What do you do if you want to make informed decisions during your job search?

Consider what's important to you and research the company before accepting an offer: ⏵ Use sites like Glassdoor, Comparably, and Blind to learn about the culture and employee experience. ⏵ Evaluate job descriptions and career pages to understand the company's values and how it markets itself to potential employees. ⏵ The company's website will offer insights into its mission, values, and public persona. ⏵ Check social media for the company's engagement style and stance on issues. ⏵ Blogs or newsletters can provide deeper insights into the company's practices and culture. ⏵ Investigate financial health through reports and databases like Crunchbase, and stay informed about any recent layoffs or controversial news by searching online.

Research: Understand the job market, including trends, salary ranges, and in-demand skills. Research companies you're interested in to learn about their culture, values, and reputation. Self-assessment: Identify your strengths, weaknesses, skills, and career goals. Consider what you value in a job, such as work-life balance, career advancement opportunities, or a supportive team environment. Networking: Build professional relationships with individuals in your industry. Attend networking events, join industry groups on social media platforms, and connect with professionals on LinkedIn. Networking can provide insights into job opportunities and company cultures.

An extensive research on a potential employer entity is definitely a requirement for you. You want to know about the company's culture, values, and growth opportunities. Knowledge on Business and Industry trends also go a long way in helping you tailor your application.

It all starts with knowing what’s important to you, and what you are looking for in am employer. Are you looking for culture, money, benefits, etc. Once you identify your top needs, then start your research. Go to those websites that provide those incites such as Indeed, Glassdoor, Google, and Reddit for reviews. Get the scoop on the organization you are looking at. Are they who they say they are? And do you want to work for them? Reach out to current employees through LinkedIn and ask them questions, do they like it, are there career paths for growth and are the benefits really what they say they are? Ask the hard questions not just the easy ones.

Expand your network by asking the people that you already know (friends, family members, current or previous coworker, etc.) if they can facilitate introductions on your behalf. Reach out to alumni to inquire about their career paths and to ask for advice. Remember when networking that you can offer value back to people through introductions of your own!

Informational interviews are key. Personal introductions or highly individual and personalized messages are key. Social gatherings of particular focused networks can connect you with the right people if you target them right. Whatever you do, do not forget that nobody owes you anything and if they offer you support and help be appreciative and seek ways to help in return.

Keeping your resume updated is important. Add noteworthy accomplishments, or promotions (after the celebration) to your resume quickly. The same thing goes for every time you learn a new skill set or receive a new certificate, add that in right after the handshakes and high fives. However, the important thing above all, never use a blanket resume, ensure you are tailoring it to every role you are applying for, as well as every organization. They are all looking for something different, be the different person, and provide the unique and detailed resume that is designed around what they are looking for. You are wanting their job, show them, by detailing all your experience and attributes around that position and their company.

With a proper grasp of the company's values and culture, Business and Industry trends, as well the job description, tailor your resume to match these, and your application will definitely stand out.

when updating your resume remember that you don't have to include every single project, tasks, or responsibility you've had in a specific role. Identify the most related and relevant aspects and skills and focus on highlighting those!

When you are happily employed and doing great - that is the best time to update your resume. Do not leave it off when it is time to look for your next step. Ensure your resume contains all possible information that the reader might be looking for. Do not try to fit in every single thing you have done or delivered even if the role you are applying is far from that area. Stay concise and to the point, resume is not a place for life stories.

When talking about work experience in your Resume, use bullet points that talk about your achievements, not your responsibilities. And pick 4 achievements for each role: you don't have to talk about everything you did in the role, just pick the highlights that you can talk about with passion.

Use the job description to help you identify key themes and skills that you may be asked about in an interview. Aim to think about examples, as specific as possible and practice telling those stories to showcase your skills and experience.

Preparing for an interview is more than just doing practice questions, although these are important. You should also do background research on the company, understand what they do, and if they have feature products, know what these are and what they do, at a high level. Come prepared with questions about the company, what it does, how it does it, etc, to show you've done some due diligence.

Make sure the preparation is visible but also weave the data into your answers. Tailor your answer to what you have researched and learned about the hiring team and company. Ask smart questions that demonstrate also values and interests you have, i.e. What are growth opportunities for this role?

When it comes to evaluating offers, it comes back to the research you did earlier. In the heat of the moment, you may want to take the best offer monetarily, however, reflect on the research you did. Hopefully, you were only applying for companies you only truly wanted to work for. However, if you find yourself in a position weighing offers between a great company and some mediocre companies. Do you want to work for a mediocre company for more money, or a great company that holds your values, and is looking out for your best interest? Do you want a paycheck or a career? And will you be back on the job market soon or be happy in the long term? So reflect on the research, and weigh the offers carefully.

When you have an offer on the table, one of the key things to reflect on is what you think you will learn from this role if you accept it. Will it challenge you and help you grow, both professionally and personally? Of course the remuneration has to be within the boundaries of what you were after, and you want to be relatively certain the company culture resonates with you, but ultimately, unless the new money is extremely good, you want the new role to be a stepping stone to the next one, on a path to your dream job.

“Love your job” means different things to different people. For most, it means maximizing the aspects of your job that are most important to you, compromising on the aspects that are least important, and minimizing anything that you dislike. Identity your non-negotiables. Don’t consider options that you know go against your core values, minimum requirements, and must-haves. Consider the aspects that you prefer to have in your job, but are willing to go without if everything else is in alignment. These can potentially be used in your offer negotiation. “I’d prefer to only work onsite 3 days for this salary” may result in more days WFH or higher pay. Rank your priorities to help you determine which attributes matter the most to you.

Look the part- Dress appropriately for the interview Perfect your handshake - It helps you look confident Work on your pitch - How well can you sell your skills and expertise within 60 seconds? That could be all it takes to bag that work opportunity!

Interviewing well takes practice. The more you do it, the better you get at it and the less stressful it becomes. And although an interview is primarily for an interviewer to assess your skills and talents, it is also the only opportunities you will get to help you make a decision on whether or not you want to work there should you get an offer. I strongly advise my clients who are doing a job search to apply for and interview even for roles they probably wouldn't accept, just for the practice. Once you're comfortable being interviewed, you're more likely to pick up on more nuanced signals from the interviewers about the company and its culture. Competent interviewers tell you a lot about a company.