Expert advice shared by Aisling Healy, Career and Life Coach.
You’ve just spent the last few years studying and working hard. You graduate into a different world in which no one could have predicted, and you are now trying to secure a position as a graduate in the middle of a pandemic.
While it may seem difficult and unattainable, I’m here to tell you not to give up! Today, I’m giving you some tips to help you get ahead with your application in your job search.
- Your CV and Cover Letter. These are the two most important documents for you to compose and the gateway between you and getting called for that interview. Please take care with these two documents and complete them correctly. You need to highlight the experience you have – whether it was working a part time job, work experience in your area or volunteer work. Show how the skills that you have learned from these past experiences would transfer to the role of the company you are applying to. Choose the right CV template. This is also a particularly important step. For example, if you are a marketing graduate, make sure you choose a template that is creative which showcases your skills. Read and reread your CV and Cover Letter to make sure there are no spelling mistakes.
- Tailor your CV & Cover Letter. Do not send generic CV’s and Cover Letters to all the positions you apply for. While it may seem onerous to tailor each CV and Cover Letter to each role, it’s important. That one personalised CV & Cover Letter could be the reason you stand out to the recruiter when they are scanning through hundreds of applications.
- Use your connections. The first stop should be your careers office where you studied. Do they have connections with employers you can utilise? Do they know of any open positions? Check on your internal jobs board if you have one. Do you have any other connections from where you may have done work experience? Follow potential employers on LinkedIn and reach out to them if they have any graduate positions in the pipeline.
- Set job search goals. Set goals of how many jobs to search per day and don’t exceed this. If you spend all day everyday online searching for jobs it will lead to job search burnout and you will get tired and demotivated.
- Don’t give up. It is a tough market at the moment but there are opportunities out there and you can gain employment. It can be disheartening to receive rejections or hear nothing back at all, but if you keep following the process and keep applying you will get there in the end.
If you need help with your job search, I offer one-to-one coaching services which you can read more about here: Coaching Services
I have also launched an online course “Land Your Dream Job” that gives you the tools you need to navigate through the application process: Online Courses
I share tips and motivation daily on Instagram and weekly on YouTube.
Thank you for reading, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Many thanks,
Aisling
The Irish Graduate 