Career coach and Seek spokesperson Leah Lambart has a message for Australian professionals: “It’s a candidate’s job market.”
Recent data from Seek has revealed that the Australian job market is booming. More than 215,000 roles are currently being advertised on Seek – more than at any time in the website’s 25-year history. That’s a 50.7% increase in the number of job ads compared to March 2019, before the pandemic took hold, and a 32.2% increase compared to this time last year.
“It’s a good time to start looking for a new role because other companies are most likely looking for candidates, particularly if you’re in a market where there’s a shortage,” says Lambart, whose job it is to help people land their next big gig. “This is definitely a good opportunity for people to move up in their career”.
But it’s not just the number of job ads that are making this a candidate’s market. In addition, the number of applications has gone down, partly because the psychological effects of the pandemic mean fewer Australians are willing to shake things up.
In short, there are more jobs going and less competition for them.
If you are ready and willing to make a change, there’s never been a better time to land your dream job. So how can you snag the role you’ve always wanted? Here are a few pieces of advice from Lambart.
Research, research, research
The first step towards landing your dream job is finding out as much about it as you can. This will help you work out how suited to the role you are. And if you’re changing industries, it will help you learn more about the ins and outs of your new field.
“That might involve some online research, but also ideally speaking to people who actually do that work,” Lambart says. “We call those ‘informational interviews’ – where you actually sit down with someone and interview them about their job to better understand whether it’s going to be the right job for you, or whether it will suit you.”
Finding a work mentor can be valuable for insights and advice when looking to move into a different role.
Lambart also advises looking for a mentor in the area in which you want to work. “I think reaching out to people to ask for advice and help is valuable,” she says. “Often people are really happy to help more junior people with their careers. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
Fill the gaps
Next, you’ve got to figure out where the gaps in your résumé are and think about how to plug them, Lambart says.
“Look at the position description of the role that you want to strive towards, and work out what criteria you already meet, what criteria you don’t meet, and how you can gain exposure to things and experience that will help you then meet all the criteria,” she says.
For instance, let’s say you want to step up from a role where you don’t manage staff to a role where you do manage a team. You might not have formal experience as a manager, but there’s every chance you already have the soft skills. For instance, if you’ve mentored others in your industry or looked after interns, you could talk about that experience when you go in to interview for the role.
Don’t forget to network
In addition, Lambart says, “I would emphasise the importance of networking”.
“When you’re wanting to move industries, in particular, it’s really important to start building networks in that new industry that might be able to give you a helping hand. Identify people in those industries that you can reach out to and have a chat to.”
Nail your résumé
You could be an excellent candidate, but if your résumé doesn’t reflect that, you’re not even going to get an interview. Your résumé needs to be tailored to the job you’re applying for, to highlight your most relevant skills and experience. But it also needs to work for 2022.
Tailor your resume for each job application, highlighting your skills and experience most relevant to that role.
“We see résumés that really look like they came out of the dark ages,” Lambart says. “So particularly if you’re someone who hasn’t applied for a job for some time, it’s really valuable to run your résumé past someone who works in HR – a recruiter, a career coach or résumé writer – just to check that the content and the format is best practice.”
Lambart says some companies use technology that screens résumés to look for certain keywords. So while super-swish, painstakingly designed résumés can look nice, they might stop a computer from picking up the words it’s looking for. Instead, keep it sleek but simple. “It’s important that you have templates that those systems can read,” Lambart says.
Don’t skip the cover letter
This is one step in the application process that’s vital to perfect. Even if the job you’re applying for doesn’t specifically ask for a cover letter, you should always include one.
Your cover letter is the perfect place to call out the skills and experience that you want to highlight as most relevant to this role, and to talk about why the job appeals to you.
“The cover letter really needs to be very much tailored to the job,” Lambart says.
Practise for the interview
When it’s time for the job interview, you need to arrive prepared.
“You can’t just rock up, wing it and expect to have an informal chat,” Lambart says. “Most interviews, they’ll ask you for very specific examples of how you meet the criteria, which requires quite a lot of time and effort.”
You should also be ready to answer what are known as behavioural questions, which Lambart says are “pretty much common across the board across all levels and industries these days”. These are questions such as “How do you accomplish tasks when under a tight deadline?” and “How do you handle a disagreement with your colleagues?”
Follow up with recruiters
Applying through a recruiter? Go the extra mile by following up on your application.
“The job boom is a great opportunity for candidates to follow up with applications,” Lambart says. “In the past, when recruiters were getting hundreds of applications, they just didn’t have time to talk to everyone. But if you’re applying for a job and there’s quite a small pool of applicants, then recruiters might actually be really happy to hear from you and to have a chat over the phone.
“So I would always encourage candidates to pick up the phone and put in a call after they’ve submitted the résumé or to ask questions.”
Even if you’re not successful on the first run, making these sorts of connections could help you the next time a killer role comes up.
“Recruiters are people,” Lambart says. “So the more you can connect with them, the more you can improve your chances of getting that ideal next job.”
To download résumé templates, access practice interview questions and get tips on how to nail your cover letter, visit Seek Career Advice.
