It may still be winter, but there are signs of spring all around us as we start to hear from employers looking to hire for next school year. In education, this is the start of the peak hiring season, and at WorkMonger we want you to be prepared for when that perfect fit job comes around. Check out these five things you should do to be ready!
1. Update your resume:
Yes, this is probably the first thing you know you need to do, but are you updating your resume in the right way? This is the main piece of paper (or rather the main one-page electronic file) that will decide whether you get the interview. Make that limited space count by including the accomplishments that are most relevant to the work you’re seeking. If you’re looking at a few different types of jobs, have several different versions of your resume so that you can best position yourself as the right fit for a specific job.
Whether you have one resume or four, be sure to quantify your responsibilities and achievements. How many people do you manage? What was your operating budget for the events you planned? Having numbers such as these quantifies your impact and makes you stand out to employers.
For more help with building a great resume, check out our blog post: Top Ten Tips for a Remarkable Resume or sign-up for a WorkMonger Resume Review here.
2. Update your LinkedIn:
There’s a lot from the preceding section that applies here, but there are two unique sections on your LinkedIn profile that you should update in order to capture a recruiter’s eye.
The first is your headline, which is the only information that someone sees attached to your name before they click on your profile. Want that click? You can go one of two ways here – for some, it’s good just to have your full title and company listed, especially if your current organization is well-known in the ed space. For others, you may want to push your personal brand by describing yourself and your interests, i.e. “Passionate educator using communication work to make an impact”. The latter headline style can also subtly indicate that you are currently open to a new role.
The other section you should update is your summary, which is where you can further flesh out your experience and what you’re seeking. This is a great place to get more personal when you’re not limited by the bullet points of a resume section. If you haven’t touched this section since you set up your LinkedIn profile years ago, take a few minutes to verify that it’s updated with your recent experience and accomplishments.
3. Scrub your social media:
Option one here is to just make all of your profiles private, which is great both for job-seeking as well as general privacy concerns. But if you’re not interested in that – or you use Twitter for your professional brand – spend some time reviewing your social media profiles to remove content that you wouldn’t want your boss or co-workers to see. Tip: Don’t bash your current employer on social media. While it might feel good to vent in the moment, the world is more interconnected than we sometimes think. It’s just not worth it.
4. Determine the job you want and how to leverage your network:
As we’ve already mentioned, you should have an idea of what type of job you want in order to tailor your resume and LinkedIn profiles. But now is the time to be even more concrete. What specific employers and currently available jobs are you interested in? Who do you know who works there, or who knows someone who works there? LinkedIn is a great asset here.
These days, networking is less about getting a direct “in” to a job and getting immediately hired, and more about making sure that someone sees your resume at all. In the age of technology, hiring managers are receiving more resumes than ever. Most resumes and cover letters get only a few seconds glance, and many are not read at all. Through your network, ask those who have firsthand knowledge of your work product to put in a good word on your behalf with ANYONE at the company that they know (it doesn’t have to be the hiring manager or HR). If the only people you know who have a relationship with the employer are personal friends (i.e. they don’t know firsthand your professional work product), still reach out to them and ask them to flag your resume. The goal here is less about a professional reference, and more about someone flagging your resume so you at least get a solid look and increase your chances of being invited to interview.
Another route to explore here is career coaching. With a specific job in mind, you can effectively use a career coach to learn how to position yourself. WorkMonger has recently added career coaching and interview prep as one of the services we provide. You can sign-up here.
5. Complete or update your WorkMonger JobSeeker profile:
While the information above applies to any job you may be considering, the best way to get ready for the busy spring hiring season in education is to have a complete profile on WorkMonger! If you haven’t started a profile yet, you can sign up for free here. If you have an existing profile and need to make an update, you can do so here.
With these tools in hand, you’re now ready to take on the spring hiring season. Get out there and get yourself a job that’s a great fit!
