Did you know that there’s a whole day dedication to taking Job Action? That’s right, National Job Action Day, this November 6th 2017, is a day celebrated by working professionals, job seekers, and employment agencies alike. The purpose of the day is to work towards your employment goals and refine how you job search. The team at Task Force Staffing Solutions wants to help you on the path to employment and meaningful job opportunities. As experts in Guelph job employment, we’re celebrating National Job Action Day by providing you with useful tips you can use as you decide to take job action. Whether its beginning your job search, shifting your career choices or taking on more challenging roles, we want to give you the support you need for your employment.
Before You Begin The Job Search
Taking job action is easy, but it should be well thought out. The first step for many just getting into the workforce, taking job action begins with starting the job search. But before you begin the job search, take some time to reflect on yourself. Think about your personal goals, the skills you currently have or will work on, and your personality. These are three areas that form the base of how you will search for jobs.
Personal Goals and the Job Search
Part of the job search is discovering what your personal job and career goals are. Depending on what stage of your life you are in, your personal goals will reflect that. For example, the personal goals of someone who is freshly graduated from high school are (likely) vastly different from the goals of someone who has been in the workforce for a number of years.
Knowing what you’d like to achieve can help you begin the job search and can help employment agencies match you to jobs that can help you achieve these goals. To begin working towards your personal goals, start by creating a list of what you hope to achieve and by when. Now, keep in mind, just because you list the goals and put dates next to them, doesn’t automatically mean they will happen by these times. The goals and time frames are more to keep you motivated and to give you a chance to reevaluate your job and employment situation as time goes on.
It’s important to keep these goals realistic. If you are further along in your job field, it may not be as realistic to think about a field change as it would be for someone who is just beginning. For example, if you are in PR and are midway through your working years, it may not be a realistic goal to go back and study to be a Medical Doctor. This isn’t to say you should have some sense of “dreaming big” in each of your goals, but make sure these dreams have some attainable steps to get there.
The Skills You Currently Have Or Will Work On
Your personal goals will likely align with the skills you currently have or the skills you are willing to work on. Before you begin the job search, write down all the skills you have—whether they be technical skills or soft skills. Technical skills are the skills related to knowledge and the ability to do complete job tasks. Soft skills on the other hand, are those that help you interact with other people and make the workplace. If you caught our previous post, you’ll know that soft skills can help an employer make a decision between two candidates of the same technical skill set.
When writing out your skills, try and see which ones work together for a certain job field. For example, if you have experience working in a laboratory setting and are also good at explaining things to others, those two skills are complementary and show a potential employer how you can be a valuable employee. Don’t be afraid to showcase your skills differently to each job you apply for. In our Tips on What to Include In a Resume, we discussed that you should only include relevant skills for a job you are applying for. By creating skill groups that are applicable to job fields and career paths, you help refine the skills you’ll include on resumes before you start creating them.
If you are writing down your skills and realize there are a few that you’re either missing or would like to work towards, be sure to highlight them. If there are skills that can help you further along in your job or career path, find out how you can obtain the skills and how long it will take. Whether it is through further education or by completing a few courses in your spare time, knowing what skills you’d like to have is important for personal growth and job development. Also, if you are hired for to jobs that you need a certain skill set for to increase your job development and salary, your employer may even have a program that helps motivated workers pay to learn these skills.
Jobs That Match Personality and Interest
While goals and skills are important to examine before you begin the job search, it is also important to know what jobs will complement your personality and interests. This is the area where job seekers struggle the most. With the endless job fields out there, it’s hard to know what jobs will match your personality and interests.
To help you understand what jobs suit your personality and interests, it’s actually a good idea to take your goals and skills, and see what they say about your personality and interests. For example, someone who is skillful in data analysis, likely has an affinity for numbers and should be applying to jobs where they can use their skill and feel interested in the work they are doing. It can also be helpful to take personality tests to see what traits of your personality align closely to your ideal jobs. This can help you narrow down which jobs will let your personality shine and have your skills reflect your enthusiasm for the job.
How often do you hear people that working in jobs that don’t match their interests or personalities? At our employment agency, we hear this on a regular basis, which is why we encourage job seekers to look at the descriptions for potential jobs and see how much it aligns with their personality and interests. There are also pools of online tools that can be used to explore jobs, as well as the people behind these jobs and their personalities. If you use websites like Career Cruising, job descriptions can be found as well as profiles on people in these industries. By developing an understanding of how personality, skills and interests mesh together in a job role, you can gauge your level of interest searching for similar roles.
Take Job Action, NOW!
Once you are well armed with your ideas and plans, taking job action is made much easier. If you are in the process of job searching, use your time to develop the groundwork in self-discovery sessions. Writing out your goals, skills and potential jobs that align with your personality and interests will narrow down your search and give you a better sense of purpose when scouring through job boards and job agency postings.
If you do happen to use an employment agency, you can bring your work with you and discuss them with an employment agent. They may also have a few suggestions as to what jobs you can apply for, and they may even have job posting available that matches what you’re looking for. Temporary jobs are also a great way to get a sense of how you will enjoy a job role in the long term, so don’t be discouraged if you only see temp jobs in job board listings.
As always, Task Force Staffing Solutions is happy to be one of the most people-centric employment agencies in Guelph. If you need any help or guidance with taking job action and finding meaningful employment, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would love to help you reach your employment goals.