After spending a satisfactory number of years of one’s life on education, the next big step in life for most people is to get employment. While some seek employment in an area they are skilled or talented in, some go for what interests them or their passions. Whichever path one chooses, deciding what job exactly to go for is not easy given the abundance of numerous opportunities available.
Moreover, once you decide your preferences, it is even harder to get into a job due to high competition. Therefore, if you are in the process of finding jobs in Sri Lanka or switching jobs, it is necessary to keep yourself updated on the job market’s requirements from candidates as well as attractive vacancies. The same goes for employers. You need to be discoverable for talented and potential candidates to join you.
Where to Look for Jobs in Sri Lanka?
Newspapers? On TV? Posters on the side of the roads?
The world has moved so beyond these to an all-ONLINE mode.
From job advertising, candidate head hunting, to job hunting, applying for jobs, and interviewing and recruitment, most companies have taken all these activities online. What’s more, given the continuing COVID19 pandemic, companies around the world including Sri Lanka have embraced online methods even more. They are following all stages of recruitment online, and have requested employees to work from home.
In such a situation, you need to change where you look for jobs to all platforms online. Most of all, you need to update the way you prepare yourself for jobs, too. You need to embrace the “New Normal.”
How? Keep reading 🙂
How to be a ‘Prepared’ Job Seeker / Candidate – Three Things
Have just finished your education at some level and want to get a job, or are planning to switch careers? Well, there are three important things that you need to make sure you are aware of. They are: your talent/interest, your CV, your online presence.
Discover Your Talents and Interests
In finding a job, the first thing to have figured out is your interests, talents and experiences (if any). You’ll look for employment based on them. Once you decide on a specific career path, there are some more things that you need to be equipped with.
Create an Up-to-Date Resume / CV (Curriculum Vitae)
Your CV or resume is not just a document to be underestimated. It is mandatory that you have a proper, professional CV prepared. Why is a professional CV so important? Well, some employers decide whether you are a good candidate for their company just by looking at your CV. If you do not own a proper, up to date CV, you might even lose the job! Yes, EVEN IF you are skilled for the job!
Let me explain this a little more. The first step of applying for any job is sending your CV to them. Your CV is the first form of communication that you make with your potential employer. In fact, your CV represents you at the first stage of the interview process, which is CV screening.
It is a must that your CV has the following details for it be a professional, up to date CV:
- Professional photo of yourself
- Up to date contact information
- Past / current education
- Past / current employment history / experience (if any)
- Leadership experience
- Certificates information
- Organizational skills
- Technical skills
- Hobbies
- Non-related referees
The first five details (contact information, education, employment, leadership, and organizational skills) hold the key. They need to be comprehensive with all the necessary data and information. Make sure to describe all that you mention with a satisfactory amount of information. This will help the employer to get a clear idea about your background. Where necessary, make sure to arrange all the details in chronological order (newest first, oldest last). At other times, arrange details in the order of importance. Do you want to get a clearer idea about the details to include in your CV? You can check out the option for creating a CV on ikman jobs, too.
Social Media Presence
There is no need to highlight how important it is now for people to be active on social media. Both companies as well as job seekers / candidates need to create and maintain their social media footprint across networks. If you apply for a job, this is another aspect your employer will focus on. Yes, just as much as your CV!
There are two main platforms that you need to be present on, as a job seeking candidate: an exclusively business social network and an online job talent pool.
Business Social Network
Currently, the social network that many consider to be the best business network is LinkedIn. This is a network of companies, employers, employees, entrepreneurs, basically all sources related to businesses around the world. Creating and maintaining your own professional profile here, maintaining a track record of your career journey, and connecting and engaging with companies, employers and businesses around the world on the LinkedIn platform are important when you apply for jobs, too.
In fact, most companies and recruiters nowadays make use of this platform to headhunt the right candidate and approach them directly. If not, at the least, most companies ask for your LinkedIn profile URL during the interview process. Therefore, it is even better if you can include your LinkedIn profile URL as one of the contact information on your CV, too. On the other hand, the LinkedIn platform is slowly replacing CVs. In summary, it is almost mandatory at present to have an active LinkedIn profile.
Job Advertising Platform
The other platform you need to make an online profile on is a popular and reliable job advertising platform. It is an obvious fact that society is moving on towards a world that is more dependent on technology. This, as mentioned at the beginning, is even truer at present given the COVID19 situation. It has halted the ‘normal’ way of things, and moved the whole world ONLINE.
Therefore, you need to make sure that you are actively present on an online platform. This enables your potential employers as well as job agencies to discover you and contact you, even without you having to search for jobs. When you create a profile online in a popular job platform that every potential employer can see, you have to exert only a minimal effort to hunt for a job.
ikman Jobs
One of the most popular online platforms that both job seeking candidates as well as companies and talent agencies use to find as well as advertise job vacancies in Sri Lanka is the ikman jobs platform.
A majority of the Sri Lankan companies trust the ikman jobs platform both as an advertising platform as well as a talent pool. Among the many such companies are Odel, Softlogic, Dialog, Crysbro, Cargills, Pick Me, and John Keells Logistics. Around 100,000 of job seekers and job agencies / employers use ikman jobs for their employment purposes, monthly. This is a rich and up to date job platform. Here, you can find full time, part time, and online jobs in Sri Lanka. Job seekers can create an online profile on ikman jobs with up to date information which the job agencies and employers will find through the talent search option on ikman jobs.
Thus, your social media presence on platforms like LinkedIN and ikman Jobs create a positive impression of you on your potential employers. This presence shows how active and up to date you are with the happenings in the business world. However, this will be valid only if your presence is professional.
At the same time, joining job advertising platforms with popular companies increases your chances of being discovered. Moreover, it is easier for you to find all popular company vacancies on one platform, than browsing through each of their company websites. Another benefit is that you can compare all the vacancies side by side on one platform, and see which vacancy suits you best and offers the best salary.
Job Advertising Platforms for Employers / Job Agencies
As a company, you need to find the best talents in the country easily, and you need to find them before your competitors do. While you may have a Vacancies Page on your company website, the chance is less for Google to show those vacancies in search results. So, there is a higher chance for you to lose talented and potential candidates if you only advertise on your company website.
A most reliable and more effective way to find potential candidates is creating your own company profile on a popular platform like ikman jobs where you can find a large candidate pool. Moreover, you can also save interested candidate profiles from the candidate database, so that you can have your own selected pool of potential candidates for your easy current and future reference.
If you have been worrying about finding a job in Sri Lanka or finding talented candidates easily, the above methods can help you. As a job seeker, discovering your talents and interests, possessing an up to date, professional CV, and having an active and professional social media presence are simple tasks that you can perform without much tiresome work. As a company or job agency, maintaining an online profile on a reliable online platform like ikman jobs will help you find your talent pool in no time. Therefore, now that you have a proper idea as to what to do to become a good and impressive employer or a candidate and find a suitable job in Sri Lanka, go ahead and get yourselves set. Finding and advertising jobs have never been easier!
