Today, amid COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine crisis not only is the global economy suffering especially with the rise in inflation, the job market is also in a sort of crisis. A country like Egypt for example, has seen a 9.5% decrease in active job postings. Job hunting for some job seekers is not as easy as before especially in comparison to 2019 when there was a boom in job postings.
That is why opening up LinkedIn and scouring through job postings is no longer the sure fire way to land you a job. You may need to take a different approach and try an untraveled route. To help you nab a job, the Scoop team created a special guide that looks into unconventional ways to help you stand out, make an impression and be able to reach potential employers.
Interact And Network
Contacts are a literal gold mine and for good reason. That new number you added on your phone can help in multiple ways. Your contact may learn about new job opportunities in your field and relay you the information or they may already be working in a company you’re interested in and knowing your skills and experience will call you when an suitable position is available. So, networking should be one of your tactics.
When it comes to networking, you have two approaches. You can attend events and conferences linked to your industry. If for example you’re seeking to work as a pediatrician, conventionally, you’ll head to an event like Egypt’s upcoming 11th Annual Scientific Conference of Delta Scientific Pediatric Society. A simple Google search will help you find a large collection of these sorts of events.
Attending courses and trainings are also a great way to build your network. If, for example, you always wanted to be a wedding planner, there is a special course available through DIVA, a wedding planning service and it even offers wedding entrance decoration as well as general event planning. At that course, you will be trained by people from the industry and gain valuable skills while at the same time, you’ll build a bigger network. The same can be applied to any other career path you are interested in.
Take The Internship Route
Immediately landing a job may not be the easiest approach especially with today’s current circumstances. That is why, there is another route you can take that may eventually help you nab that job. With every industry, there are internships available. With fresh graduates, this is a great way to get a taste for the job before properly entering the industry while for adults, it can be a great approach to changing careers.
Despite it being unconventional, there are ways for adults to get into an internship. One way is to contact alumni from your university or the career service center. Like for example, if you graduated from AUC, you can contact their career center and you may still have access to their job portal known as CareerWeb that at times offers internships and opportunities for AUC alumni.
Once you have joined an internship of your choice, overtime, it may turn into a full time position. With some companies, you may intern for 3 to 6 months and following that period, based on your performance, your employer may decide to hire you, turning your internship into a job.
Join Online Groups
Social media sites are not just great for sharing photos and updates with friends and family, they can also give you access to job opportunities you may never hear of on platforms like LinkedIn and Wuzzuf. Facebook has a cool feature where you can join any group of your liking based on common interests. There are groups on any topic that can come to mind and jobs are not the expection.
With Facebook groups, you can take a broader approach by joining groups like “Jobs In Egypt” or “Job Vacancies in Egypt”, both of which have over 80,000 members. As it is not part of any specific industry, its members will share information about any job in general. In those types of groups, there may be everything from a post for a pharmacist position in Dokki to one for a customer service agent in Maadi. You can even join more industry specific groups like for example “Marketeers Of Egypt” or “Engineering Job Vacancies”.
Other than Facebook, there are also many WhatsApp groups you can join as well. They can be quite effective. This approach will help cast a wider net when it comes to job hunting.
Apply Even When They’re Not Hiring
A typical route when it comes to job hunting is opening up any job search engine and checking for job postings and listings for your industry. Yet just because a certain company is not posting any job listings on these platforms does not mean they are not willing to hire new employees. With some companies, you can apply for a position when they are not even hiring.
One way to do so is by sending an email to the company. An Egyptian 23 year old did just that before landing a job at an online magazine after emailing several publications in Egypt. In the email, she included a small cover letter detailing her education, past experience and skills. She also attached her resume as well as a few writing samples. The magazine took her on despite them not actively hiring at that point in time. With this approach, you get to pick out companies of your choice even big multinational corporations and it could be a great way to land your dream job.
Attend Job Fairs
When it comes to job fairs, it may not pop into your mind as a way to search for and apply for a job. Yet it can be a valid option as its not restricted to college students and recent graduates, anyone can attend depending on the type of job fair and the industry involved.
Just last year, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt held a 2-day employment fair where more than 5000 individuals attended to interact with companies and present their resume. Some of the companies in attendance included M Squared and Majorel Egypt. Other job fairs are held around the country and expose attendees to even more companies. This opens up a wealth of opportunities for job seekers as they get to meet prospective employers in person and make an impression they may not have been able to do so if they applied in the conventional sense whether by email or LinkedIn.
Stand Out From The Crowd
Sometimes to get a job, it is merely about getting noticed. That can be difficult with companies processing thousands of resumes and even having to rely on AI known as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter through each incoming batch of applications. That is why you may need to figure out a way to stand out from the rest of the applicants. You can start off by sprucing up your resume by checking out this detailed guide.
Then, you’ll need to test it out. You can use a software like a resume scanner that would evaluate the effectiveness of your resume against the criteria that managers would use to assess your application. It would also give you a score based on how well the resume fits the criteria as well as how much it is ATS compliant meaning that it will be read properly by the AI software.
By trying out one or several of these tactics, it will help boost your chances of getting the attention of a potential employer and landing a job.
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