When I started working, while still a student, American Facebook was in its infancy. At the time, the job portals looked like UXowiec’s nightmare, and nobody was so serious about working on the Internet, freelance or studying at the best universities abroad on the Internet.
(Contrary to appearances, it wasn’t that long ago!)
In my first job as an employee (I had been a long-time journalist in the traditional media) I was involved in online marketing of the… work portal. At that time, more than before, I understood how important personal desires and predispositions are in searching for a dream job.
I saw people right after graduation who did not move their fingers to be attractive on the labour market and those who were passionate about internships, training, non-profit activities – with a profit for themselves and their future employer.
One thing is certain – NEVER have we had so many opportunities to grow, look for jobs, orders and contacts thanks to the use of online tools yet. It has never been easier, intuitive and effortless to find a job. I know what I am saying, believe me. 😉
asked me to create an entry on job search via the internet, as well as on the development of competences and skills. So I dug through all possible applications, portals and websites to show you how many possibilities each of us has in front of him.
And what is even better than I thought! 🙂
1. find out about your strengths and weaknesses
Awareness of what you want to do in life is a topic for a separate, very long text, which I will certainly not undertake to write. 😉 But before you decide to redesign or look for a new job, you can always use one of the online competency tests, which will answer the question “What am I strong at?
Of course, it’s not worth to tie yourself to these results in a chain, because they will never 100% answer your personality, but the very fact of dealing with questions will give you a lot of good.
And now, yes – I’m not a specialist in psychological tests, but I know one from which you can start. We are talking about the MBTI test, Myers-Briggs, which is very often used to determine the personality type (extrovert-introvertor, cognition-initiation, thinking-perceiving, judgement-observation). On this basis you can distinguish as many as 16 different personality models, which should make it easier for you to think about your own career.
You can find the test on the Internet in Polish and English. Some sites and applications combine results directly with job proposals, but I think it’s best to take it as a starting point rather than as an oracle.
2. present yourself well
I have seen my CV written and formatted far too many times to be insensitive to this aspect of the presentation.
Good news: motivation letters are basically no longer relevant (in modern industries like IT, new technologies, interactive industries, etc.), bad news: a well-written CV (Verizon several other factors, of which below) is of colossal importance. Mainly because the information about how to write a CV and what to include in it is now at your fingertips and non-compliance with the rules is simply a sign of laziness.
The more so, that often the rules do not need to be known at all. You’ll find plenty of CV templates on the web. If you like experimenting, you can create a out-of-date CV, for example in the free Canva graphics wizard. For candidates looking for tidy and easy to use templates, there is, for example, the Job CV, which can also be used later on on on the portal.
3. let yourself be found
Working is a bit like dating. If you are ready to start something new, you need to let the potential interested know that you are “to take”. In this case, your dating site is made up of business social networking sites, such as the US Goldenline and Western Linkedin, which are (in fact) already dead.
In turn, it plays a role in this metaphor not only as a meeting place, but also as a virtual matchmaker. After you have completed your profile, the system connects you to a suitable job offer and a recruiter who then expresses an interest in your application (or not). Quite painlessly, this way you can “come across” a few proposals, which normally would not be found.
But that’s not all, because similar functionalities are already offered by… mobile applications:
FILTTR – an android application for the IT industry;
JobSquare – which is referred to as the “Jobseeker’s Guide”;
Hunt Me – again, this time in the form of a mobile application.
4 Think about whether you need a permanent job or not
And now I’m not talking about living on a handful of parents or partners. Many people who are just entering the labour market choose occupations that can be successfully carried out without leaving their homes. Just think of marketers, programmers, graphic designers or even translators.
Even if you don’t like freelance life very much, the orders will help you to build a portfolio and show your experience, which will certainly pay off in a conversation with your future employer.
And this is where the goods in