Is there anything your smartphone can't do? Whatever problem life throws your way, there's probably an app for it. In today's high paced and social media fused society, our smartphones are the perfect gadget. You can even use your smartphone, not solely to tweet and call up your friends, but to optimise your employment opportunities to make you appear to be the most accessible and eligible candidate for any job opportunity.
According to The Undercover Recruiter , in 'a recent survey by LinkedIn, 59% of candidates are using mobile to search for vacancies and 52% are using mobile to apply', and these figures can only increase. Mobile applications are here to stay. Here are some tips to get the most from this development.
Start with your resume
Whenever you go job searching, the first thing you need to have 'perfected' is your resume. Once you do, you need to send it out to potential employers or recruiters. It is no longer the norm to simply send off your resume in the post or fill in an application. Everything is digitalised, and you need to take advantage of this or get left behind. Your resume is your ammunition, your phone is your weapon of choice and your future employer is your target. Job sites have redesigned themselves to be more helpful to the job seeker. As well as allowing you to set up a profile on their site, which you can do from your phone or computer, some have free app versions of their sites which you can download and check daily.
After you've set up your profile and uploaded your resume, you can subscribe to daily or weekly job alerts which are sent directly to your phone. If you have a cover letter saved to your profile as well, then after a quick edit you could apply to jobs while standing in line for a cup of coffee. The benefit of this is that you apply straight away so you don't save the job for later and potentially forget about it.
Take advantage of Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive
Even though you have easy access to apps for job sites, you may still need to have some examples of your experience or projects that you can easily provide to potential employers or recruiters. Using any of the many backup storage apps, you can have your resume and the best examples of your previous or current work right there in your pocket. If you're a writer, you should have examples of your written work; if you're in PR maybe a project plan of any events you helped to manage. Anything that may reside in your computer's files that may be useful to you should be ready when you need them.
This shows that not only are you prompt to reply to emails, but you are well prepared, thereby giving your potential employer or recruiter more confidence in you, making you a more desirable candidate.
Organise yourself
Convey your capability and organisational skills to your potential employer or recruiter with a few taps on your phone screen. Use calendar apps to keep track of interview dates and use map apps to find locations and directions so you don't end up lost and/or late. Keep your resume and LinkedIn accounts up to date if anything in your professional life changes.
The best strategy for landing a great job is making sure you have all your assets ready to go. With your smartphone and some savvy organisation, you are on your way to being hired.
