Fundamental Job Search Tips

by Christine C. Bitoon


As you know well, top banking jobs do not require simple mechanical tasks. There are strategies carefully planned and executed. As with job search, submitting your application and waiting by the phone will not suffice. You have to do more to achieve more. Imagine having a bow and an arrow, and your target is the best job for you. Do you simply lock, load and shoot? Below are fundamental steps to landing the best job you can ever have:

Give it the most time as possible. You must maximize the hours you can spend in building a network for your career. This must be done parallel to handling your current position, so you have to be able to balance everything. Procrastination will take you nowhere, so take action as soon as possible.

What should you do then? All the time you can spend for your career building and your job search should be spent well. Set meetings and appointments with other executives, expressing your openness to new opportunities. In all of these, maintain promptness and respect. You should be exemplary at all times, even in casual settings.

Conversations. Face to face conversations are more effective ways to seal deals, especially when it comes to financial jobs. In fact, most businessmen in this online day and age still prefer personal appointments for official business matters. This means that much weight is given on meetings done in person instead of over the phone or through the Internet.

Be sensitive. Your network is not only the circle of colleagues you have. You can enlist your friends and even your family in your job search, giving you a wider scope when it comes to knowing the latest in the job market. Check job ads posted on the Web and around you, and immediately apply to the ones that you find interesting. 

What do you have to offer? Set yourself apart by thinking of your unique value, and highlight it in every application for you send, as well as in meetings and interviews. Are you a team player? Are you innovative? What accomplishments have you given to your current and previous companies? Answer these questions to arrive at a single selling point which can easily be associated with you. 

Do them a favor. Remove the light and the center of attention from yourself and place it on the employer. Aside from what you can offer to the company, also think of ways of how you can help make things better. So aside from bringing something new, you should also be able to think of an improvement.

Job search requires personal branding. Although it will take time and effort from you, it is well worth it. Instead of spending your time increasing your value in your current workforce, spread your wings and create a buzz in your industry. This makes your job search easier and more rewarding.