Rachel May @LRDG
Is it hard to find a job right now? Maybe not if you’re willing to accept the first job offered to you, regardless of your skills or interest level; but what about if you’re looking for a job that genuinely fits your skills and interests?
If you’re job searching and would love to find that one job that perfectly matches your skills, but have no idea where to look, you’re not alone. On the popular Reddit subform “Recruiting Hell,” one job seeker complains, “Indeed asks for what job title I want to search. I don’t know. I’ve done landscaping, I’ve interned at architecture firms, I’ve worked for the government, I’ve worked at a zoo, i fixed printers, I’ve bussed tables. I have two bachelor degrees… I obviously don’t know what I want to do, but I’d also like to know my options. Maybe there’s a job out there that I’ve never heard about, but my job skills fit what they need.”
This Reddit user voices one of many job seekers’ greatest job hunting frustrations: having a diverse set of skills and wanting to find a job that matches those skills, without a clue which job would be a match.
So how can you find that perfect job for your skills that we all dream of? Here are a few suggestions:
Browse job search sites to find a job related to your skills
Indeed suggests looking at your current job or trying personality tests like the Myers-Briggs test to assess your skills, then browsing job search sites that allow users to search by job field, to find jobs in careers where you think your skills might best fit.
Like the original Reddit user revealed, however, this method is often only partially effective: “What does Indeed do? Recommends me jobs for bussing tables. This sucks.” He adds in a comment, “I usually [pick a job field to search for], but when I do then the jobs really skew in experience. They want a manager with several years experience, or students looking for college credits or minimum wage.”
Searching for specific job fields on job search sites certainly beats cold calling or sending resumes around indiscriminately, but your search can fall short of your dream to find a job that matches both of your interests and experience.
Speak to friends, colleagues and mentors about your skills
People who know you best may be able to help you identify skills you haven’t even thought of, or have overlooked.
Unsettle.org advises job seekers, “Who do you spend the most time with? Ask those few people who know you inside and out what they think your skills are. Just like a writer who has difficulty seeing the mistakes in their own work, we tend to have blind spots in our own skill sets.”
Try a new hiring solution
A new hiring platform can now utilize artificial intelligence (A.I.) to rank and match candidates with jobs according to their skill sets. Geekbidz is a skill-based hiring system that allows job seekers to fill and rank their skills and experiences, then see job offers that best correlate with those skills. Job seekers will then see an offer they can click to accept or reject. Once accepted, candidates are placed directly in an on-the-job evaluation.
What better way to find a job for your skills than to share your own skills with an unbiased artificial intelligence system, then be matched with an actual job offer that will hire you straight away for some on-the-job experience? Not only that, but the Geekbidz system is also free from recruiter bias, which usually skews towards more years of work experience.
Find groups associated with the type of job you’re looking for
You can find groups based on occupation, education and interest both online and offline. If you’re thinking about how to find a job during Covid, it might be a good idea to start with such groups online, such as LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, you can discover groups based on shared interests, get to know other group members, and “start conversations by posting in groups or answering others’ questions.” As one Reddit commenter puts it, “As my dataset in LinkedIn started to build, the opportunities did too.”
The more groups you join based on your interests, the more likely you are to find people to network with who can offer you a job that fits your skills.
Try Old Job-Hunting Methods, But Don’t Be Afraid of New Ones Either
Like most job seekers, you probably want to find a job that fully matches your skills and experience, but most of the time, that’s easier to dream of than to truly find. However, there are many opportunities nowadays to discover your skills, search for job opportunities, and find job-related groups to network with. What’s more, there is now an exciting new hiring platform called Geekbidz which takes your skills and pairs them with on-the-job training with the absolute most suitable job offer on hand. With both these old and new solutions at your fingertips, you’re well-positioned to find that ideal job for your skills.
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