3 head starts savvy candidates are taking in 2018

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• email

When it comes to finding and landing a new role, knowing about new job search trends might put you at the top of the pack. Here are three of the steps that top candidates are making sure they take this year. Why not add them into your job hunting, too?

1 They're building a personal brand online

Making sure your social media accounts are set to private (or at least don't show you in an unfavourable light) is hardly a no-brainer in this digital age. 

We've known for a while that more and more employers are searching online to get an idea about candidates. But now proactively showcasing yourself online is as important as damage limitation - and it could help you stand out from the crowd. 

So at the very least, make sure your LinkedIn profile is set to power up your job search (read our tips on how to do it here).

Plus, think about setting up an Instagram or Twitter account just for work. Look for great posts from relevant people or organisations in your industry to share and comment on with interesting and insightful remarks. One step further? Create a simple (free) personal website to highlight your experience and achievements.

If a recruiter stumbles on any of these while researching you online, you’ll get noticed for all the right reasons.

2 They’re making sure their CV is AI-friendly

It’s hardly news that your CV and covering letter should be typo-free zones - misspellings are a sure-fire way to be seen as sloppy and unprofessional. But now there’s another reason to take spell-checking seriously.

The rise of AI (or artificial intelligence) in recruitment means that the chances of your job application being scanned by a software package before a human being has seen it are higher than ever before.

And AI systems aren’t sophisticated enough (yet) to recognise what you really meant when you misspelled a word, so your CV could automatically land on the reject pile.

Another trick to help your job application stand out in an increasingly AI-driven recruitment world? Use key words and phrases that the job advert uses, as any recruitment software might be set up to look out for the most relevant information.

3 They’re prepping for text interviews

Could you next job interview be via text or messenger? Savvy job hunters know that text-based interview platforms are now a thing to watch for. One reason for this could be the general consensus that Millennials and Gen-Zers shun talking on the phone for texting and messaging.

If you’re a candidate, there are definite plus points to a text interview. You can do it anywhere with a phone signal, and it’s quicker than a face-to-face. Apparently the average exchange lasts 4.4 minutes so even if you don’t turn out to be a good match you haven’t lost much time.

At Exectec, we’re all for anything that makes it easier for candidates to sail through the recruitment process with the minimum of fuss. In fact many of our nationwide branches ask job hunters to complete online assessment testing before the interview stage, which ticks a lot of convenience boxes for job hunters.

But there’s still a lot to be said for ‘real’ communication. That means video and phone interviews, just as much as face-to-face meetings, which give both parties the chance to know if they’re right for each other. After all, in a world that’s embracing AI and robots, nothing beats good old human interaction!