Applying for Jobs Begins from the Ground Up

There’s no denying that, in the current climate, it can be difficult to find a job. Whether you’re looking to work for the first time or have recently become unemployed, prospects now may seem fairly grim; but the truth is that there are still jobs out there if you know how to target your applications.

The essential first step is to decide what type of role you are looking for, and then to match your skills to that role. If, like me in the past, you suddenly find yourself redundant after twenty years in the same role, it’s easy to fall into a couple of traps: either forgetting so many of the good skills you have developed over time; or expecting that prospective employers will be able to “read into” what you’ve done and understand its relevance to them. Similarly, if you’ve never worked or are returning to the job market after a substantial absence, it can be tempting to put together a “one size fits all” application and just hope that someone will spot your potential and give you a break.

Matching your skills to the job is something our Development and Skills Officers have been doing for a while now, and over the last couple of months they have helped some of our participants navigate the application process and get interviews in a variety of different roles and industries. In each case they have started building from the ground up, helping participants to decide what they want to do, showing them how best to present their existing skills and then guiding them through the rest of the application.