Currently, about seven million people are looking for work. Bureau of Labor StatisticsAnd about 8 million jobs All the publicly available job listings may not be of immediate interest to someone searching for their next job.
If you’re currently in that position, don’t ignore all the jobs that don’t seem to fit with your current pursuits: Sometimes, even opportunities that seem a little off your path can be a “bridge” to where you want to be in the future, she says. Jasmine EscaleraCareer experts at My Perfect Resume.
We’ll show you how to identify opportunities you may not have considered before and look beyond the obvious in a job ad.
Before you begin your job search, “I think the most important thing is to do some soul searching” to figure out what your long-term career goals are, says Escalera.
Ask yourself questions like, “Where am I? Where do I want to go? And what are the gaps I need to fill?” These will help you figure out what your career path will be and what skills you need to develop to get the job you want. Thinking like this will ultimately help you broaden your search and find open positions you hadn’t considered.
Early in his career, Dan SpaceWith experience working in human resources at companies like WebMD and Electronic Arts, he realized he wanted to work in the video game industry but didn’t have the experience, so he took a job at WebMD. “I made a conscious move to get into the video game industry because I could tell the story that we were selling an online product, similar to what a video game company does.” When a job opened up at Electronic Arts, he was able to prove he had the experience to get the job.
It’s about taking on a role adjacent to where you want to be, he says, which he calls “essentially an intermediate step.”
It can be hard to find a job you’ve never heard of before that can point you in the right direction, so doing some research on LinkedIn might help.
Escalera calls this “professional internet stalking”: Find people in the job title you want, read their LinkedIn profiles, and “understand their career trajectory.” By doing so, you might uncover a role you hadn’t considered in your job search that will help you grow in the right direction.
“You can pretty much plan your future career path,” she says.
Finally, use a tool like ChatGPT to get ideas for open positions you may not have considered.
“Think about what you do,” Space says, then ask ChatGPT or Google to give you “25 similar roles.” You’ll likely hear a variety of job titles you’ve never heard of, but they might point you in the right direction.
Even if you don’t have a long-term plan and aren’t sure where you want to be in five or 10 years, this tip can help you become aware of new opportunities. There are many similarities between industries, so no matter what field you’re in, “there are hundreds of other fields you can secure a position in,” Space says.
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