Job search Archives | Affinity Cayman

With well over 1 billion users, Facebook is a powerful networking tool and although we mostly use it for personal reasons, it’s also a great platform to leverage in a job search.

Chances are your future employer is on Facebook, and the company that you dream to work for is also using Facebook. While itdoesn’t have the same professional appeal as LinkedIn, it shouldn’t be ignored, because when you are applying for roles, employers are looking at your Facebook profile.

How then, do you make your Facebook profile work for you in your job search?

STEP 1: Audit your profile

Protect your brand and keep your profile clean. Make sure that you remove anything – pictures, comments, tags – that you wouldn’t want a potential employer seeing. Your profile picture should also have a level of professionalism.

Mind your manners. Avoid any comments that could be interpreted as distasteful or discriminatory. Fact is, you don’t know your future employer’s background, religious or otherwise, everyone is allowed to their opinions and being respectful will ensure that you don’t lose out on an offer.

What do your Groups and Apps say about you? Remove any that don’t portray you in a positive and professional manner.

Keep it Private. Use the privacy settings to determine who sees what. Also, make use of the preview function, it allows you to see your profile as the outside world would see it.

STEP 2: Use that network to score your dream job

Status Updates: Go ahead and tell your friends that you are looking for a new opportunity. Update your status regularly, let them know what you are specifically looking for. Use your network, chances are, someone knows someone who is hiring. It’s WHO you know, right?

Update your work and education history: Edit your profile and add your job and education details, and do include your accomplishments in the ‘description’ section. You can also add professional skills.

Pages: Company pages will tell you a lot about an organization’s culture, brand and mission statement. Getting to know the company to which you are applying, allows you to personalize your cover letter, and even find people who could help get you introduced to the hiring manager. Getting referred to people who work for the company is a great way to get your foot in the door. It also shows resourcefulness and genuine interest. Also, companies announce vacancies, events and networking opportunities.

Engage: Post updates that relate to both your professional and personal life – you can also edit the privacy settings for each post, sharing only with close friends and family for example. Post about your company’s accomplishments, share media links that relate to your industry, and respond to your professional friends’ posts, make insightful comments and share when appropriate.

Facebook won’t replace LinkedIn anytime soon, but simply for the reasons of user activity and sheer size, don’t leave Facebook out of the mix in your job search strategy.

For more great tips on adding Social Media to your job search mix, check out these great blogs:

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Mastering LinkedIn

How to put your Pinterest Obsession to good use and land a new job

5 Top Tips for Finding a Job on Social Media

The job search process has become extensive due to the rise of social media, writing the perfect resume has become the least of our worries. Not only do you have to have a CV and cover letter, but you now have to have a LinkedIn profile, professional Facebook presence, a Twitter handle and sometimes even a blog to keep up with the competition. That said, you can be a rock star in online networking, but if your resume is poorly constructed, your application will fall flat and won’t make the cut.

So before you hit the send button, make sure that your soon to be perfect resume includes these top tips.

A targeted and personalized cover letter: don’t send your resume on its own, introduce yourself in a professional cover letter, this is your first chance to impress so be polite and thank the reader for considering your application.

Contact information: please include a professional email address (no [email protected]) and a phone number. If you are applying as an overseas applicant, don’t forget the country and area code.

Summary: briefly describe your unique value proposition, highlighting your key accomplishments. Present yourself as a solution; remember the employer is trying to fill a need.

Work History: make sure that you only add experiences that are relevant to the job that you are applying to, and don’t leave any gaps.

Keep it Simple: make sure that your font is easy to read, Arial is best, and add some personality to it, but nothing over the top. Unless you are seeking a creative role such as graphic design, don’t add any fancy graphics. Limit it to 2 pages.

Include Degrees only: In your “education” section don’t add uncompleted course work, or university degrees. List the institution, qualification and graduation year.

Accomplishments: List achievements, not experiences. Employers want to see what you have succeeded to do, not what your duties were. For example, instead of noting “sales experience”, write “increased sales targets by X%”.

Your resume is your showcase – it should clearly and articulately display how your work experience and professional abilities speak to the job at hand. A job posting is a company’s expression of a need, a problem that needs solving, so make sure that your resume specifically speaks to how you will fill that need and solve that problem.

For all resume assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our team will help you identify your strengths and highlight your accomplishments.

What do recruiters look for in a candidate?

If you are looking for a new job then the best place to start is by speaking with a recruitment professional. Not only should they have a wide range of available jobs at their fingertips, they will also help you ensure that you present yourself, your achievements and experience in the best possible light to your potential new employer. Even in a small market such as the Cayman Islands, competition is fierce and a recruitment advisor is always an invaluable resource to help you get that dream job.

Here are our top tips for candidates applying for positions at Affinity Recruitment in any of Cayman’s various industries, whether you are looking to work within the financial services industry, or more broadly, in hospitality, retail, construction and development and more.

1. Ensure you have a well written resume/CV. Employers need to be able to sum you up in a short space of time and your CV should do that, succinctly and accurately. Ensure you include contact details, relevant experience, qualifications and attributes you feel make you the right candidate for the job and make sure you update it regularly.

2. Dress smart for the part! If you manage to secure an interview with your prospective employer, dress like you want it. We may be located in a tropical Caribbean island but if you are looking to work within the financial services industry you must dress suitably in business-attire.

3. Do your homework. If you are looking to work at a particular firm, such as a law or accounting business, make sure you know the names of the senior managers and do some research well ahead of time to find out exactly what it is the firm does. A candidate who has put in the effort to research the company shows initiative and enthusiasm, which is evident during interviews.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you are unsure about any aspect of the job you are applying for, ask the recruiter to give you more information. That way, if you get the job, you will know exactly what is expected from you, from the beginning.

Moving to a new job or applying for your first job can seem like a daunting task, but once you have mastered the knack of marketing yourself to your best advantage you will reap the rewards.

Tag: Job search

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