Not all the candidates need to be job hunters or active job seekers. What elevates you from a candidate to a job hunter.
Read on..
The term ‘Job hunter’ is time-bound. As soon as you have entered into a job, you are no more a job hunter/seeker. A Hunter must be vigilant.. by preparation as well as the opportunities. Similar way, a job hunter also prepares himself and is alert on the opportunities.
How a recruiter identifies a job hunter or an active jobseeker?
On your resume
Your profile speaks about your professionalism when you are considered for a particular job or recruitment offers. This is your face document which will be transferred from people to people and companies to companies. An impressive profile will be carried forward to the next level in the recruitment process. A non-impressive profile may cause you to lose your dream job, even though you are technically strong. Here are some key points that will help to assess your profile by a recruiter from your resume.
Resume or CV: Resumes will be crisp and short- preferable for the technical career so that it will be easily noticed by the recruiter.
Curriculum Vitae (CV) will be an elaborated form of resume and used for non-technical candidates and the place which demands.
Structure: You should choose a standard structure to create your resume. You can refer online for such resumes or can take the assistance of professional resume creators. It should contain Address & contact information, Photograph, Objective, Skillset, Work experience, education background, and Personal information
- Use single font for the entire document
- Properly trimmed and aligned
- Don’t use too many colors, preferably only in the back.
- Bold the Headings and subheadings
- Adequate spacing between words and lines
- Avoid too many pages
Address and contact information: Always use the local address in your resume, or mention if you are ‘open for relocation’ because this is one of the main factors in recruitment screening. Update all the contact numbers in the resume, include Whatsapp number as well for faster response. Mention in case any DND time set. Email ID is also a must, preferably an ID that is not too informal.
Eg: If you are looking job in Bangalore (#jobsinbangalore) and currently staying in Cochin. Mention any local address available for you in Bangalore or write ‘ready to relocate in Bangalore’ on top of your resume.
Photograph: Include your photograph on top of your resume. It should be a standard one, in formals. This is mandatory for many of the companies.
Resume should be Genuine: A resume should contain your story, not someone else’s. You are answerable to what you have written in your profile. Most of the candidates are failing at the critical round of interviews while responding to the nonreliable skill set which has been mentioned in the document.
Skillset: You can describe the skill set based on the experience on it. Divide the skill set based on the experience. If you are not proficient in certain key skillset, mention that. It will help while screening and Interview.
Continuity: Your resume document should behave continuity in terms of Education and Work Experience. It is advisable to mention the Employment Gap and Educational Gap with the reason if possible. It will reduce the recruiter’s job in verifying the gaps and communicating with the interviewers and decision-makers. It also measures how reliable you are.
Eg: Pregnancy/ medical gap, Non -job, Lay-off, backlogs, etc.
Updated: Your resume should be updated periodically if you are actively looking for jobs. Make sure you have updated the address/ contact number changes.
Owned vehicle: There will be a sorting criteria which demand by some of the clients, whether the candidate owns a 2 wheeler or 4 wheeler/ Driving license. You can include that in the personal information part and it may be helpful in decision making.
Format: Always create the resume in a commonly accepted format like Word or PDF. Word format is recommended, because any minor corrections can be handled by the recruiter without reaching the candidate.
Activeness in Job portal
As you already know, the available job portals in the market are Naukri, Times, Shine, Indeed, Quikr, etc. You can upload resumes in multiple portals free of cost. A recruiter always searches a candidate based on the skill set of the candidate and the last modified date. (Last active date is when the candidate just opened and viewed the account; the modified date is that the candidate have opened the account and modified /updated any of the data ). It is a common understanding that an active job seeker will be aggressively updating the profiles in portals. From the recruiter point of view, the candidate who has modified the profile recently will be considered on priority. If you are an active job hunter/ job seeker, please modify your data in portals periodically.
Mention Notice period
Always mention your notice period ( time to join) on job portals. This is also very important in decision making. If you are jobless at present, mention immediately available for the job. There will be always a preference for immediate joiners.
Respond to the calls/emails
It is an important aspect of recruitment that the candidate responds to the recruiter communication. A job hunter will be vigilant and will be responding or reverting. Candidates who continuously neglect the calls and emails will be ignored by the recruiters.
Understanding on JDs
Job Description (JD) is the key element while communicating with the candidate. JDs will explain about the company, required experience, job responsibilities, and commercial offers. There are candidates who randomly shoot the email to recruiters without even reading the JD. They will be clueless while the recruiter will interact with them. Such candidates will be ignored by recruiters. An active job hunter will always read the JD before responding.
Follow up or Specific mail.
It is important to follow up on the job/interview status. An active job seeker will always follow up with a recruiter on the development of the job search. Specific emails to the recruiter will have more impact than to respond through a portal.
Attending Interviews (#interviewtips)
A job hunter will not give false commitment to the recruiter. It has been observed that not even 50% of the candidates will turn up for interviews even after committing. Please understand that a recruiter spends his/her time to help you in getting the jobs and will lose their credibility in front of the client, resulting in a waste of time. Plan yourself before committing for an appointment instead of backing out at the last moment. Candidates with continuous defaulting on interviews will be ignored by recruiters.
Salary Expectation
Real Job hunters will not ask for unimaginable or unreachable salary. The moderate hike on your present salary will be 20-40% for a new offer. The only way to get a 100% hike on your salary will prove yourself on your probation period so that the employer feels you an important part of their organization and they may hold you with a decent hike. Always go with market standards if you really in need of a job.
Counter Offers
It is a good sign of a job hunter to stick to the offers received. Once you have accepted the offer, never back out. Please note that you are wasting valuable time of employer/recruiter and destroying someone’s opportunities. More than that, this may incur a financial loss to the employer in case there is a delay in hiring for their project/ processom
