Chad’s blog 1 – introduction
Are you in your final year of school and starting to think about getting a job? Any idea of what you want to do?
If not, now is the time to start thinking about it. This is the first part of a series on how to land that special job you have wanted for so long.
At 1300apprentice, apprenticeships and traineeships are our main focus so I will give advice during this blog based on those two job areas. Apprenticeships and traineeships are an exciting way to learn a trade or profession and there are great advantages in gaining a qualification. Once you have gained a qualification you can use this to pursue further experience or study in your chosen field or branch off into other job areas of interest.
So how do you get your foot in the door?
Quite a number of school leavers make the mistake of thinking they can get an entry level role without knowledge of the job they are looking to do. The thought process is “I’m going to be an apprentice or trainee; I don’t need to know what the job is all about. They’ll teach me.”
The fact that you will receive training is certainly true but you need to have an understanding of the job to convince an employer that you are going to be a long term prospect in the role.
When employers are looking for someone to recruit there are three main things they are looking for:
- Skills
- Experience
- Commitment
With an entry level role, it is known that skills and experience are going to be at the lowest point so the most important of these is commitment. Employers do not have the time or money to recruit and re-recruit over and over again until they find the right person. They have to get it right the first time. So it is important that the candidate they interview convinces them they are going to last for the duration of the apprenticeship or traineeship.
So how do you convince an employer of your commitment? Just saying, “ I will be committed” isn’t enough, unfortunately.
It sounds simple but you need to research the role. This can be broken up into two easy parts. One – make sure you understand what fully qualified people do in that particular job or trade and Two – make sure your expectations of what you will do as an apprentice or trainee are realistic and that you are able to relate this to a prospective employer.
The more you know about a job the more convinced an employer will be of your long-term prospects. If you are a bit vague or unsure about the job, then an employer may doubt whether you are prepared for the work you are going to do and therefore highly unlikely to drop out.
This part of the process is critical and you need to have this research done before you even start applying for jobs. Who knows, your research may lead you to the conclusion that the job you were interested in initially is really not for you.
Lastly, don’t fall into the trap of applying for just any role that is out there. Stick to the one you want or something that is closely related. Employers will think you don’t really know what you want if you are applying for too many different roles.
So, how do you feel now? Ready to embark on the job hunting journey? Completed all of your research and know what job you want? Good!
The second part of this series will soon follow. Tune into my future blogs about making job applications, having a professional approach to job hunting and tips on how to get an interview.
So, stay tuned for next week’s blog!
