SCS
Ignacio Hurtado
…So you are Job Hunting…
Now a days you find many myths, stories, dramas, etc about
dos and do not’s when trying to find a job abroad, the purpose of this blog is
to add what I believe are the top 4 aspects you have to take into account and
what to do in them. First and foremost
we will take a look at the order in which you should tackle this problem:
1.
Who are you and what do you want
2.
Where do you want to work
3.
CV
4.
Interviews
5.
Other
So in the words of my father “Lets get cooking”
1.
Who are you and what do you want
Who are you, what are your interests,
what are your skills, qualities, what are you good at, these are but a few of
the questions you should answer when starting you job hunting. This is mainly
done because everyone has a set ok skills and qualities that are in accord to
what they like. In other words if you know what you are good at you probably
know what you are bad at and know what type of job you should apply to.
So if you are good at math, enjoy
mathematical problems, applied math, quantum math, etc. But are terrible
working in high pressure environments, don’t like strong smells, have fear of
fires you probably shouldn’t consider a job as a chef or cook.
In resume do something that you
like and are good at, play to your strengths. Because remember you are not the
only person out there looking for a job or even this particular job even if the
field is quantum mathematics.
The easiest way to do this is
make a personal profile and a list of skills and qualities. A personal profile
is a small paragraph that shows who you are (profession or expertise), what
your interests are, and your basic skills and qualities.
Now I know that most of you are wondering
Whats the diference between Skills and qualities? Its really easy here it is:
Acording to the Merriam-Webstes
online dictionary a skil is:
A: the ability to use one's knowledge effectively
and readily in execution or performance.
And according to the same source a quality is:
So in other words skills are abilities you poses that are good for an
specific job say cookery skills for a restaurant job or research skills for an
academic job. On the other hand
qualities are thing that you are good but are not carries specific, taking the
above example First Aid or being a strong leader both are important in any job even
in at least for these jobs they are not specific.
Take into accord that what may be
a quality in a specific job example First Aid for a academic researcher may be a
skill for another job say for a Para-Medic.
2.
Where do you want to work
Having decided what you like its
time to see what you want, its one of the easiest steps but it is also the one
that needs more work. We’re going to search for job ads, there are many ways to
look for a job, either from newspaper adds, internet job agencies, going directly to companies, etc.
Remember that no method is full
proof. Web sites sometimes are outdated or companies don’t take jobs adds out
of the web page, newspaper ads may already be taken, etc. So make your search
very complete. Have a plan A, B, C, D, all the way to Z. Unless you are applying to a very specific job
we will cover more of this below.
When choosing remember to check
what skills and qualities do they ask for, do they match my personal profile,
salary is important and in many cases a defining factor, but it’s not the only
factor. Look for opportunities to advance, examples of employees most big
companies have examples of employees on their websites, now what you will be
doing, remember there are few more unbearable things in life than ending in a
job u hate because you didn’t read what it was about (assuming you pass the interview
process)
If you’re applying to a specific
job remember check the above paragraph in other words know what you’re getting into
and remember that until you have your job don’t act as if it’s yours be ready
for anything.
As an extra note if your applying
for an academic Job don’t waste your time with newspaper ads or online job agencies
(trust me I know) it’s a waste of time. Go directly to universities and
institutions
A few useful pages for finding
jobs abroad are the following:
UK
Canada
Australia
USA
Among others.
Remember when
you are looking for a job in another country check the following:
·
Work or residence VISA and other paperwork
·
Exams or other government coalification’s you
might need to work in a specific field in a different country like the USMLE[iii]
in the US.
·
Other things like medical exams, vaccines, flu
shots, etc.
3.
CV
So let’s say you’ve applied to a
company an began your enrolment process, just remember this Saying “Half of the process begins at 92%” in
other words you don’t have the job yet. When
you apply the most important part is sending you CV because its the way a
company will chose you among maybe 10 other applicants or maybe from 1000 so
remember now it’s the time to shine:
There’s a lot to cover when
making CVs so make sure you keep to these 11 steps:
1.
Name and titles if appropriate, common titles
are Doctor, Captain, General, etc.
2.
Email
3.
Telephone and/or Cell phone. Never putt a beeper
remember this is the 21st century.
4.
Personal profile (as above)
5.
Qualities
6.
Skills
7.
Education and/or training:
8.
Professional experience:
9.
Publishing’s
10.
Interests
11.
References
Basically the most important part of a CV
is your profile most CV examiners wont look at your name they simple don’t care,
think of it they probably have another hundred more CVs to go so keep it simple
they will only look at your personal profile and if it interests the thy will
continue reading and even then remember you don’t need a 10 page CV in most
countries a CV of more than 2 pages is considered too much, anything beyond
page 2 won’t be appreciated unless your Einstein or Gandhi (in which case you
probably don’t need to present a CV) and let’s face it this generation is running
low on Gandhi’s.
Also remember these Don’ts:
Don’t
put either your age, ethnicity, gender (even if it’s obvious like if your name
is Susan) sexual orientations, religion, etc. because you may get rejected
because of discrimination or a picture of yourselves remember the typical CV
examiner will take between 20-40 seconds to look at your CV so a picture might
remind of a past boyfriend/girlfriend and before even reading your profile he
might hate you and throw your CV in the bin.
4.
Interviews:
Interviews are easy they’re about
to main things body language and knowing jour stuff.
I won’t cover body language but
you can check this link he basically covers it:
Knowing jour stuff is basically:
·
Know your CV witch should be easy being it’s
your life, and your CV, remember you can bring a copy of you CV to the
interview no one minds if you can’t remember the date of a project you made or
the name of a pas colleague, what they want to now is what you did and what you
learned.
·
Know the company it never hurts to know a bit
about them and if they ask its much better to be informed, a bit of research
never hurt anybody.
·
And remember this is just another conversation
not a public hanging, how you treat it will reflect on what impression you
make.
·
Be prepared for anything today interviews are
changing so expect the unexpected and don’t panic.
So in the words of Most von Lipwig: “Always move fast,. You never know who's catching up!”
Finally I would like to add that as a future professional
this research has helped me in many areas but mostly in understanding that a
bit of clear thinking can take you a long way and that unless I’m going to work
in the UK (doesn’t look like it) I will be looking for job ads at universities.
Bibliography:
Web Pages:
http://www.usajobs.gov/
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://uk.santifjobs.com/?gclid=CJrf5572068CFc6a7Qod70JebQ
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://canada.santifjobs.com/?gclid=COHRqtP2068CFcqA7QodoiULeQ
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.allstarjobs.ca/
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.historians.org/pubs/free/careers/Index.htm
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.usi.edu/libarts/history/jobs.asp
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/career.html
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/jobs-for-history-majors.asp last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
last checked the 24th of April 2012
http://www.usmle.org/
last checked the 24th of April 2012
Books:
Pratchett Terry, Going Postal, HARPERTORCH ed. Oct 2005
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