New Year, New Career: 7 Things to Know as a Job Seeker in 2025
Posted by Latifat Raimi | 2 months ago | 210 times
Undoubtedly, the new year offers many people a new spurt of motivation. This motivation can prompt us to reflect on how we want to improve our lives in this new year, whether socially, personally, physically, or professionally.
As a fresh graduate, soon-to-be graduate or job seeker, while you go about “New Year New me” make sure the following are part of your New Year resolution.
Say no to job scarcity mindset
There are jobs everywhere but the question is are you positive about searching for jobs? Do you have the basic skills required for the job? Are you willing to apply for these jobs?
Thousands of jobs are posted daily on LinkedIn and other job boards like Indeed. If you search for any job title on LinkedIn today, you’ll likely find at least 100 openings, if not more. The issue isn’t a lack of jobs—it’s often your mindset holding you back. Don’t wait any longer; start applying now!
Resume/Cover Letter
Sometimes this year, I had the privilege to review some resumes for an organization and I could only give a pass to 2% of the applicants based on their resumes. And most of the applicants are graduates.
Most of the resumes are without sections, poor alignment, different fonts and; sizes, experience sections not justified, spelling and grammatical errors etc.
You don't have to be a professional but as a job seeker, these are basic formatting techniques you should know. Even if you intend to hire a resume specialist like myself, you need to know the basics.
If you can't afford a professional service, Go to YouTube, learn more about resume crafting, and attend resume crafting workshops. I facilitated 2 free resume crafting workshops this year for over 100 people, I taught them the importance of ATS compliance and also introduced them to AI software to aid resume ATS compliance processes for free.
Cover Letter is the icing on the cake, it means you're going the extra mile to show how you're the best fit for the job. There is no excuse for a bad resume, Google and YouTube are your friends, go on a date with them!
LinkedIn creation/optimization
If you don't have a LinkedIn account as you're reading this right now, you should have one by the time you're done reading this. If you have an account and it's not yet optimized, go do that now. Don't ask me how your answer is in the last paragraph of bullet 2.
Upskilling
Having relevant skills will elevate your chances of getting a job, especially as a young graduate with little or no experience. And not just hard/technical skills but soft skills play an important role in the recruitment process.
No organization will pick someone with the required technical skills who will not abide by company policy and ethics or of visible toxic traits with no value for company culture over someone willing to learn the technical aspects while having the right soft skills for the role.
For soft skills “Forward McKinney” is at the top of the list of courses to take. Some other organizations that offer courses where you can gain both hard and soft skills include ALX, Tech4dev, SLA ( female only), MyDreamConnect Tech Bootcamp (I was one of their digital instructors so I can attest to this) etc. Research the basic requirements and skills required for the job role you're interested in and upskill yourself in this area.
Internship/Volunteering
I got my first official job through an internship. I develop and get better at my skills by offering my service to organizations for free.
Not everybody will get an entry-level role immediately after school, some of us have to start from the basics, while we search for a job and upskill ourselves. Do not wait until an offer comes, apply for internship and volunteer roles (both paid and unpaid). I have done both and trust me even without the money you will get value in as much as you're open-minded.
Job Application
One of the complaints by job seekers is “ I applied for a job but they never called me back”. Applying for a job is a game of numbers, if you have applied for 10 jobs the probability of getting an interview is 1%. Apply for 10 jobs per day in 5 days that's 50 jobs, in 20 days it is 200 jobs. Do this every month and you will get nothing less than 5 interviews per month. This isn't a baseless theory, it is what I have done, and still doing.
Interview
Your resume will only get you to meet the recruiter, how you handled your interview will determine if you're considered or not. Want to ace your interview? Go on another date with your Google, YouTube and even ChatGPT. Conduct mock-up interviews, and ask for feedback from interviewers.
No interview experience? No problem. You can apply for jobs you're not qualified for or least interested in. Just to gain interview experience, you should attend the interview if selected, this is to boost your confidence and reduce your anxiety because you're not tense or too desperate.
What will your job search resolution be?
Each year, we have the priviledge to change for the better. Whether it is in our social lives, hobbies, spiritual or even our careers, each January we have the opportunity to make a resolution on who we want to be.
So, ask yourself “where do I want to be professionally this year”? Use this as your target and do your best to make progress every day towards it.
The new year will only feel new if you embrace change; your journey to a better you begins with bold new steps.
