4 Job Search Tips for the Coronavirus Era (for Recruiters and Sourcers)
Note: These tips are for recruiters and sourcers that lost job recently, but they are applicable to people working outside the recruitment field, as well.
Both employers and employees are facing unprecedented times when conditions have changed a lot, if not drastically. And many people including recruiters lost their job during the pandemic, and they are struggling to find new ones due to travel restrictions or hiring freezes at many companies.
While it may not be that easy to find a job these days, it is not impossible. You just need to change your strategy a bit, become more flexible, and be more open-minded. You should also reflect more on the things you want and invest time and effort in your development.
Here are four ways to land a new sourcing or recruitment job, even if the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over.
1. Improve Your Resume
Your resume or LinkedIn profile is the first thing to create a connection between you and a potential employer. While having a general resume may be more comfortable for you, you need to make it more specific if you want to significantly increase your chances of landing a job. Mention your most relevant skills and experience for the position you’re looking to get. These keywords should be at the top of the list when writing your competencies and employment history, mentioning others further down.
Some companies use an applicant tracking system (ATS) with an automated matching technology to match candidate profiles to available jobs. Consider adding the right keywords to your resume to score higher in their system. You can add the right keywords at the end of the resume and change to font color to white (or your resume background color if it’s not white). The human eye won’t see anything, but the A.I. (Artificial intelligence) will read the keywords and move your profile to a top position because you match the role better than other candidates.
Of course, don’t forget to proofread your resume. Even the smallest mistake can put you in a bad light. In addition to checking for grammar and misspelling errors yourself, you could also ask a friend to read it for you. An outside point of view could be really helpful — your friend may notice details you missed.
Unfortunately, not all employers spend a lot of time reviewing every candidate’s resume. Rather, they start their search on LinkedIn.
2. Improve Your LinkedIn Profile
Writing a good LinkedIn profile about more than just a great headline or using the right keywords. These days, it is also about exposure. We are living in times when your personal brand and online presence will help you to stand out from the crowd. That’s why it is important to be active on LinkedIn.
I always recommend writing articles or at least posting interesting content that brings new visitors to your LinkedIn profile. Writing articles is the best way to attract new visitors. You will expand your knowledge because you will be researching lots of material for your articles.
One article could have a significant reach and attract people not on LinkedIn, and they will find your LinkedIn profile thanks to that article. That reach could lead to a new job offer or the opportunity to speak at recruiter conferences.
The 832-words article I wrote a year ago and posted on Medium was viewed by 615,000 people from various fields. This article brought me many new LinkedIn connections and interesting opportunities.
This is just one example. And I know writing is not for everyone, but you can always share interesting posts with your audience to get similar or even bigger exposure.
I like writing articles because I consider them a long-term investment. Sometimes, you won’t see the results right away, but they will bring you interesting results over time.
3. Leverage Your Online Network
As a recruiter, you know how important networking is and that companies sometimes open roles that they don’t post on career sites. These roles could be filled with referrals. That’s why you should reach out to people in your circle, including your LinkedIn connections and even your college alumni.
Network with contacts in your industry and let them know that you are open to a new opportunity. They may not be searching for new employees right now, but when their friends ask them for a referral, they may remember your name and recommend you.
As simple as it sounds, this traditional strategy can provide leads and information about “hidden” job openings.
4. Improve Your Current Skills and Get New Ones
With the help of technology, we now have access to a number of ways to become better professionals. Online courses and qualifications, training sessions, webinars: they can all be accessed by anyone looking to obtain better training and education. If you want to change your career direction, learn new skills and abilities, or improve the ones you have, you can use your newly found spare time to do so.
To know what skills are the best to develop, you need to focus on your vision and desires for your career and professional life. Thus, you need to truly know what you want. It may also be worth investing time and effort in developing your marketing, writing, and storytelling skills.
There are many ways to learn new skills or polish old ones. You can go to sites like Udemy and start learning new skills that could help you land a role or even start your own business.
Obtaining new knowledge or improving your skills is not a short-term investment but one that will bring you benefits for many years to come. Nobody knows if your job search will take one week or several months. In these uncertain times, it is important to keep yourself busy and use this time as an opportunity to improve your skills.
To keep yourself sharp as a sourcer, you can try solving a few Sourcing Games or use your knowledge to earn some money through platforms like Visage.jobs. Visage is a crowd-sourced platform designed to deliver highly qualified candidates. It uses AI tools and sourcers/recruiters like you to provide employers with highly qualified candidates without spending time hunting them down.
Sites like Visage will keep you busy during your search for a permanent role and help you earn extra money, so you are not completely without earnings. Another great benefit is that you will learn about new industries. You may even discover a new company that will become your new employer.
If you have some extra free time that you are ready to invest in something good, you can help Interpol trace an object and stop child abuse via Stop Child Abuse. Keep in mind that the most innocent clues can sometimes crack a case.
These are just a few examples of ways how you can use your knowledge and improve it.
Last Thoughts
This year is, without a doubt, a challenging one for all of us. It’s best to accept what is as soon as possible and bear in mind that your evolution may not be linear. But every difficulty is an opportunity in disguise. You may need to change industries to get a good job or may find a job that is way better than the one you lost.
Besides investing in your professional life and development, work on growing your self-confidence as well. We tend to forget all the things we achieved in the past when we face an uncertain future. You managed to gather some accomplishments over time, so make sure you don’t forget about them! Creating a list of work accomplishments or thinking about the challenges you’ve overcome is great motivation and a confidence booster. The idea is to remember that you’ve come across hardships before, and you found ways to overcome them and be successful.
I wish you the very best of luck in your job search.
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About the author: Jan is a Talent Acquisition Leader with progressive experience managing teams and establishing processes. He has extensive experience in full life cycle recruiting and broad knowledge of international recruiting and sourcing. Jan is a blogger, speaker, trainer, and author of the book “Full Stack Recruiter: The Ultimate Edition” and the creator of Sourcing.Games, as well as many other projects.
Let’s stay in touch: www.jantegze.com
