Be Careful When You Search For a Job! 5 Things to Look In For Signals

Looking for jobs itself is a walkthrough into experiences one may not have seen. Job search for most of us is the first step into the real world and the first look into its bright and dark sides. And ever since recruitment has taken the form of business as a recognized industry, the bright has got brighter and dark, darker. In countries like India, where unemployment is almost a phenomenon, the business is taking a toll on both, job seekers and recruiters. The reason being, setbacks in culture and technology, and most importantly, lack of awareness.

As a part of the industry and access to in-depth insights, there are certain suggestions for job seekers to make it a better experience. Cause it's always better to learn from other's fall (experience) than to fall ourselves and learn. Let's break it down to the different aspects of the industry to get a better understanding of it.

Job Portal

Commonly called job search engines, the portal hosts both candidates, and recruiters and consultants to provide an easy process for recruitment. Generally, job postings, job search are browsed by candidates with details about posts including job details, company details, contact details. From the other side, recruiters and consultants browse candidate profiles to search for prospective employees. This is how we understand job portals as the Shine.com team while making sure at least the recruiters are verified before allowing to use the database. Although, there are websites that host similar functionality but are classified websites with adverts on it generally called advertising platforms. The points to be noted here are:

• Using Advertising Platforms require a little care since the recruiters and postings may not be verified. Look for details and descriptions, weigh the content (for grammar and composition, relevance of data, etc.) and look for company and contact details (at the right place). Most fake posts will not have contact details in proper place but in descriptions and mostly without the company name. And almost all real recruiters will provide the official email address as the quintessential contact detail, if not anything else.
• Explore the website and go through its functionality, social media profiles (if available) to verify it is a portal and not an advertising platform. Do not upload the resume or provide contact details (except email for signing up) before making sure of it. Some features can help differentiate portals from others like recruiter profiles, company profiles, emailing and/or contacting recruiters from the portal directly, privacy settings (especially for contact details), customer support, etc.
• Complete the Profiling with all the relevant details and keep them updated with time. Also, visit the portal regularly to see if any communication or views have been made on your profile. Provide details of the kind of jobs and its aspects that you are looking for. In short, do the formalities with a practical approach and be updated.

Example: Say you are searching for Reliance job vacancies, look for the email address with a Reliance related domain, look for the phone number for the location, cross-check from the internet. A Reliance vacancy of local scale may still not have such details but can be checked from the address and other aspects.

HR Consultancy

HR Consultancy firms are the ones that manage recruitment process for either or both, job seekers and employers. In which case, there are two scenarios that develop. One, where job seekers hire them to search for jobs of relevant nature. Two, companies hire them to search for candidates and do the initial screening for the openings. Either of the scenarios, what needs to be noted is:

• Charges are levied for the service. If they come from the employer's end, it is borne by the employer. If one hires them, it has to be borne by them and this is where things may go wrong. On the darker side of the industry, a lot of lobbying goes on on this front. Check the credentials of the consultant, their registration certificates, billing information, etc to verify. Also, seek contact details of companies and employees they have put together and meet them. Check their contacts and relevance in your industry too.
• Offerings by HR consultants are common, regarding professional courses, training programs, etc to enhance professional strength. If it seems important, check the affiliation and other details of the courses, verify certificate value, and look for multiple options for the same as well.
• Be Warned, the above two are the points where the lobbyists try to make quick money out of candidates. Especially, they seek registration fee, and later, force into unnecessary training and coursework and then, leave the candidates in dark. The signs to flag them are, unnecessary interviewing and pitching for a registration fee, not disclosing name and contact of the employers, little to no knowledge about job prospectus, unverifiable bills and receipts or no issuing of them, etc.

Example: Scenario: Say you are contacted for Reliance vacancy by a consultant, if they interview on phone and send you details for further test and interview directly to a Reliance office, then it is genuine. If they ask you to come down for an interview at their own center, FLAG, possibly they'll seek registration fee as well.

