The 21st century has been the toughest century in the history of humanity as it is characterised by intense competition in every field. Both the employment and entrepreneurial sectors are heavily dominated by the powerful and highly influential minority. In this century, survival belongs to the fittest. While billions of people are struggling for employment, in the same world, some are being hired by up to ten high-paying companies at the same time.
Amidst the current employment crisis, the academic institutions continue pouring millions of graduates into the already flooded job markets. Whoever is trying to find a job should know and understand the key factors that need to be put into consideration when applying for a new job position. Below are some of the important key points where most job seekers are failing to make it.
You are marketing your certificates instead of marketing your abilities
Most of today’s graduates tend to focus more on their certificates than on their capabilities. We have since shifted from the certificates era into the skills and competence era where skills and competence matter more than what you have learned in the classroom. It is sad to note that most academic systems, especially those of the underdeveloped world, are mainly centred on teaching people to read and write, instead of developing their talents and skills. In the modern day world, it is not what you have learned in the classroom that matters, it is how you respond to the daily social nuances and life demands of each minute.
It is sad to note that most people, especially fresh graduates, have a great enthusiasm and uncontrollable sense of achievement, they believe that they are the most educated generation in the computer age, and they have learnt in a generation where everything is available in the classroom and on the internet, contrary to the ancient days when scholars would struggle to find very reliable information sources.
Every prospective job seeker needs to acknowledge that we have since shifted from the ancient times when education was scarce and only the few educated people would be hired by the top companies, and the world’s population was still at controlled levels, meaning the competition was stable. Also, there was an almost universal, standard academic system, which ensured equal and competitive academic standards across the planet. Hence it was easier for the employer to assess your academics, unlike in the modern day word where we have millions of academic boards mushrooming, most of which are only profit oriented. It has to be noted, however, that your curriculum vitae is the first thing you should hand your employer since since it highlights your key skills and competences, and more importantly, samples of your past work an achievements. Academic certificates have to be somewhere in-between main documents and supporting documents. You need to show the employer that you have an outstanding skill, and you have taken some complimentary courses that add cream to the piece of cake.
Most of today’s job seekers fail to make it because they have all the necessary academic skills, but they lack passion, enthusiasm and the required skillset at large. Below are some of the main reasons why you don’t get hired.
You write generic applications
Most of today’s job seekers have become desperate to such an extent that they no longer have specific areas of focus. Most of the top companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and Tesla, have highly trained and experienced interviewers who are now aware of any hidden points that should be brought to the light. Playing your tricks to impress the judging panel might not work. Most applicants do not have a specific field of interest and they are just seeking employment. This problem is not only prevalent in companies but also in tertiary academic institutions where some students do not have clearly defined visions and goals. Some people will chose to pursue any field that has something to do with commercials, but fail to clearly define their intended goals, whether they are pursuing banking and finance or accounting. You need to be very specific in both your job application and other forms of publications such as supporting documents, extra-curricular activities and marketing channels. In the corporate world, there is nothing such as “Any Job”. If you are a programmer, mention it, ‘I am a programmer’, not ‘I want to be a programmer’,or I need anything related to computers. That narrows your chances of success. Those simple mistakes can cost you the whole opportunity to be hired by a leading company.
You spend much of your precious time celebrating historic achievements
When applying for a position, it is always a good thing to revisit your past achievements but not to be stuck in them. Most people fail to please their prospective employers by overratting their past achievements. You need to note that what you call an achievement is not an achievement to everyone else. Also, an achievement needs to be celebrated only once so that you focus on the future and pave way for future successes.
It is not a very wise thing to continue celebrating a success you made a decade ago instead of pursuing more successes. Most companies are well pleased with people who celebrate their success once and focus on newer pursuits. The person who invented the car celebrated victory only once. A few years later, someone else introduced a plane, and later on, someone else came with the hyperloop technology. This clearly illustrates that no victory is short-lived and not permanent.
Whenever your prospective employer asks you about your past achievements, it is always a wise thing to indicate that you have the zeal to achieve more accomplishments once they hire you. While it is very tempting for your to idle on your past achievements, humility is always a good thing and allows you to ignore past successes and pursue new ones.
You are too proud to take a stepping stone
This is a very common phenomenon in the modern day world. People have become ‘too educated’ to do any kind of a job. The walls of Jericho were not built in one day. At some point, Tom Cok was just a general somebody at Apple. Bill gates was once a low-profile someone before starting the journey of Microsoft. Most of today’s graduates are too smart to do anything that is below their standards of academics.
There is what we call a stepping stone. Once you manage to find a low position, utilise it to show the value you can bring to the firm. By so doing, you will be opening up more opportunities by making the headlines on the company’s listings. This will be a stepping stone for you, paving way for greater successes ahead. I tis very unfortunate that most of today’s people are only after money.
You probably don’t want to learn
Most of today’s job seekers believe that they are the most educated generation. They have no time to learn since they believe they know it all. What we learn in school is not exactly the same as what we are most likely to encounter in the real corporate world. Technology is moving at a fast pace. Thousands, if not millions, of new discoveries are being made each day anew. No matter what institution you have been enrolled at, be it Princeton, MIT or Harvard; by the time you finish your academics, new technological developments would have been made. No one is too qualified to learn from other people. While fresh graduates come with loads of theoretical knowledge, it is important that the old horses in the company possess a lot of practical experience in the field as well as extensive knowledge of the company’s historic performance, the company’s roadmap and values as well they would have gained over the years.
In the modern day world, most people are finding it very difficult to secure employment because they want to prove to be knowledgeable more than the experienced people who have been in the organisation for decades.
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