Practical Ways to Improve Your Career Prospects
Whether you’ve been out of work for a little while and are trying to secure employment, or are just trying to climb the career ladder, there are a lot of things that could be holding you back from getting the job that you want. Here are a few practical ways you can boost your chances of being hired or gaining the promotions that you deserve.
Have your resume professionally written
Your resume is your way of presenting yourself to potential employers, it’s the first impression they will get of you and so it needs to be right. So many candidates spoil their chances by inadvertently leaving errors and typos in their CV and for some employers thats all it takes to choose someone else. By having a professional write your resume you can be absolutely certain that there are no silly mistakes.
Take courses
Even if you went to university and got a degree or other higher education, these qualifications hold less weight than you might think- especially if it was a long time ago. If you got a degree a decade ago in a subject that you then didnt go on to use then it’s not of huge relevance to employers- it might open a door that would have otherwise been locked but it wont help you to stand out amongst your competitors. Taking some courses is a great way to impress potential employers, anything highly related to the job you want and recent will have the biggest impact. You can find courses for anything from cmi management to social media marketing and everything in between these days.
Volunteer
Gaining skills and experience in the sector you want to work in can be a catch 22 situation as most jobs will want skills and experience to begin with. So before you’re able to take on paid work, it might be necessary to volunteer first, this allows you to experience the working environment you plan on going into. It shows employers that you’re serious about working in the field and can give you the edge over other candidates.
Improve your confidence
Does your lack of confidence prevent you from communicating as effectively as possible? Maybe you struggle to engage with customers or clients, or your low self esteem has caused you to mess up on sales pitches or public speaking. All of us can lose confidence and mess up at times, but if this is something that’s impacting your career then it’s worth taking steps to resolve it. As well as attending professional courses, you could push yourself to go to networking events and take on challenges in your personal life too which can all improve your confidence. Changing up your appearance can also have an impact because the way you look on the outside will affect how you feel on the inside.
