How to Uncover Job Opportunities
Starting a new career means not only developing a new skill set but also learning how to relate your previous experience and skills to the new role you’re pursuing. The strategies outlined below are designed to help you become a strong job candidate, even if you don’t have directly relevant experience.
Understand your target role
You need to understand the role in the context of any company you’re applying to, and more broadly as well. Having a holistic understanding of what it takes to succeed in your target role will help you determine your suitability for the role, and identify any steps you can take to improve your chances of getting hired.
Analyze job listings
Gather information from multiple job listings:
- Pull up ten job descriptions for your target role.
- Use job boards like Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn
- Make sure the roles you select come from different companies, share similar titles, and are roles you would actually apply for
- Identify a section listing requirements for the role
- Combine all the job requirements
- Order requirements based on appearance frequency
- The more commonly they appear, the more likely it is that they’re essential for the role.
- Put the most frequently appearing requirements at the top of your list.
Create your professional inventory
The focus here will be on your existing professional qualifications, and any other skills or experience you possess that might be relevant to your target role and of value to a potential employer.
Assemble a comprehensive list of the following:
Technical (hard) skills. These are skills relating to a specific task or situation such as programming, technical writing, project management, and more.
Non-technical (interpersonal) skills. These are the skills that enable people to navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals. They include skills like communication, leadership, team management, and more.
Personal qualities. These are positive attributes and personality traits such as being honest, having a good sense of humor, and being dependable. You can also include your professional interests on this list.
Education. This includes any post-secondary education, certifications, or independent classes completed online or offline.
Match your profile to the job requirements
🎯 Goal: make it easy for any hiring manager to see why you’re a great fit for their role
Go through your professional inventory of skills and experience, highlighting each item in green, orange, or red, depending on its relevance to your target role. Relevance is determined by whether a given skill appears on your role requirements list, how high it appears on your list, and how directly it aligns with your list.
Green
Skills that are directly relevant to your target role. You should look for roles that emphasize these skills. You should also highlight these skills on your resume, and be prepared to discuss them in an interview.
Orange
- Skills and experiences that are relevant for the role but not necessarily in a direct way. These are generally your transferable skills—skills that you bring with you from past experiences that can help you succeed in your new role.
- Plan to have to explain these to recruiters and hiring managers, as their relevance may not be immediately evident.
Red
Items that are not relevant for your job search. De-prioritize these skills, and steer clear of highlighting them on your resume and focusing on them during interviews.