Building your career means more than just landing the job
Choosing a career path should require careful assessment of your abilities, and potential and a clear vision and understanding of what makes you tick. Once you have set your sights on the direction you want to go, you need to prep your arsenal to demonstrate to potential employers you’ve got the goods.
It’s easy to get complacent in the current market, but ‘stand out’ candidates are stand out candidates irrespective of the job market. The effort you put in will make the difference between a step towards building your career, vs just getting a job.
So here are our tips for how to demonstrate your potential once you’ve defined your career objective:
- Prove your worth, show your potential
Skills tests are the best way to showcase what you CAN do, vs what you SAY you can do. Any savvy hiring manager knows that experience and/or aptitude will lead to success. Once you’ve picked your career path, think about the skills and aptitude that would be needed to succeed in that area, then take aptitude tests to demonstrate you hold that potential.
Take one of our skills tests now: https://talentpropellerjobs.co.nz/jobseeker-skills-assessments/#!/order
2. Reflect on your job description.
Referring back to the job posting of your current position can allow you to see the skills you have acquired, and what was mentioned as requirements. Hiring managers can see when candidates have looked back on the hard skills that they have learned and can confidently explain how these can help them succeed. For example, instead of just telling a hiring manager that you’re proficient at Excel, talk about what Excel tools you’ve mastered. Do you know how to create pivot tables? Write formulas? The more specific, the better.
3. Look at Your Performance Reviews
A good indicator of your professional skills is how managers have appraised your performance in the past. When reading old performance reviews, pay attention to not only your strengths but also your weaknesses—and think about what steps you’ve taken to improve in those areas.
4. Customise your resumes and cover letters
Once you have a list of your skills and antidotes’ of them in question. This will give you a good indication of which of your skills you should highlight on your resume and in your cover letter. Customize your resumes and cover letters for each new job ad you apply to, making sure to use the same keywords that the companies do.
Learning to write a great C.V is easy: https://talentpropellerjobs.co.nz/resources/443/if-your-resume-was-1-amongst-100-would-it-be-good-enough-learn-how-to-write-a-great-one/
5. Ask other people for feedback
Try speaking to former managers to see what skills they think to make you a top performer ( after all they hired you for a reason!) you can think back to any individual meetings or team-building exercises to refer to. Current and past co-workers can be great sources.
One warning: Not a time to ask your favorite office pal. Find people you can look to for honest feedback on your performance.
Following these steps will land you in front of hiring managers confident and prepared, good luck!
We hope you found this information helpful. If you’d like further assistance with preparing a resume or you’d like a professional to provide feedback on your skills tests, get in contact with us at Talent Propeller today