Looking for work can often feel overwhelming, but there are things you can do right now to stay positive, stay sharp and start prepping for the job search process.
Here are our top 5 helpful tips to prepare for employment:
1. Overhaul your resume
- Highlight your experience. If you have 10 –15 years’ experience in the workforce, it might be time to remove some of your entry level jobs from the past. Highlight your most important past roles.
- Keep it clean and concise. Recruiters don’t want to wade through pages and pages when looking at resume. Choose the experience and skills you want to highlight and choose simple formatting showcase your CV. SEEK.com have some fantastic resume templates to help you design a professional resume.
- Update your skills. Make sure you list your most relevant and up to date skills on your resume. This includes both your technical and your soft skills. Perhaps you have formal training and qualifications or a wealth of experience in negotiation or sales. Bring your strongest skills and qualifications to the forefront of your resume.
2. Connect to training and up-skilling opportunities
Whilst you have the opportunity, think about connecting with online training or do a short course to improve your existing skills.
- TAFE have a huge choice of online courses, short courses and resources. Some courses may also have concession prices for eligible students.
- Open Colleges offers a variety of flexible, online courses including diplomas in a broad range of industries.
- If you’re a trainee you can search for Government subsidised training at the Smart and Skilled website.
- Your local Community College may also have suitable courses available. Check the Community Colleges website to see what courses are available at your closest college.
3. Build your skills, practice for job interviews
You can go into job interviews with confidence by preparing and practicing scenarios that could occur during an interview.
- Write down the kind of questions that might be asked during a job interview. Here’s a handy list to get you started.
- Practice what you might say to respond to these questions.
- An employment consultant or close support person can then help you conduct a ‘mock interview’ over the phone, video or in person to give you some real-life experience of being in an interview situation.
Want more information on the job interview process? Read our top tips on how to make a great impression during a job interview.
4. Network & connect with possible employment opportunities online
- Sign up to the mailing lists of companies you’re interested in working with. This will keep you up to date with any company information and possible job opportunities.
- ‘Like’ businesses on Facebook and other social platforms. Businesses often post vacancies on their social media, especially small and local business.
- Network on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a network specifically designed to showcase your professional attributes. Invest some time in optimising your LinkedIn profile and connect with colleagues past and present.
- Utilise SEEK Updates. Set up an account on seek and sign up to their email job alerts. You’ll then receive a summary to your inbox of possible job opportunities based on your industry, location and occupation preferences.
- Create an account on the careers section website of large employers you may be interested in working with e.g. Woolworths, Coles, Bunnings etc. This will ensure you are notified when opportunities arise.
5. Seek out an employment support services for extra help
You don’t have to do this alone! Specialised employment service providers like Ability Options deliver tailored and personable support to local jobseekers.
We are helping people right now in our community to prepare for, search and secure employment.
