How To Become Job Ready ?
By: Yash N. Meshram
Tags: Resume, Jobs, Internships, Gripdec20, The Sparks Foundation

Covid-19 has impacted economy very badly, due to which large number of job losses happened in every sector. In such situation, it is very crucial to equip ourselves with the best practices of job readiness. Through this article, I will share with you some tips and tricks which will help you to become job ready.

Job Search

Try to narrow down your job search by setting up some parameters according to your choice. Don’t fill bunch of job application because they are available in your field. Take your time to find out which job position suits you best and you will find your passion over there & can devote your full potential for the work.

It is better to focus on the company instead of job. If you find a company whose work culture suits you better then automatically that job will be good for you. Research well about company, it’s history, objectives etc. before applying. It will give you an edge in the interview.

Basic Career Ready Skills

Skills are of utmost importance from the employer’s point of view. If you are struggling with getting an job then try to work on basic skills such as verbal and written communication, problem solving etc. Also, try to master one skill which you loves. Show employers that you are master in that.

This will boost your chances of getting selected.

Networking

Learn the art of networking with people from diverse backgrounds. It will help you to get access to the job opportunities, gain knowledge & different perspective, build confidence, get new ideas etc.

Personal Branding

In today’s competitive world, it is necessary to build up a strong prescribed image of oneself. In this digital world it has become much more easy now. You should have a strong social media presence. You can also have your own website. You should share your expertise over there so that people should come to know about it.

Resume

When talking about job readiness, resume becomes the most crucial aspect. Resume is a professional document that provides overview of your qualifications. It performs the function of representing you in front of employer and give basic idea about your personality to them.

Studies shown that recruiters spends average 6 seconds to scan the resume and decide whether candidate is right or not for the role. Hence you have merely 6 seconds to make a good impression on recruiters.

How to create a good resume :

1) Start making with Master Resume, which includes all minute details about you. All your achievements, as small achievement as winning a competition at school level. Then try to concise gathered information in different categories. Try to achieve a level where there should be only your best 3-4 things included under each category after concising.

For more details regarding this process please refer to the video mentioned below

https://youtu.be/gFQsnmeNWJA

2) Choose right format for your resume. It should be neat and clean. It should be soothing experience to eyes while looking at your resume, not messing up of information inappropriately.

3) Don't be fancy. Recruiters wants to get most information about you as quickly as possible. So only mention your basic details and your qualification in simpler manner.

3) Put up your expertise and skills at the top. These are the thing which are utmost important for the recruiter, so that it should be easily noticeable for them.

4) You should display the most recent education/internship/achievement at the beginning and the oldest ones in the end.

5) Describe your accomplishments using strong action verbs like executed, facilitated etc. Also, make use of quantitative data wherever you can, because it catches attention.

6) Don't make it too long. If you are a fresher then one page resume is ideal for you. But for experienced person there is no harm in going to two pages.

7) Proofread your resume thoroughly. Grammatical and spelling mistakes make very bad impression.

Things you should exclude in your resume

1) It's now outdated practice to use Photography in your resume. Best to avoid it. In some particular industries like aviation and hospitality, your look matters. So while applying to job in these industries you can paste your photography on resume.

2) There is no need to mention unnecessary personal information other than your contact details like religion, nationality, parents occupation etc. This consumes lot of valuable space.

3) Using different font sizes or font types in different sections is irritating and distracting for the recruiter. So you should use a single font type and size for different sections.

4) References only to be mentioned when specifically asked for.

5) Don't forget the applicant tracking systems! The ATS, in the simplest terms, is software that a hiring manager may use to help them sort through the hundreds of applications they receive for each job opening. If the ATS can’t read your resume, then you might as well not have sent it.

Optimize your resume for the ATS (applicant tracking system). Include a .DOC version, and include a PDF version only if you know that the text is able to be read by the ATS bots. (Source : zety.com)

Interview Preparation

After making a winning resume, the interview is the final battle. You have a situation like to do or die at this point. So it becomes most important to be well prepared for this.

1) Your confidence is your key to success in the interview. Recruiter should be able to find you confident enough on your skills and yourself. And confidence will come only when you are Honest. So don't try to lie about anything during interview, give your honest insights about everything. This will help you to boost your confidence.

2) Engage the interview. Don't just give answer in 'Yes' or 'No'. Be a good listener. Don't complain about your team member or company where you worked previously. Whenever you get a chance to ask interviewer about company, show interest over there.

3) Be well prepared for the commonly asked question.

Tell me something about you ?

This question is asked to get you settled over there and get comfortable with interviewer. So start with a brief intro, then talk about your career interest, and at last about your hobbies & other interests.

Why do you want to join our organization ?

This question is asked to know how much research you have done about the company. Mention the things you know about company which seems interesting to you.

What are your strengths ?

This is asked to test your self awareness. You should answer with some technical skills that you are good at and few positive behaviour traits like good listener etc.

What are your weaknesses ?

Tell such soft weakness which will not hamper your chances of getting selected. Also, mention the efforts you are taking to correct it.

4) After interview write a thank you email and ask for the feedback. You must always share your key take-aways from the interview and how you will make a difference in your personality according to them.