TextNow Guide
Tips & Tricks

New Job, New You

Valeria

Valeria

 

January 8, 2020

New Job, New You

“New year, new me.”

New Year

How many of us have uttered those words in front of friends and family at the beginning of every January? To some, that means a new perspective. To others, a completely new environment.

If your resolution in 2020 is to elevate your career, pursue a passion, or simply to find a job period, we have a few tips to make sure this is one resolution you can keep.

The Search

One of the first steps to landing your new job is finding it. Gone are the days of circling ads in your local newspaper (well, mostly). Nowadays, everything is available online. From ZipRecruiter to Monster, LinkedIn, even social media sites. Listings can be found everywhere, but sometimes, it can get hard to search through all the noise.

If you look through any article that lists their top tips for finding a job, you will see a repetitive phrase: Get Specific. Don’t waste your time by looking through endless search results and applying for jobs you aren’t even sure would be beneficial to you and your goals. Before getting started, be prepared:

  1. Write down the keywords that you think describe your current work experience and any job duties you may want to fulfill. That way, when searching, you can use those keywords to find the jobs that are right for you.
  2. Make sure that alongside keywords, you are also searching according to location. Many of us can’t, or won’t, relocate for a job, so it’s important to eliminate any that are not within your acceptable geographical range. Research possible transport routes (bus, streetcar, subway) ahead of your search, and figure out an acceptable range from your residence that will accommodate your commuting needs.

The Application

Once you find the job (or jobs) that fit you, the process of applying is arguably one of the most stressful parts. And if you’re used to just bulk applying to positions without changing any information on your resume, you’re going to hate hearing this next tip: Make Job Specific Resumes.

If you feel overwhelmed by the amount of search results for job listings, imagine being the recruiter and reading through all the resumes that are sent in daily. Many companies use applicant tracking systems for helping them filter through all the applications. Similar to the way that a search engine such as Google operates, an ATS sifts through keywords and numbers (such as years of experience) on resumes and determines which ones are the most relevant to the recruiter. Just like if you were to type in “banana bread recipe” into a Google search, all the top results would include all three of those words or some combination thereof. You would not see “apple crumble pie” as your top search result. Similarly, if you’re applying for a job that lists “compiling”, “leading”, “managing” as duties in its job description, you want to make sure that your resume mirrors those keywords.

It’s a gruelling process that requires time and attention to detail (at least that’s one skill you won’t have to lie about!), but one that you can be sure to result in more callbacks. Which leads us to our last tip.

The Callback

Congratulations, your planned searching and meticulous resume got you noticed! But wait, you don’t have a working phone number because you can’t afford a phone plan right now, but also can’t get a job without a phone number to answer a call from a potential employer, but can’t pay for a phone plan because you don’t have a job, because you can’t get a job without a phone number, because…phew. Sorry, it’s an easy loop to get stuck in.

One of the best parts of my job is listening to real customers’ stories. Of why they need TextNow, of how it helped them, and where they are now because of it. We talk about these stories a lot in past articles, but the most important part to take away is the power of a free phone number. Because it’s not just a ten digit number that your mom can call on Sundays to check up on you. It’s also a job opportunity. You can sign up for TextNow for free anytime from anywhere — desktop, Android mobile, iOS mobile — and choose a phone number local to you that you can put on your resume as part of your contact information. It’s an easy solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Because communication belongs to everyone, and to every budget. Even if it’s $0.

So go forth and find the job that will make this year, heck, maybe even the next decade, better than the last.

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