Webinar: Getting job search ready for 2017

The holidays can be a great opportunity for you to reflect on your career goals and evaluate your job search strategy. With many employers intensifying their recruitment efforts in the first months of the new year, it is worth dedicating some time over the holidays to ensuring your resume is up-to-date and your online profile highlights your core skills and expertise. Devex career and recruitment expert Kate Warren is on hand to help you get job search ready for 2017. In this exclusive Devex webinar, she discusses the key ingredients to a strategic job search and explains why the holidays are a great opportunity for you to get your career house in order. “Early in the year, the first quarter is often a big hiring surge for employers that we work with, they have new budgets, everyone is back from vacation so they can focus their time on bringing in new hires and new employees.” Warren shares her tips on how to highlight your skills and expertise, create a stand-out CV and utilize your Devex account to find the employers and jobs that match your interests. Here are three key ingredients to a strategic job search according to the recruitment expert. 1.Brand and optimize your core skills and expertise. While resumes remain important to any job search in global development, your Devex profile can be a great way to further showcase the best bits from your resume and establish your brand. This is an opportunity for you to give more details about your experience and previous projects you have worked on, and to highlight your technical expertise. Having a fully completed and up-to-date profile, including a photo and uploaded CV, can increase your chances of making it through the initial filters used by recruiters. Online profiles are also a great way for recruiters to reach out to you. Recruiters often search for candidates who fit their requirements and who may be interested in new work opportunities before ever posting a job. 2. Identify jobs and employers that match. One reason your search might not yet have yielded great results is that your strategy does not identify jobs and employers which match your interests, values and skills. While recruiters use online profiles to identify candidates that are a good fit using filters and keyword searches, similarly you can use your Devex career account to research organizations and companies working in global development, find out more about their mission and work culture, who they hire, and create a “target list” of employers. Focusing your time and energy on organizations that most align with your strengths allows you more carefully plan your outreach and applications to these employers. 3. Focus and tailor your outreach. In addition to having a completed online profile, a great resume is still essential to your job search in global development and it should be tailored to the position and organization to which you are applying. The inclusion of specific information and keywords which match the job posting can help your resume get noticed and is especially helpful if you are transitioning into global development from another sector. Simple changes such as the way you format your CV can also be important to de-emphasize gaps in your work history and instead highlight your relevant experience. Watch the full video above to find out more about improving your job search strategy for 2017 — Kate Warren also shares an example of a excellent global development resume and discusses common dilemmas among job seekers. Looking to make a career move? Visit our career center for expert advice on how to navigate your job search — all you need is a Devex Career Account to get started.