When starting your career, the competition is fierce, as many other competitors have the same degree or qualifications as you. So, you need to stand out, showing sides to yourself that can’t be seen on a resume.
University and college lecturers usually teach this during the final year of your studies, but what is the harm in starting now?
My university taught me professional development and methods that I will use for the rest of my life. How do I use social media, network, and present myself online? What is the biggest issue people fall for when creating a resume? I am horrified that students are not taught this valuable information, so I am passing these methods on to you.
Get on the socials
With your social media accounts, you would typically link this to your resume or portfolio website, showing various sides to you. Your employer can use social media to get to know you and some of your hobbies. When writing a resume, we never have space to write about your interests.
So this would be concerts you might have seen, activism or sports you go to, and volunteer work. Most importantly, you advertise your experience, attracting employers to your many qualities and qualifications.
@videoeditormel Replying to @mel | your freelance big sib Freelance Bootcamp Ep5 ⛺️✨ Here are 6 easy to action steps you can take to make a professional Instagram page that stands out and gets you booked in the creative industry 🏄🏽♂️💸 #freelancer #freelancetips #howto #freelancebootcamp ♬ original sound – Video Editor Mel
You may opt to have two social media accounts, a social one and a professional one. A social account is a private account just for you to post about family and friends and celebrations. And a professional account to show milestones, volunteering, and experience. This gives you the choice to share what you want with future employers.
Even if you don’t share your social media username on your resume or portfolio, there is still a great chance they will research you. So make sure you scrub your social media of anything inappropriate or offensive.
Obviously, you should not be writing mean or ignorant comments on social media for any reason, but you could have found change and growth in yourself and regretted some posts. If so, fix your social media.
Present yourself to the business world
You need more than just an account on your daily socials; you should be turning to professional networking platforms for people to connect and post about job opportunities. LinkedIn and Quora are the best sites to introduce yourself to the business world.
Over 1 billion people use LinkedIn just for this purpose, as well as 400 million users on Quora. Providing you with opportunities to present your work and connect with organisations and companies in your field. Many employers post job opportunities on these platforms rather than on a normal job-seeking site.
Additionally, engaging on LinkedIn through posts, comments, and connections can help job seekers build credibility and stay informed about industry trends, increasing their visibility and hiring chances.
Build your platform
A portfolio website is basically a resume, but online. It is built to introduce yourself and link all your various work experiences in one place. Think of yourself as a business and what service you could potentially provide to future employers. You can share this website with employers or link it to your socials, therefore introducing possible job opportunities for you.
If you are starting your own business or marketplace, a portfolio site can aid you in partnerships and sponsorships and help you introduce yourself and your skills to your customers. It can also emphasise your trustworthiness and reliability, which can improve the quality of your products.
When building a portfolio website, you want it to be color-coordinated, organized, and exciting, giving employers hints about your professionalism. In my experience, website builders Wix and WordPress are the two most reliable, with helpful templates and step-by-step instructions for making an effective site.
Buying a domain for your portfolio website/business is highly recommended, as it makes you appear more professional and shows that care has gone into your site.
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However, to manage these sites and get the best deals on domains, you need a trusted site that values its customers and helps your business succeed. IONOS offers the best deals on buying domains, storage, and your own consultant to help. Helping you through every step, even giving you advice and options on choosing the right domain name, as when starting a business or a portfolio site, this is key to success for your website.
Not only does IONOS help you find the perfect domain name, but they also work with WordPress to give you the best deals and advice on how to build and use your site to the fullest extent.
After graduating, you have no lecturers, professors, or tutors to help you, and you have no set routine. It is all up to you, which can be very daunting. So let IONOS give you a hand and relieve some of that pressure and stress. Join over 6.2 million customers who can sit back, relax, and focus on more goals and aspirations.
Perfect your resume
Writing a resume or CV can be really difficult, as you usually get the feeling that you are overconfident or that you’re bragging about your achievements. That is good; keep that feeling going. It is just the way to stand out, being proud of your achievements and qualifications.
You need to go all out because if you haven’t followed the other methods mentioned in your article, you will have to completely rely on one piece of paper, which is the first thing an employer sees.
First, you need to think about the layout. Your CV should be one page, as too many pages will scare away employers and force them to look at other applicants. Too long, employers become bored, and too short, the applicant comes off as careless and uncommitted.
It is a difficult balance to find, but it is a crucial aspect that employers look for before even reading your resume.
@anna..papalia 😱You don’t need an objective on your resume, just put an executive summary. ❌Leave your home address off and just put your email, phone number and link to your LinkedIn. ❌Never use the word I. ✅Always use action words, get our FREE resume resources for a list of 100 action words to use. ❌Don’t put irrelevant skills. 👉Watch this @Anna Papalia for Skills Recruiters Do NOT want to see on your resume ❌No one cares about your volunteer experience. ❌Take off “references upon request.” ✅And most importantly, save your resume as your name not “resume” #resume #resumetips #jobsearch #jobinterview ♬ original sound – Anna Papalia
The content of the resume continues to be difficult as you need to be specific to each job, the same applicating can’t work for everyone. The certain action words you choose and the work experience that you have sought and gained. For example, if you’re applying for a job in accounting, they most likely won’t want to hear about how you worked in a bakery when you were 15.
Choose your previous job and work experience wisely to efficiently and effectively tell your employer valuable information about yourself.
Finally, really think about your words. First of all, watch out for your grammar and spelling. The applicant seems careless and sloppy, aspects that one would not want in an employee.
Once your English is correct, really focus on the words in the job advertisement and use them throughout your resume. Buzz words like ‘tenacious’, ‘driven’, or ‘flexible’ will resonate with the employer because that is what they set out to look for.
Start immediately!
Experience, experience, experience. It fuels all these methodsand is the prime direction towards getting a job. Such experience can be gained through college assignments, internships, shadowing, workshops, and seminars.
Attaining work experience not only shows that you have knowledge of the workplace. It shows you have the skills and qualities demanded by the job. College and university are too much to handle. However, always seek possible work experience to build up your future resume.
All in all, start early, not just by gaining experience, but also by using all the methods above. Start letting possible employers know who you are, what you’ve done, and your aspirations. Start professionally developing now because you don’t want to be left stuck after graduation.
