Overhaul your job search in 2021
Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal, as attested to by celebrations worldwide and the return of annual blooms. It marks a noticeable change in the earth’s position relative to the sun and is seen as an opportunity for new beginnings. With that said, spring is an apt time to overhaul your job search and career management strategies. So, if you’ve been doing the same thing and getting the same results, it’s time to try a new approach.
You know that having a solid presence on LinkedIn is crucial to your job search and your overall career strategy. Having a profile is not enough. To reap the maximum benefit from LinkedIn, you need to be active on the platform and ensure that your profile is maximized with relevant keywords. Join groups that are relevant to your industry and field and interact in those groups. Like, share, and post original content to your profile to drive engagement.
A part of the spring ritual is the spring clean-up, and now is an opportune time to prune your LinkedIn connections and trim them back. Go through your list of contacts and ask yourself if you know the person and remember how you met him or her. If the answer is no, consider deleting the contact or making an effort to nurture it. There is no point in merely collecting a static hoard of contacts.
The pandemic has upended the way corporate business is conducted, and along with that, job seeking has been transformed. Rather than looking for jobs within a specific geography, now, more than ever, you should be looking at jobs from a holistic perspective, with location not being a primary factor. Also, brush up on your video skills and maximize the professional appearance of your workspace with an uncluttered background, good lighting (consider a ring light), and a reliable, high-speed connection.
When interviewing, shift your focus from what you’ve been responsible for to what you’ve achieved in the past. Then, connect your past achievements to the future value you can bring to an organization. Most importantly, say something different from what everyone else will say. For example, the pandemic has forced tremendous and immediate change on all of us. Don’t expend much time going into these details—this is not unique.
Meet new people. Yes, it’s time-consuming and can be exhausting, but it’s the best way to grow your network and build your brand. This doesn’t mean that you need to regard every interaction you have as a potential business contact. Expanding your circle and surrounding yourself with different people with unique perspectives will expose you to new ideas and different ways of doing things. That makes you more interesting, which makes you more marketable.
As we slowly roll into what will be our new normal, I wish you all well. I admire the adaptability and flexibility everyone has shown during the past year. Let’s work together to define the future.