SustainHealth: Post COVID-19: Are you job fit?
Meet Aoife, Our Manger of our Aged Care Division. Though relatively new to our team, she certainly isn’t new to healthcare recruitment We recognized her potential straight away when she approached us for a job and we are very proud to have her on board.
Here’s her take on her successful experience in gaining employment in the last 3 months and making an impact:
Are you looking for a job right now? Are you applying to every job advertisement you see and getting no response? When I first arrived in Australia, I did the same for 3 days and got nowhere. Everyone is applying to every job and what is happening is that hirer is getting a volume of applications for 1 job. A volume that is not needed. And unfortunately, the volume can hide the multiple relevant, exceptional candidates for that Job. We are talking about 500 to 1 odds here. Though this is disappointing to apply to a job and not hear anything, you need to think about how you can stand out from the crowd. I promise you, the majority of applicants are just sending in their CV to the Job advertised, but only a small percentage are taking it a step further.
Step 1 – What most people are doing, you should still do:
Make sure your CV is tailored for the role you are applying for and do not send a generic. The average CV is skimmed over for just 6 seconds. Do not make the hirer’s job more difficult. Format your CV, condense it to relevant information, use similar keywords in your CV that you see in the job description. Make sure your contact information is correct.
Step 2: Do a Social Media Audit:
Is your Instagram and Facebook etc. employer-friendly? Most people do not want potential hirers getting to know them on that level. If you don’t make your profiles private. And if you don’t mind, make sure you are proud of the content you have on your Accounts.
Most Important! If you do not have a LinkedIn account what better time to start. Is your LinkedIn account up to date and is it selling your experience? Make sure your experience on LinkedIn matches what you are sending out on your CV. Change your status to being open and a professional-looking Profile picture goes a long way.
Step 3 – Add the hirer on Linked in and follow up:
Send a message directly to the hiring manager, introducing yourself, a quick 2 liner on your interest in the role, and highlight you applied for the role. (Specifically mention the role you applied for as they could have multiple roles open).
Step 4 – Why not make use of your passion?
I travelled prior to arriving in Australia, which allowed me time to wind down, reflect, and get to know myself again. What I found out is that poor customer service is something that really annoys me. But more importantly, regardless of the scale of the transaction or the transaction type (coffee/clothes/holiday etc) businesses should always appreciate their customer and the fact that the customer chose that business to spend their money or approach.
With that in mind, COVID19 happened. Businesses were up in the air, and had to adjust to working from home and the fear of what was going to happen. Meanwhile, a huge amount of people lost their jobs and who do they turn to? Recruiters. Increasing the volume of applications and the panic that comes with it. Rather than sitting at home, I reached out to Directors offering my services to acknowledge every application because now is the time we needed to deliver exceptional customer service and appreciate every application. People don’t remember what you say, they remember how you make them feel. And though companies probably were not in a position to make any decisions on hiring, I felt it was important to explain that to the applications that were being received.
Then SustainHealth hired me. Their mission which is to ‘Enrich Peoples Lives’ and, by accident, I demonstrated the same mission.
I tell that story, not so you do the same, but think about what you are passionate about. What value can you add to your field? What do you offer your industry? Get your foot in the door and prove yourself. What do you have to lose?
If you would like further information or a confidential chat, please reach out to our Aged Care Manager Aoife Waters on 0423 143 632 of via email, Aoife@sustainhr.com.au