On May 26, 2012 by workingabroad
It’s unlikely that you have missed
the news; global unemployment is high. The ILO claims
that it is around 6% of the global workforce, with 75,000,000
young people around the world without jobs. The chances are that you have
been affected by this, either personally or through knowing people who have
been made redundant or lost their job in other ways.
If you have lost your job, or want
to expand your prospects, there are steps that you can take to ensure your own
job security at your next position or to help you progress along your career
path. While some of them may well be ideas that you have already implemented
(like rewriting your resume), others could be suggestions that you had not
considered before but are well worth trying out if you want to beat the
unemployment trend.
1. Rewrite
your resume
It’s the first thing that most
people do when they’re job hunting; read over your resume, add in information
about your latest position, and generally do a little spring cleaning to ensure
that you are presenting yourself in the best way possible. This includes
ensuring that all of your qualification information is up to date, and ensuring
that your references are suitable and ready to respond.
Some of this is quite intuitive, and
you can find plenty of examples of good resumes online. However, if you are
going to take some of the advice given later in this article (such as expanding
your search to other countries), you may need an agency to look at your resume
for you and ensure that it is suitable for international employment as well.
If you want to work abroad, you will
need to ensure that you have international equivalent qualifications in your
resume so that international employers know what your skill and experience
levels are. This is just one of the adjustments you may need to make to help
you get a job abroad, but you can get quality guidance at every step of this
process to ensure that your resume is at its best. There’s more information
about this at the end of the post.
2.
Expand your search area
Searching for a similar job in your
own town or city can be difficult since there are a limited number of
jobs at any time, and quite a few candidates competing for them – if you work
in a niche industry, you may not even be able to find a comparable position for
weeks. Expanding your search area increases the number of jobs that you can
apply to and therefore improves your chances of getting a job.
How far you expand it depends on a
number of factors, but ultimately we live in a global marketplace so
expanding to a global level will give you the absolute best opportunities and
the widest range of positions to apply for. Countries such as Canada and Australia are
actively encouraging skilled workers within particular industries to go and
work there, and by fast-tracking assessments they are ensuring that you can
start working as quickly as possible.
If you want to work in Australia,
Canada, or a range of other countries with excellent opportunities, you can
accelerate the process by seeking work while you are still in your home
country, and if you get a job offer the company will be able to sponsor your
visa, which makes the process faster still.
If you want to work abroad, there is
the added step of sorting out your visa, and the way that you search for work
will depend on which avenue you want to take; you can either apply for a visa
and search for work when you are there (which is a step you can take if you are
searching for jobs on the country’s shortage list),
or you can look for a job before applying for a visa and ensure that you have
everything set up to work abroad before even leaving your current home.
Moving to where the work is will
ultimately help give you the best chance of finding new employment, and a fresh
start is often appreciated.
3.
Update your skills
It’s difficult to invest money in
education when you have found yourself unemployed, but it is an incredibly
worthwhile investment and will increase your employment opportunities.
Furthermore, if you want to move to another country and are finding it
difficult to find a job there while in your current country, you can get a visa
faster by applying as a student, and in many countries you will still be able
to work part time while you study. While you are there, you will be able to
build key contacts and learn more about the jobs market to gain employment once
you have finished your studies.
Studying abroad is a valuable
addition to any resume, and can significantly increase your prospects, whether
you choose to stay in the country or come back home once you have gained your
new qualification.
4.
Take a risk
Whether it’s moving career paths,
working abroad, studying abroad, or choosing to take a slightly lower position,
taking a risk can gain huge rewards in the current market and when you are
looking to beat the unemployment trend.
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