I have been contacted by many NUS graduates for some time now for advice on career in Singapore, finding about how job market works and others. And more often than not, I feel that students today are lacking the key abilities to position themselves in front of recruiters. I, during my MBA, also committed same mistakes and had a tough time to find a job where I fit well. I did commit serious mistakes, such as - I had more or less same resume floating everywhere for different kinds of job roles, I gave just one read to understand the job requirement, and many others.
Having met few candidates earlier, I see same issues again this and, hence, this is my attempt to explain -
Click on Read More link below.
Assume you have a fiancee and you went together for shopping on a weekend. Your fiancee likes a particular expensive top in BLUE color, however the size does not fit. But she was so much in awe of that dress that you both decide to come back later and take the correct size. Now your fiancee's birthday is coming two weeks later and you, therefore, decide to buy this blue top with correct size and surprise her. You went back to the same shop alone couple of weeks later and now you see a top in GREEN color with the correct size but not the blue one.
The question now is "will you buy?"
I have asked this question to people I have met and unanimously all say "No, because she wanted BLUE". I then extend the story saying "ok, what if it is light blue color, will you buy?". And unanimously, people have answered "Maybe".
And then I concur to all candidates that this is exactly how a job market behaves. The BLUE color top is nothing but a job description, the different color available in the store are job candidates and the answer that candidates gave is a hiring decision.
If you do not read the job description properly, then you cannot put content in your resume which will attract recruiters. People love to hear what they want to hear, so you have to speak that. So spend time on understand the job requirement and then modify your resume to fit that requirement. One caution though - most people (including me during the job search earlier) would start reading the job description bottom to top. Because at the bottom easy requirements like MBA required, competency in English, strong communication skills etc etc will be mentioned. And then they feel that yes, approx 50-60% of the requirements have been met. But the important point is that these requirements are not the key ones. Key ones are listed at the top and you have make sure your resume speak those requirements. If you are successful in doing that up to 60-70% of the time people will show interest, otherwise it would be another reject for you. I hope I'm able to explain the two points.
Now coming to networking. Well, you have only worked for few years in a specific role before coming for MBA. And of course, you will be applying for lots of different positions. Now in order to make your resume sound like the job requirement, you need to understand how that job functions. And the best way to do that is to gain insight from people who can help you, and among those are your alumni. So start networking in order to gain that knowledge, and not use them to apply in their company. It will be a useless exercise until you know the job yourself.
This much homework is needed today in order to get a job in a competitive market. I hope MBA's could understand this earlier when they start and build on this for the rest of the MBA time.
Having met few candidates earlier, I see same issues again this and, hence, this is my attempt to explain -
- how important it is to understand a job description
- how important it is to position and up sell yourself according to the job requirement
- how important it is to network with industry people and alumni
Click on Read More link below.
Assume you have a fiancee and you went together for shopping on a weekend. Your fiancee likes a particular expensive top in BLUE color, however the size does not fit. But she was so much in awe of that dress that you both decide to come back later and take the correct size. Now your fiancee's birthday is coming two weeks later and you, therefore, decide to buy this blue top with correct size and surprise her. You went back to the same shop alone couple of weeks later and now you see a top in GREEN color with the correct size but not the blue one.
The question now is "will you buy?"
I have asked this question to people I have met and unanimously all say "No, because she wanted BLUE". I then extend the story saying "ok, what if it is light blue color, will you buy?". And unanimously, people have answered "Maybe".
And then I concur to all candidates that this is exactly how a job market behaves. The BLUE color top is nothing but a job description, the different color available in the store are job candidates and the answer that candidates gave is a hiring decision.
If you do not read the job description properly, then you cannot put content in your resume which will attract recruiters. People love to hear what they want to hear, so you have to speak that. So spend time on understand the job requirement and then modify your resume to fit that requirement. One caution though - most people (including me during the job search earlier) would start reading the job description bottom to top. Because at the bottom easy requirements like MBA required, competency in English, strong communication skills etc etc will be mentioned. And then they feel that yes, approx 50-60% of the requirements have been met. But the important point is that these requirements are not the key ones. Key ones are listed at the top and you have make sure your resume speak those requirements. If you are successful in doing that up to 60-70% of the time people will show interest, otherwise it would be another reject for you. I hope I'm able to explain the two points.
Now coming to networking. Well, you have only worked for few years in a specific role before coming for MBA. And of course, you will be applying for lots of different positions. Now in order to make your resume sound like the job requirement, you need to understand how that job functions. And the best way to do that is to gain insight from people who can help you, and among those are your alumni. So start networking in order to gain that knowledge, and not use them to apply in their company. It will be a useless exercise until you know the job yourself.
This much homework is needed today in order to get a job in a competitive market. I hope MBA's could understand this earlier when they start and build on this for the rest of the MBA time.
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