Best Practices to Follow to Improve Your Job Search - Part 1. (1918 hits)
When you are searching for a career you often see advice on updating your resume, cleaning up your social profiles and preparing for an interview. Beyond these basic aspects you can do additional activities to make the job search process more efficient so that you can find a career you’ll love. Below you will find tips from our recruiters that will help improve your job search:
Be strategic when reaching out
At UnitedHealth Group we pride ourselves on having a very visible recruiting team on social media and on our blog and recruiter chat portal. Because we offer so many ways to connect with our team, it is important to be strategic about when, where, and who you reach out to. A great first step is to research UnitedHealth Group on our social sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Based on your area of interest, you will be able to see which employees from UnitedHealth Group are actively engaging in that area. Because these employees are acting as ambassadors for the company, they are a great place to start a discussion about careers at UnitedHealth Group.
It also is important to think about when you should reach out in the job search process. In order for our team to have an impactful, meaningful discussion with you about career opportunities, it pays to first research positions that you are interested in where you also meet the qualifications. If you have just started your job search and are not sure what you qualify for, take some time to look through the rest of our careers website before reaching out to a recruiter through recruiter chat or through social media. Having an idea of the position or area you’d like to work in at UnitedHealth Group figured out before you reach out to our team will clarify your job search mission and will make the communication with a recruiter more beneficial than if you just asked for general advice on how to find a job with us.
Become proficient at networking
We host many career events and try to make networking with our team as easy as possible. To make networking work for you, make sure you take the time to develop relationships, ask questions and ask for feedback or advice before you start applying. If an in-person or online career event in your area of expertise is coming up, make sure you join in order to take advantage of the opportunity. This also applies to networking events in your area for local organizations; these events can be a great way to meet people in your industry, practice your presentation skills and build a network of like-minded individuals.
Strive for quality over quantity
While it may see counterintuitive, applying for many different positions at once could hurt your job search instead of help it. In order to get your application at the top of the applicant list it is important to only apply for those positions where you meet 100% of the required qualifications, and if possible, a majority or all of the preferred qualifications. This means taking the time to carefully read the job posting and compare your experience with the qualifications to make sure you fulfill those requirements. It may seem like a lot of work to customize each application for the specific job, but in the end this can make you stand out from the crowd. This also applies to making sure you apply for only those positions you are really, truly interested in pursuing. Again you may feel like you are hedging your bets applying for many jobs at once, but if you apply for positions with various responsibilities and required skills it’s hard for recruiters to truly know where your passion and focus exist. Make a list of the attributes of the job you want most, and then try and apply only to a few positions that you feel best meet those attributes.
These pointers are a great first step toward finding a career you'll love. Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog post to discover even more ways to improve your job search efforts!
Combine these tips with a passion for making a difference in the lives of others and you're on your way to finding your life's best work.SM
