Ensuring you’re as employable as possible in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo is essential to landing career-boosting roles with employers of choice. Often, that means not only honing your technical capabilities but also going further. Fortunately, enhancing your employability to ensure you stand out from the competition isn’t as challenging as it seems. Here’s how to make it happen.
Remain Current in Your Field
Nearly all professional fields evolve over time. If you want to ensure you’re as employable as possible, make an effort to remain up-to-date on the latest advances and trends. Being familiar with what’s on the horizon helps you provide the most value. Plus, it shows you’re enthusiastic about that area of expertise, which works in your favor.
Remaining current in your field makes determining what new skills are worth pursuing easier. You can hone capabilities related to incoming technologies and other emerging trends. By doing so, you’re functionally ahead of the curve, which can make you an attractive candidate.
Develop Your Soft Skills
Many professionals focus on growing their technical capabilities above all else. However, having well-developed soft skills significantly increases your employability. Strong soft skills allow you to navigate the workplace with greater ease. Plus, it can make you more effective when engaging with customers, coordinating your efforts, and otherwise managing the intricacies of your position.
Precisely which soft skills provide the most value varies by position. However, communication, collaboration, organization, time management, and problem-solving are often universally valuable, making them a strong starting point.
Tailor Your Resume to the Job
When you want to look as employable as possible, tailoring your resume to the job you want to land is a must. By doing so, you’re speaking to a specific hiring manager’s needs and preferences. Ultimately, that ensures that you look like the strongest possible fit for the position, increasing the odds you’ll move forward in the hiring process.
Often, tailoring a resume is far simpler than candidates expect. Review the job description to learn more about the must-have skills and core duties. Then, showcase accomplishments that let you highlight those skills or demonstrate that you’ve handled similar tasks in the past, allowing you to position yourself as a solid match for the job.
Build a Solid Network
The quality of your professional network can impact your employability. Ideally, you want strong connections with respected professionals, as you can often benefit from their reputations. When they act as references or referrals, hiring managers may put more stock into what they’re sharing about you, and if what they’re saying is positive, that genuinely works in your favor.
Make sure you use the right strategy when building your network. Connect with professionals at a range of companies or in a variety of industries. Additionally, ensure that different levels of experience are represented. Then, focus on providing each contact with value before requesting assistance from them, as that increases the odds that they’ll support you as you work toward your goals.
Ultimately, all of the tips above can significantly enhance your employability. If you’re ready for a new career-boosting opportunity, Premier Staffing Inc. makes finding your next position simple. Contact us to learn more about our current openings today.