Simplifying your job search

January 16, 2023

Passing the CA examination is a big achievement. However, it is just the first step towards a successful career. For those who wish to explore the corporate world, the biggest challenge is to get the right job that suits your aptitude and interests. It is very important to first identify what you are good at and in which field your interest lies. To excel, you must enjoy your work. The best thing about the CA degree is that it offers a wide variety of options like taxation, corporate financial management, portfolio management and many more. Once you make your choice, your search for the right job in a good organization begins. This article highlights some aspects which a candidate should keep in mind whilst searching for a job.

It is often seen that freshers lack the necessary skills to be a part of a job-oriented economy. In today’s competitive world, it is very important to be able to stand out in a crowd. For this one must be aware of recent developments in relevant areas. It is most important to keep learning and reinventing yourself regularly. You must find your expertise and build your knowledge even further to get an edge ahead of others.

Social media plays a vital role in our lives these days and candidate selection is often done after evaluation of a candidate’s “digital reputation”. Be careful of your online behaviour whilst posting or commenting about your workplace or colleagues. Your profile also speaks volumes about your persona, so make sure that you paint a good picture of yourself.

While applying for a desired job, make sure that your CV is crisp, short and precise. No one has the time nor the interest to read a long resume filled with self-praising words like ‘strong team player’ and ‘possess good communication skills’. Also, do not mention out-dated information like your school-time achievements and non-relevant information. Just give dates (month and year) of completing degrees, starting and leaving of job(s).

If you get it all right till now, you will be called in for an interview. This is your first step towards your dream job. Hence, you must make sure that you manage to impress your interviewers. You must make sure that you make a good first impression. Following are some points you must keep in mind when appearing for an interview:

1. Dress comfortably and do not fiddle with your clothes whilst talking.
2. Maintain a straight posture and walk-in confidently.
3. Greet each interviewer and sit down only when you are asked to sit.
4. Talk clearly but not too loudly.
5. Take care of your facial expressions.
6. Keep your answers to the point but yet not too short.
7. Do not place any of your things on the table.
8. Never interrupt or argue with the interviewer.
9. When asked about your strengths, do not brag about yourself. Overselling skills causes the candidates to struggle once they are on-the-job. Talk about your past achievements but keep it short.
10. When asked about your weaknesses, try to talk about them briefly and turn them into positives. You could mention your weakness and them immediately focus on how the company could benefit using your skills.
11. Refrain from discussing personal issues.
12. Do not ask too many questions regarding company policies and pay packages.
13. Be confident, honest and show integrity.
14. When leaving, thank each interviewer and ask the preferred way to follow up and get the contact information of each interviewer.

Within the next 24 hours, send a polite thank you email (or card in case of a traditional setup). Send personalized emails to each interviewer so that when they forward your email amongst themselves, they see that no 2 emails are the same.

After a couple of days, you could even send a Linkedin request with a short note reminding the interviewer about your meeting.

If you don’t hear from the interviewer in the next 2 weeks, you could even follow-up inquiring if they have made their candidate selection and that you are still interested in the job. If you are told that they have already made the selection, send a ‘thank you anyway’ note thanking them for their time and consideration and continue with your job search elsewhere.

Finally, one very important point to be kept in mind all along is that you must keep the job search on even if you are sure of getting the job you were interviewed for because it is always possible that the interviewer got a better candidate according to their requirements.

Well, hope this provides some useful guidelines for your job search.

Wish you the best of luck in getting your dream job soon.

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