Discovery Career Coaching

Want more favorable and positive outcomes from your job search? Adopt these 7 tips.

1. Master your Brand. As a job seeker you must understand that you are a brand. Knowing who you are includes your knowledge, strengths, skills, values, capabilities, motivators and help you focus your time, energy and resources wisely to target the right opportunities.
2. Know your potential employer's motivators. Understanding what your potential employer wants is key to meeting their needs and securing a job faster.
3. Understand your unique selling proposition. Knowing what you bring to the table and understanding how to present your strengths succinctly can make all the difference in your job search.
4. Target the right opportunities. To increase your chances of landing a job, adopt a targeted approach to your search. Don't just apply randomly to every job, apply to the roles that are aligned with your values, interests, skills and strengths.
5. Leverage Strategic Alliances. Consider the people within your network that might be useful to help you identify opportunities and companies that are a good fit for you.
6. Focus on what you have. Rather than focus on what is missing or on what you can't do, focus on what you do have. Look at job opportunities through the whole job description and not just the job title.
7. Always be ready. The time to prepare is not when the opportunities come to you. Prepare ahead of time. Make sure your marketing tools - resume, cover letters and LinkedIn profile are up-to-date. Perfect your pitch and be interview ready.

If you have to explain the reason for an extended gap in your resume, a global pandemic is a good one.
That said, potential employers will likely be understanding in this regard to a point. They will also be very interested in what you did with your time during the gap in your employment. You will become a more attractive candidate if you can show that you kept yourself busy by taking courses, adding or upgrading your skills, doing consulting/freelance work and/or volunteering.
Hiring managers will likely be more interested candidates who did more than simply wait, react and apply to online job postings.