The job market is becoming increasingly saturated. With more candidates from Gen Z entering the market each year, along with a number of cutbacks in 2022 leading to existing employees re-entering circulation, it can be difficult to know how to stand out. Here are some of our tips…
- Do your research
We’ve all heard the age-old saying when applying for jobs – ‘it’s just a numbers game’. The more jobs you apply to, the better chance of finding employment. While this may be true by nature of probability, this can lead to applying to as many jobs as possible within the shortest space of time, which, in turn, can lead to bad habits.
In particular, this can lead to the quantity of applications being prioritised over quality. This is likely to mean that candidates who have taken the time to properly research the role and company, and demonstrate how their knowledge, skills and personality align with that company, will be more likely to be successful than the candidate who simply appeared to tick another job application off the list.
By showing the initiative to spend time researching the role and company, and applying your skills to them, you can decrease perceived risk on the part of the hiring manager, while gaining an edge over those who have not made a similar effort.
- Build your personal brand
In the current job market, employers are increasingly looking for candidates to be the right fit for the company, rather than just checking off the qualification and experience requirements. It is not uncommon for hiring managers to look at a candidates’ LinkedIn profile, for example, to get a feel for who the candidate is, what they are interested in, and the values and knowledge that they portray.
By building out your personal brand, you can showcase your existing portfolio, give employers a taste of your personality, and make it easier for hiring managers to assess how you would align with the company and its culture.
It can also bring an air of personality and authenticity to a candidates’ application, beyond words on a CV and rehearsed interview answers. Certainly, building your online brand can help you to stand out from other candidates in a crowded market.
- Showcase your soft skills
Soft skills are becoming increasingly important. That much so, that the World Economic Forum have said that soft skills are one of the key trends of the future workforce, and matter ‘as much, if not more, than hard skills’.
The caveat of this is they are often intangible, and can be hard for hiring managers or employers to identify during the recruitment process. This, similar to the point above, is where demonstrating your personal soft skills can help you to stand out from the crowd.
We also recognise the importance of soft skills – that is why all of our apprenticeship standards include soft skills development to some degree. Check out our LinkedIn post on soft-skills in our apprenticeships here!
