Once you ping, you need to get yourself in the sights of prospective employers.
Target Employers
The objective of this step is to look at the feedback you're getting by targeting employers and the contacts you're making and to keep tweaking your LinkedIn profile and CV until you get a constant drip of:
Proactive contacts from agencies/employers
Relevant jobs coming to you from job searches
If, after a few weeks, your email and phone are quiet, you'll need to revisit your CV and LinkedIn profiles and start the process of tweaking them. Likewise, you may be getting lots of contact from the wrong people, seeking the wrong skills. Whichever applies to you, don't panic.
Remember that we have structured our CV and LinkedIn profiles precisely so that we can make tweaks later on. Please don't be tempted to change everything at once. If you do, you won't know what worked.
Ensure that whatever change you make in your CV is also reflected in your LinkedIn profile and vice-versa. Inconsistencies are unlikely to be the factor that makes you succeed.
The typical issues you'll find are:
Speeling or grandma errors (yes, that was intentional);
Using internal company jargon or abbreviations;
Using keywords that are not in demand;
Highlighting the wrong skills (everyone knows MS Office) or too many (I am an expert neurosurgeon who also designs bridges that span the Atlantic and aircraft for NASA);
Using too much formatting;
Listing too many qualifications and certifications. I recently saw a CV for someone with over six similar certifications. It made me wonder a) if they did any work and b) whether they have ever applied any of them and
Unexplained gaps in employment history.
If you're still not getting feedback, you may want to get a professional to review your CV.
If you still don't succeed, selectively call some agencies and ask to talk to the recruiter advertising for the role(s) you think you're a good fit for. Explain why you believe you are a good fit for them and listen to their feedback on why they think you're not. It's important because although nobody knows us like ourselves, we have no bigger blind spot than ourselves.
If you establish a rapport, you'll get valuable feedback for your CV.
Don't forget to look again at the agencies that keep coming up when searching for jobs in your sector or profession. These agencies are where you're most likely to get feedback.
Once you get a flow of relevant contacts, it's time to move to the next step: discussing real roles with recruiters and employers.
Navigation
Here are all the Project Job posts in order:
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