Unemployed? What should you do?

It is very easy to become disheartened when you are out of work and feel that there is a distinct lack of opportunities for you. The employment market is shrinking in almost every sector and the immediate forecast is that it might get worse before it gets better.

If you are unemployed try and stay positive this is not a permanent situation and things will turn around. We are starting to see signs of recovery with more jobs being advertised and a positive attitude among employers that things are getting better.

People respond better to positive, proactive people and if you have a good attitude and present as a happy person your chances of securing a job will certainly be higher. Conversely, people are turned off by negative, pessimistic people.

A number of my candidates who are looking for work have started to seek additional training to broaden their knowledge and skill base so when they do get another job they will actually be able to add greater value than they were previously. Become a better prospective employee.

Our advice in these times would be to have a positive attitude and when interview and job opportunities do come along make the most of them and put your best foot forward. The market is highly competitive and you will not be the only one interviewing for those jobs.

We are finding that the candidates who are getting these jobs are simply interviewing better. They are not better qualified or experienced but they are simply conveying their knowledge and experience in a way that makes them more attractive for the job.

The ultimate goal in any interview is to get the hiring manager to visualise you doing the job. You want them to see you sitting in the chair performing the tasks of the job. The way to do this is by talking about specific examples of what you have done and how you did them in previous jobs and how what you did benefitted the business.

Try and come up with specific work examples in your past that you can relate to the current jobs you are interviewing for. It is more than likely that you will need to perform very similar tasks as you were in your previous jobs. Detailed answers are always better than high level, broad answers because you don’t want to leave doubt in the hiring manager’s mind that you haven’t actually done those tasks.

Be positive, up skill where you can and prepare for interviews so that you can get the hiring manager to visualise you doing the job. Good luck.

For further information and advice on how you can take advantage of the economic downturn to improve your competitive advantage contact Gareth McClurg or Richard Dunks on (07) 3229 5750.