Spring Time: New Look & New Job?
As Lady Gaga sang in her heart felt anthem “Paparazzi”,
“We are the crowd. We’re c-coming out. Got my flash on, it’s true. Need that picture of you. It’s so magical.”
Lady Gaga told About.com that her song was about her internal struggle and desire for fame versus love. Wow now that’s quite an internal struggle! We need to create a positive self image internally and externally. We’ve got to learn to love our face, hair, nose, eyes, ears and every part of our physical appearance. Wow, that’s deep and heavy stuff! I mean body image has been a centuries old struggle that women have had over the ages. The debate still rages on!
Today’s blog is about preparing for a new job from headshot to CV.
No-one has more to gain then when you’ve got your house in order in regards to applying for a new job. It’s a pain and there are a few things that you need to do to make it a less painless experience! You’ve got to have all of the below in check:
CV/Resume
Performance Review (Evidence that you’re great!)
Covering Letter (As applicable)
Headshot (A good professional photo)
LinkedIn profile(Up to date and complete)
Social profiles
Personal website
Confidence & your Sasha Fierce!
Say what, to that last bullet point, “Confidence and your Sasha Fierce”? Yesss my friends job hunting isn’t just about having just your application down, it’s also about how you present yourself on paper, visually and in person or virtually. Half the battle for women is having the confidence to even just apply for a job that we’re 60% qualified for! Then after that it’s having an awesome CV and good professional profiles with a great photo. Finally it’s about how you present yourself and how you speak up about your talents and skills at the interview.
So today I am going to give you 6 tips on preparing for a new job.
1 CV/Resume
Ladies and Gentlemen! Your CV is your sales pitch and don't treat this lightly. You need to make sure that your CV is relevant to the jobs that you are applying for. In addition, Protip: Mirror the key words of the job advert. Get your CV proofread! Finally know that your CV is an evolving document and that you should have different CV’s if you apply for more than one different job type. You can’t use the same CV for every industry and think that it will work! No chance, my friends.
2 Performance Review (Evidence you're great!)
Bet you’re like what is this one about?! At some point you’ll have had to do a performance review, right or whatever your company calls it. You need to look for the evidence that you gathered to show how you met your goals in your last role and use them on your CV. Pro tip: employers love tangible results. So please use figures to demonstrate your impact.
3 LinkedIn Profile
We now live in a world where social media for professional and social purposes is prevalent. So make sure that your Linkedin profile is doing you proud. By this I mean, is it up to date? Do you have the right keywords for this current job search? Do you have an appropriate photo on your profile? Have you displayed your achievements and awards? Pro tip: If you have awards, publications, a blog or website add it to your profile! Don’t be shy!
4 Headshot
Listen up people, sorry to say this, please, please, look at your professional profiles and do you have a photo that does you justice? I cannot stress how much a good headshot can do wonders for your profile views and also your confidence. I would highly recommend getting in touch with the lovely Jo who can help you through what can seem the daunting process of getting a headshot. She is wonderfully calm and full of brilliant advice on how you can look and feel your best for your shoot. Please check out her wonderful website. You can still get a beautiful headshot done following social distancing rules.
5 Confidence & your Sasha Fierce
We all know that when you feel good internally and externally you perform your best. So think about what you do to get yourself into a good positive mindspace and do that before your interview. Also make sure you’ve swept your mind of negative thoughts before any interview phone calls or virtual interviews. Practice being “Sasha Fierce” or your equivalent! Before you answer any interview questions, think would xxx respond like that? Or can I say something more positive and inspirational about my achievements!
6 Covering Letter
You might say who reads cover letters these days? They are like so passé and old school! Here’s what I got to say about that, it's a judgement call. Do your research and check out if your industry needs a cover letter. Like your CV, review your cover letter, make sure it is indeed a fantastic sales pitch of all your skills and experiences.
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