Career Corner: How to Improve Your Job Search When You’re Not Finding the Openings You Want

Finding a job is always a draining process, and the conditions of the past year have only exacerbated that challenge. Scouring the same job boards can feel like spinning your wheels and leave you wondering if there’s anything else you could be trying.

Gwen Moran of Fortune discusses this, explaining how sometimes the key to finding your next position is actually in looking for the openings that won’t be advertised. With these tips, maybe you’ll find the strategy that finally makes a difference for you.

Figure Out Which of Your Skills Employers Value Most

It can be easy to develop tunnel vision in looking for positions. The career you were working towards in school might not be as in-demand right now, but the skills you learned for it could very easily be applicable elsewhere.

If the field you’re interested in isn’t giving you any bites, take a step back, analyze what skills you developed to get ready for that career, and consider whether those traits are utilized by another field. You might have plenty of openings you’re perfect for but just never considered.

Evaluate your Online Presence

Employers will very likely be Googling you, so take a look yourself to make sure what they’re seeing is the best reflection of you. Keep your LinkedIn profile current, share any published professional work you’ve done, and make sure your personal social media profiles are up to date with their privacy options. Employers are building impressions of you before they’ve even met you.

Reach Out to Others

If you’ve been in your field a while then you probably have gotten to know a lot of people in the same line of work. Those people don’t need to be hiring managers in order for them to be helpful in your search. You can reach out to them for more information about a company you’re interested in, or an adjacent career field you’re considering, or they may even know about an opening that hasn’t been listed yet. Make use of your network!

Stay Informed About Companies

You don’t always need a job posting to know that a company is hiring. If you work in the medical field and you’ve just heard a hospital near you is expanding its size, that’s a pretty strong indicator they’ll be taking on more staff soon. That might be all the information you need to reach out and see if something is available.

Build Up Your Skills

You should never consider yourself to be done learning. Techniques in your job are likely constantly changing, so it only makes sense you would need to change too. You can certainly do that, even in the pandemic.

Places like Wilmington University have a wide array of programs that are totally virtual, with classes that can fit any schedule. Using your spare time to earn a degree or specialization certificate is a lot more productive than trying the same tactics you’ve seen aren’t working.

No matter where you are in your job search, sometimes it helps to stand back and reassess your situation. There are other answers beyond just continuing to try the same things and hoping for the best.

To read more about strategies to find jobs that might not be advertised, read Fortune’s article by clicking here.

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Wilmington University, the sponsor of BUCKSCO Today’s Career Corner, is a private, open-access institution that serves the unique needs of more than 20,000 busy adults seeking advancement through higher education.

The most affordable private university in the Delaware Valley, WilmU is committed to the idea that finishing an undergraduate degree or obtaining a Master’s degree can be both affordable and accessible.

The University offers more than 200 accredited and career-relevant degree and certificate programs in flexible online and hybrid formats designed to accommodate any adult’s demanding work, family, and personal schedules.

Learn more about WilmU here or register to attend one of the school’s frequent webinars for an overview of programs, flexible scheduling options, affordable tuition, the admissions process, and more.

WilmU Works.

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