Scenario: You contact (on call or revert for the email) through an advert and are asked to come down to interview at a non-official address (not of the employer) FLAG, you are being funneled for above. Similarly, you get in touch with a consultancy and they interview you directly without any lead, FLAG. Similar irrelevant happenings, suggestions, visits, communications, etc are all FLAGS.

Referrals

In the world of extensive networking opportunities, referrals are one of the best bets and also, a very difficult approach as well while looking for a job. Referrals are best supported through industry experts and reputed educationists, however, they are not limited to it. Working freelance or on short-term contracts are one of the best ways to network professionally and in the process, useful referrals can be found as well. Also, referrals can come from established employees as well, but networking or reach still is essential.

The only care that needs to be taken care of with referrals is, the person should have sufficient reputation, should know them enough and be known to them enough as well to validate your professional potential. And most importantly, they should either come through a reliable channel or found by you.

Job Fairs

Job fairs are a fairly new concept, introduced to tackle the communication gap between recruiters and job seekers. It also takes the competition on standardized levels. A job fair works, with similar functions to a portal, in two ways. One, by providing candidates with information about vacancies and opportunity to apply for it in person along with meeting a representative personnel. Two, by providing companies to target their recruitment process without confining themselves, gather the database of candidates, and create their talent pool. Informed actions in a fair can get the job done, just know these:

• Be Informed about the recruiters, companies, and other professionals attending the fair, a thorough examination of the brochure will give all the information. Plan and explore the event according to your requirements and interests.
• Interact with professionals, not just recruiters but other individuals with experience (never know when you land a referral). Especially while exploring industries that do not fall into your direct domain, listen and exchange information, there are always hidden prospectus waiting. Interacting with the recruiters may also provide leads other than the ones already on the table, but only a healthy impactful interaction can extract it.
• Regulate your activities to a limit and instead, give quality time to certain prospectuses. Also, regulations should also extend towards approaching consultants representing recruiters and/or multiple employers. Such a case simply beats the cause fair stands for. There are other self-imposed regulations that one needs because they are under constant watch of many recruiters.

LinkedIn

This is currently one of the most reliable and widest network for professional networking and subsequently, job search. Unlike other social networks, it follows a rather targeted approach with features aimed at professional works only. To use linked in for job search requires a certain understanding of the network, but with it, it is fairly easy and adopted by most of the organizations as one of the go-to channels for recruitment. What you need is:

• Share your experience, knowledge, connections, opportunities through creating or just sharing quality content on the channel. Filling in just the profile with relevant content about your experience and professional and academic prowess can give an edge in the job search.
• Activity among and outside your connections can help build reliable professional relations. Searching for a job, you can ask your connections' permission to include them as references to give a review if asked for. Relevant and honest references are a great way to strengthen profile.
• An Updated Profile to give the best information on your professional life for recruiters to go through. Also, keeping it updated (and switching on public updates) will keep you active among your network. Also, can serve as a motivation towards undertakings to increase professional prowess. Also, skills backed by people among your connections validates them as well.
• Network among the people in your industry and related industries, especially recruiters. Connecting with them provides one, updates on openings as they update them, two, send your updates among them to present your progress, three, find individuals who may be potential referrers for you.

Doing everything together may prove to be tiring, confusing, and complicated. Use all the medium wisely and give the due time and effort they require. Job portals require time periodically to update and rest can be invested in search. LinkedIn and other networks require less but regular time. Job fairs are scheduled events, informed well in advance and are manageable accordingly. Keep an open mind with consultants but also, careful approach. In all these processes, keep an eye out for individuals who can provide referrals, learn from everyone and have healthy professional relations. And elevate your search to a good level that you can stand out among the crowd and finally succeed. Persistence, folks, is the key!

Yes, we know that Job Search could become tricky sometimes, but if you use right rules and Job Search techniques, your dream job can actually just click away from you!

Analysing general Industry and employment trends in India.