Resume Digest Blog

Employers will give preference to those who have an address within reasonable distance from their premises. You need to use the address of a friend nearby if you are applying from interstate.

As a couple, are you prepared to follow your partner to seek better employment elsewhere? It is a costly gamble if you consider the implications of seeking a new dwelling, enrolling the children in a new school, making new friends, etc...

As a single person you are much more mobile and have little to lose.

For all, the best approach is to be transferred within your work organization. So why is the grass greener on the other side? (Some may add it is also tougher to chew once you get there...) If you are stuck in a static situation, relocating might be your circuit-breaker. Relocating or migrating is often a once in a lifetime opportunity where you cannot afford to fail. You will find extraordinary motivation from migrants to pull all stops.

You have two choices: either you wait for the opportunities to come to you or you go and uncover them where they are. Fortunately with the internet you can do a lot of homework before taking the plunge. Another approach which has worked for some is to find cheap accommodation near your new place of work and come back home on the weekend.

Some traditional families have young adults seeking opportunities overseas and sending a part of their earnings to their country of origin to support elderly parents. Not everyone has the benefit of superannuation. Some wise folks have seen the wisdom of investing into the education of their children and in due course are getting the return they deserve when their time of need has come.

An obvious barrier to relocation is language and qualifications. If you are after clerical work or customer facing roles a foreign accent will give you away but being willing to take a lower pay will also give you a foot in the door.

There is so much suspicion about fake foreign diplomas that large companies require candidates to undergo aptitude tests to check your claims and your suitability for the job. It actually works in your favour if you care to prepare yourself for it. It is a fair system where all candidates are assessed by the same standard. It is troublesome for mature workers who realised their experience is not being taken at face value and may fail the test because they are not mentally as sharp.

Resume Digest is an online service to customize your application for each job you are responding to.

Aptitude Tests is an online service to prepare yourself for aptitude, knowledge and IQ tests.

Some people go about their job hunting without any idea of who they are competing against. If not handled properly rejection can induce resentment which will inevitably play against you at an interview.

Gone are the days where you would stand in the town square waiting for someone to hire you for the day.

Applying for jobs is a blind endeavour for candidates who have no clue about the number and calibre of other applicants. For employers it can be a daunting task which explains why so many recruitment agencies have sprung up everywhere.

Are you looking at doing more of the same of what you have done in the past or are you trying to switch careers? Do you have any idea how you come across when you respond to a job post? Is there any way to spare yourself the hassle of being treated like a commodity and get in early on a new opening?

The answer to all these questions depend on how you treat you job hunting activities. If it is a casual past time you will get average results. If you treat it like a full time work you will get the outcome your commitment deserves hopefully.

We are all tainted by our past experience and it is so easy to assume that what worked in the past will continue to work for us - it's just a matter of trying harder...

The way you see yourself is not necessary the way others see you - especially on the employment scene. Employers are lazy and greedy. If they can get it done in India they will. If they can find a clever monkey they will pay peanuts.

So go for the jobs where an Indian accent or a primate approach is not good for the corporate image. Talk to as many people as you can. Check out blogs and forums. Don't waste what money you have left in dubious courses and certifications. Instead train yourself in passing the relevant aptitude tests. Aptitude Tests is an online service to prepare yourself for aptitude, knowledge and IQ tests. See what jobs are in demand even if it means eating some humble pie for a while. If you have lots of time on your hands offer your services as a volunteer and get some credentials that way.

If migration has eroded some opportunities in your area you might have to re-locate but do it only as a measure of last resort. It is very expensive to set new roots if a family depends on you. Some people work in another city and only come home for the weekend.