Returning to work? Read these three top tips from the team
People take breaks from work for many reasons. Children, health issues and extended travel breaks are common. All of them eventually lead to a question dreaded by many: How do I get back into work?
Explaining a break and making up for the lost time can be tricky, but it isn’t insurmountable by any means. Although your situation will vary depending on your field of work, there are a few universal tips that can be applied to any job searcher in this situation. We’ll be looking at those tips today.
Get updated
Arguably the most significant hurdle that’s faced by job seekers in this context is being up to date. As time passes, new ways of working come into effect and technology and hardware improves. This can be a challenge for a simple reason: you need to convince the person on the other side of the table that you won’t need hand-holding.
The need to hit the ground running is a fair one. You can ease these concerns and portray yourself as a proactive, eager professional by putting on your research hat and seeing what’s new in your industry.
Social is a great primary tool for this. Take the time to establish a set of bookmarks for the best newsletters and think tanks in your line of work and consider using LinkedIn and local networking tools to start talking to like-minded people in the roles you’re going for.
Find a mentor
Whatever your ideal job is, speaking to people already doing it is worthwhile. The vast majority will be pleased with your request and happy to help. This is doubly true for formal mentoring programmes, many of which are free and designed to help people in your exact situation.
The benefits of a mentor, whatever work you are involved in, is huge. Mentors by nature are senior professionals who are invested in their fields and want to give back to the next generation. They can also be high-achieving younger entrepreneurs who can offer unique perspectives and fantastic advice.
While your mileage may vary, many mentoring schemes and platforms are offered free of charge. Even if you do have to pay for the service, it’s worth considering it as money well spent. It could be a life-changing investment.
Don’t boilerplate
Boilerplate – a term for low-quality reused text – is a mistake made by millions across the world each year when it comes to job applications. The reason is more insidious than many realise.
While you might have a solid CV to improve your chances, the odds are it won’t look as excellent as it could if you use a generic covering letter. Worse than that, however, is the fact that much of the job application process is automated nowadays.
With hundreds of applicants for single positions commonplace, it’s easy to see why it’s used. Applicant tracking systems filter through covering letters and CVs with one goal in mind: reduce that pile down to a manageable amount for a human being to look through.
You can see where this is going. If you use a boilerplate covering letter, you run the risk of never even being seen by a recruiter. Worse still, you won’t be told that you were omitted.
Job applications are tiring work, it’s true. All you can do is push through the work and respect each application for what it is: a chance at a life-changing step in your career. Research each company, find something unique about them and what they do, and make that known in your covering letter.
Applicants who do their research are always looked on favourably. It’s simply worth doing.
We’re glad you took the time to read our blog!