04 Dec New Year New Job – How to Prepare Yourself for Job Search Season

January is the most common time for people to look for a new job. In fact, during the month of January job searches rise by up to 30% according to Indeed. 

While this statistic is across the UK, the construction industry also sees a surge in candidates seeking a new role for the new year. Call it the January blues, but many of us feel the start of a new year is often the ideal time to start a new job. 

With this in mind, it’s essential that you prepare yourself for a job search in a highly competitive season. 

To guide you with your search for a new role, we’ve provided some hints and tips on how to get started. 

Update Your CV 

If you haven’t updated your CV for a while, now is the time to make it fresh and relevant. 

There are many CV templates available online so simply edit these to help you create a clear and concise CV that is easy for employers to read. 

In most cases, it is highly recommended that you try to keep your CV to no longer than one page. Long CV’s can be daunting for employers and sometimes give almost too much information. 

Keep each bit of experience to a point, and try not to go into too much detail. 

The hardest part of the CV is often the personal bio or short introduction that gives a potential employer a summary about you as a person. If you find it difficult to write about yourself in this way, ask a friend or relative to write it. Sometimes, getting another person to write about you is much easier as they can see your best qualities. 

Know What You Want 

Before you begin your job search, it’s important to identify what it is that you want from your new role, and what it is that you don’t like about your current job. This will ensure that when you switch jobs, you’re not changing for all the wrong reasons, only to find yourself unhappy again in a few months. 

Really think about the type of role you would like, the company you would ideally like to work for, and some of your non-negotiables, such as pay, or travel. 

Sign-up to a Recruitment Agency

The act of job searching in itself can feel soul-destroying. You’re constantly finding adverts online, then applying and then hearing nothing back. After a few weeks, it can begin to make you feel down and even more unhappy than you were.

By signing up with a recruitment agency, you can get support in finding the right roles for your needs, and have someone else doing the searching for you. 

If you are specifically looking for construction roles, or engineering jobs sign up to a recruitment agency that specialises in these areas, like us here at Marshall Recruitment. 

Specialist agencies will know more about the organisations, the roles and the expectations required, so you’re not put forward for a role without knowing all the details. 

Be Socially Savvy

According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 43% of employers will look at a candidate’s social media profiles before inviting them for an interview. ‘Social screening’ as it’s dubbed, is not advised by recruitment agencies but it is still carried out by employers regardless. 

Ensure that your social media profiles are not going to sabotage your job search by switching your profiles to private. If this is something you don’t want to do, take an objective look at your social profiles and think about how they may come across to a potential employer. 

There are many sad tales about candidates not being selected for an interview because of a few pictures they posted on a night out. 

Ask Questions

When you get to the interview stage, do your best to ask as many questions as possible.  

Once you’ve gone through your part of the interview, ask your potential employer about anything you want to know that could influence your decision to join them. After all, you want to find a new job that will tick all the right boxes for you. 

Topics to ask about include, the company culture, how work is set, how projects are managed, who else would be on your team, how big is the team, what the future plans are for the company. These can all help you get a better feeling for the organisation, and if this is a place you can see yourself working.