New Year, New Career!!!!!

The New Year isn’t just an arbitrary point on the calendar, it is one of the best times to reinvent yourself. Whether that be to quit that bad habit, lose those extra pounds or taking the top spot of many peoples New Year’s resolutions……find a new job.

Why is January one of the best times to look for a job?

When it comes to looking for a new career January is really one of the best times to start looking. With so many hiring managers facing heavier workloads during the festive period or starting their holidays early the job market tends to wind down towards the end of the year.

Research also suggests that tying a career goal to a “temporal landmark” such as New Year really does make you more likely to succeed. This has been dubbed “the fresh start effect.”

Most organisations plan new budgets for the New Year with one of the main focus points being headcount. These are often tied in with expansion plans and attrition rates and they will start the process of advertising these roles in January.

But, what job are you looking for?

Essentially there are two types of job hunt….

The first is just getting a new job as maybe you have stayed in your current job longer than you’d expected, as let’s be honest it is easy to get comfortable. You may have realised that there is no progression within your company, you do not get on with your boss, your financial circumstances have changed, or you just need a change.

The second type of job hunt is much harder, where you want to change careers or sectors. It’s a good time to do this too though as with the economy doing well companies will be seeing high numbers of staff leaving. They will be more inclined to take a chance on good people who come from less conventional backgrounds.

What career path should you take?

You should start by thinking about your interests, what you’re good at and what really motivates you. Think too about why you want to leave your current job. It may not be the job you dislike, it could be the company or your boss.

Next, really research the area you want to go into. Think about the “transferable skills” which you can take easily from one role to another and any skills you may have that you don’t currently use at work. It’s important that you do all this before jumping into your job hunt, there is really no point in jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

How to go about your job search?

You need to get out there and network, turn your job hunt on its head and look for people not jobs. If you send you out dozens of CVs or apply for hundreds of jobs online, you’ll probably be rejected. But if people meet you face-to-face they’ll realise that you’re excited about working in their industry and that you could be an asset.

Go to events, seminars, set up informational interviews, speak to headhunters, your contacts and ask your friends if they know people in the sector you want to work in. Seventy five percent of jobs aren’t advertised so you probably won’t find a role for someone with no obvious experience there.

Remember too that many companies run referral schemes whereby existing employees can recommend friends. Again, this can be a great way to get a foot in the door. Don’t neglect smaller companies either, they’re often growing fast and have much less rigid entry requirements than the big household names.

The point with all of this is that if you are changing careers, you will not be the number one candidate for the job, so you need to make yourself stand out and put a bit of effort. This means getting up from your laptop and going out into the real world.

If you’re thinking about a career change, why not Recruitment?

The Recruitment sector is a booming industry now, especially if you pick the right sector. With a shortage of skills within our key market, Engineering, there are plenty of companies who will enlist the services of Recruitment Agency to help them fill their skills gap and are paying high salaries and therefore high fees.

We are an established SME and have invested heavily in our infrastructure over the last 12 months, so we can further expand the business. This means that it is great time to join us if you have been looking for that next step but are struggling to see a career path in your current company.

No experience? No problem as pride ourselves on looking at those “unconventional” candidates who have the transferable skills and are excited to work in our industry as these are the people who will be dedicated and motivated to help us grow.

If you are looking for a new career we are keen to speak to you. Please contact Clare Cazaly asap on 07748156985 or clare.cazaly@pioneer-selection.co.uk.