Applying for a job
APPLYING FOR A JOB
Seeking Employment
One of the first and most important aspects of gaining employment is actually seeking employment. For some, this can be one of the hardest steps as “tomorrow” will always be the day they’ll start looking for a job and before they know it, a day turns into a week and a week turns into a month and months turn into years after which they have totally lost all self esteem and getting a job seems like an impossibility.
So the trick is to ACT NOW and don’t let ‘today’ get away from you.
Deciding on type a job
Once again, deciding on a type of job can be very challenging for a lot of people, from young to old.
One simple trick is to try and list down what you DON’T want to do which will narrow down the field of what you DO like to do and while thinking about what you don’t want to do for an job and actually spark your enthusiasm for something you would like to do for employment.
An example would be if you were thinking about how you hate being stuck in an office every day would narrow down your choice for a job to something more outdoors. This could stimulate your imagination to various things you would like to do outside such as gardening, which would then possibly lead you to thoughts of landscaping or similar and voila, now you’ve decided to start looking for a job doing landscaping or work in a plant nursery!
Job Applications
Now that you have decided on what you would like to do, so you have to start approaching potential employers via various methods such as Centrelink and Seek.com.au etc so that you can submit your job application.
Before you being submitting job applications, you have first make sure that what your job applications are up to the standards expected by prospective employers. Your level of education in the field should be sufficient and you posses the skills needed to complete their tasks (ie, it’s pointless applying for a trucking job if you don’t have the necessary level of licence to operate such a vehicle!).
Presentation
So you’re one of the lucky ones and have made it to the point where you have been asked to come in for a job interview! Great, you’ve done the hardest yards, but its no time to slacken off as this could be make or break time as the impressions you impose on the person interviewing you for the job will be a large factor.
Presentation can be and probably is one of the most easiest things you can change about yourself. Gaining further education can take months or years, but altering your presentation for the better can be near instantaneous.
To impose a great presentation for your job interview can be as simple as maintaing a good posture both when standing and sitting, don’t roll your shoulders or slouch when asked to take a seat (and that goes for the interview room AND the waiting room outside!).
Make sure your shirt, blouse, pants or skirt is well pressed and the colours do not clash. Also ensure you are not under dressed. For a job interview, it is better to be over dressed than under dressed.
Speak clearly and properly! The word you’s in the sense of a plural for more than 2 people is NOT a word! I repeat – it is NOT a word, so don’t use it.
When a question is asked, the reply should never begin with “yeah, nah…”
Another point to note is that many people can become very nervous during a job interview, which is natural of course and even though you cannot do anything about your sweaty palms, you must however keep a mental note on how fast you are speaking as people tend to start talking very fast when nervous.
Personality & Frame of Mind
Ultimately, you should always be in the frame of mind that you “want” the job, especially if actually do want the job! If you have a positive frame of mind and a happy attitude towards others and tasks at hand, this will be favourably looked upon when seeking employment.
Product/Industry knowledge
Demonstrating that you have a good understanding of the field or industry you are seeking employment in and/or extensive product knowledge is crucial in most (no all) job interviews. There is the exceptions where employers will offer full training to new employees and there are some employers prefer to train new employees their way so there are no bad habits brought into the company.