what youre putting out there about yourself, and how that information is working (or not working) to promote your unique value to potential employers. How to Address Being Let Go From Your Job Nobody likes the topic of being let go from a position. But in the interview process, its almost inevitable that youll be asked, So why did you leave your last position? Heres how to position the situation in a more positive light. Why Your Resume Summary Statement is So Important The summary statement on your resume is prime real estate for marketing yourself and ensuring that whatever message(s) youre trying to convey through your resume are coming through loud and clear. What does a good one look like? How to Leverage Social Media in Your Job Search Over  90% of hiring managers are using some form of social media in their recruitment efforts. Heres an overview of the benefits of integrating a social media strategy into your job search, and which networks you should be utilizing to reach your target audience. Things to Consider If Youre Considering Using a Creative Resume The thing about creative resumes is that, while they may help you stand out initially, theyre often poorly executed in terms of content versus design. Here are a couple creative tactics you can employ to give youre resume a well-designed look that helps you stand out in a sea of 12 point Times New Roman devotees. The holiday weeks are a great time to get out there and market yourself to the best of your potential! After all,  who wouldnt love to spend the holidays sifting through job offers? Perhaps thats a tad overly-optimistic, but whats not overly optimistic is the prospect of having your job search wrapped up and done with by Thanksgiving. Get your resume in order, craft an excellent cover letter, make sure your LinkedIn and your social networking profiles are marketing you while you sleep, and that your online brand presence is effectively positioning you as the top-notch candidate you are.