Beyond the pandemics: What everyone should know in uncovering job opportunities
The world is ruled by uncertainties. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented disruption to global job markets. Millions of people lost their jobs globally while millions of others are concerned about the growing disruption and transformation of the world of work.
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a large-scale shift in the nature of jobs with rapid digitalization and work from home arrangements. However, the displaced workers and fresh graduates should continuously enter the job markets and those who are working in remote and hybrid arrangements should remain in the market too. This is a defining moment for almost everyone; no matter your employment status, work experience or the sector you work in. Therefore, we are all forced to leverage continuous learning, capitalize on the demanding skills, and uncover the decent job opportunities to remain relevant in the trending labor market and escape the socio-economic recessions.
Matching for the Metrics
Starting or developing a career requires both acquiring practical skills and industry experience by integrating previous experiences and knowledge to excel in particular roles. Making a start in your career journey requires you to understand your preferred job industry and the sector you want to contribute in. This usually has to do with your passion or the academic background, or sometimes both, although sometimes, there might be differences between your academic background and choice of work. Gathering industry-related information is fundamental before entering the job market. A key element is to have general knowledge about the sector you are going to work in and key leading organizations or leaders working in that sector. For example, if you aspire to apply for a job in the finance and banking sector, you should know almost all the companies working in that sector, read their annual reports, and connect them with their social media. If you can get to know someone working in that sector, connect with them and find out the issue facing that sector in general. This gives you as potential employees relevant insights and prepares you to discover opportunities.
Also, understanding yourself and building a strong professional image is inevitable in the markets. Today’s job markets have become extremely competitive in which one must have the timely and relevant skills, talents, values, and unique selling points to stay relevant. Social media is an incredible opportunity to improve your personal branding for employability, and employers are more likely to screen your LinkedIn profile to hire you. Sometimes, Social Media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging, Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook might be more beneficial than the traditional CVs if you only use it strategically by sharing your work portfolio, achievements and connecting like-minded people. Additionally, creating digital content will boost your digital presence. Blogging or vlogging on areas of your interest will make it easy for you to build connections and open up a world of opportunities. In today’s digital world, positioning and branding yourself can be a catalyst to attract potential employers and will help you to match your qualities to market demands.
“If you can’t code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts, they will open the world of opportunities.” – Naval ravikant
Building Inventory of Value Propositions
Skills are more of a gateway to employment than almost anything else. So many years, our brains are locked in only acquiring academic qualifications which will land us dreamy jobs which is often true in today’s job markets. Job seekers are expected to demonstrate a wide range of skill sets, knowledge and personal qualities.
Globally, employers have reported facing challenges in finding the right talents for employment. Fresh graduates from either schools or colleges usually don’t possess the right skills the market demands, rather they demonstrate academic qualifications only which might not be enough to shine in the market. The key element determining your faith in your career is more likely to be your skills and mindset. Having the right skills and mindset will make you relevant in this fast evolving, dynamic and complex job market.
Due to the fourth industrial revolution, the in-demand skills across jobs are changing rapidly over the next decade, which may result in a high skill gap and employment. According to the Future of Jobs Report 2020 of the World Economic Forum, employers are more likely to hire the employees with the most in-demand skilling including critical thinking, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, active learning, and resilience have been at top of the list since the first report in 2016. Additionally, the recruiters pay attention to what potential employees can bring to table, problems you can solve, ideas you can bring into life and innovation you can spur. Therefore, offering value and possessing the right skills and mindset will simply be uncovering and landing your dream job.
Experiences are also another key factor required by employers. Most young people face the challenges in positioning themselves as experts in matters. This makes them excluded while the issue can be addressed simply by planning your career strategically by volunteering. Volunteering and internships are better ways to fill that gap. You can volunteer and work as an intern for a community organization that stands for the same values and goals you stand for. In today’s interconnected world, it is easier than before to volunteer and contribute for social impact. There are some vacancies that can be worked from remote or online. This will help you develop a wide range of job skills from internship or volunteering experience, hobbies and interests, and other life experiences. You do not need to limit your professional inventory to skills and qualities developed through professional experience. Consider any volunteering, extracurricular, or personal experiences that might help a hiring manager understand your capabilities. Hopefully, once you’ve created your inventory of value propositions, you will stand out from the crowd and win against your job requirements list.
Taking the Shot & Keeping the Momentum
With lots of preparations of positioning yourself as the right applicant to meet the market’s demand, it’s time to take your shot and nail it well. When applying for jobs, it’s fundamental to analyze the job description, requirements, along with the qualifications, knowledge, skills, experience and other things that are required to match those metrics. In this stage, the applicants must be confident enough and apply the role with intention of focus to increase their chance of winning and landing their dream job. If you miss your first chances, try again and try harder. Keep the momentum, redefine yourself with new and fresh mindset of job searching and hunting skills.
Written by Mohamed Okash, this Article was first appeared on Somali Business Review, Welcome to our latest Somali Business Review vol 14 -issue 1-2 – SIMAD University