careernav.

I gave a talk 2 weeks ago about what students can do to land that Job and interview tips. You know what….it is so simple it is not funny. So simple in fact, it cannot be possible…right?

I have learnt 2 things about people and job searching;

1. People have too narrow view of the careers they can be involved in. They don’t spend enough time researching.

2. When people find something they might be interested in, people generally don’t explore it enough.

3. Having a degree only grants you entry to the job-hunt game. It doesn’t give you a job.

Here’s what you need;

-          Self-Confidence is immensely important. This is knowing exactly who you are and being ok with that, regardless of the circumstances you came from. Spend time really discovering what you are about – people’s perception and the way they respond to you changes to those that are self-confident. People do not spend enough time really discovering who they actually are and accepting that. One of the worst things people do is try and guess what the interviewer is looking for and play to that. This will never work.

-          Passion and enthusiasm. The second thing is passion and enthusiasm for the career you are looking to build. If you know exactly what type of job you want to do, because you have researched it, talked with people, had some experience, you will be able to talk and interview effortlessly. It just comes as second nature.  Are you applying for a job or looking to get into a career simply because someone else wanted you to or thought it would guarantee a successful life? A lack of passion will kill any job hope I can’t stress this enough.

-          Self-Presentation – This is a whole lot of small things that add up to a big deal. Dressing appropriately is a given. Ensuring your shirt is ironed is important, if you have to wear a tie it is done up correctly, you must have clean shoes, your hair is kept tidy, that you know how to shake hands firmly, that you smell nice that there is no BO – all these sound really simple, but you would be surprised what I have seen.

-          Practice - Practice makes perfect, you have to know your resume inside out maintain eye contact when you talk, talk confidently without mumbling. There comes a confidence when you know your resume and have practiced it.

-          Know Yourself – your strengths your weaknesses how to overcome them, what type of environment or management you respond best to. Again its all about the delivery and perception. Going for an accountancy role but not that fond of detail?....you might want to keep searching.

You Have 2 Minutes

The Most important part of landing a job is creating relationship and impression. You have 2 minutes. The interviewer will have made up his mind within the first 2 minutes. This question usually involves – tell me about yourself. You must use this time to show why they need to hire you. Your environment and hobbies matter a lot here – since it can create something they can relate to.

BRANCH OUT If all you do is study and play games, you are going to have a harder time communicating and relating to your interviewer especially when there are multiple rounds and a few people are in more than 1 interview. Your environment is important because it defines you, how you think, and what you talk about. Broadening your relationships and getting involved in Australian culture will help a lot. Exploring different relationships will broaden you as a person. A person needs hobbies they can talk about enthusiastically to create connections.

At the end of the day doing all the above will never guarantee you a job – but will put the odds in your favour. Persistence is key. You must be able to take rejection and keep going, put out effort after effort of doing all the things above and keep going – eventually as always you will find something. This is the only thing I know 100% It’s a marathon – not a sprint.