How to Make Yourself Hireable

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."-Milton Berle

Job hunting is horrible. It's even worse when you need work but can't seem to get any. After a while, you may even begin to feel like you're simply un-hireable.

It's devastating, and not good on you, mentally speaking. I know this because I'm currently there.

"But Stephi, aren't you supposed to be telling us how to be hireable? Not be in the same position you are?"

Yes, I'm in this current position, but I'm also working on various things to help myself work-wise. So why shouldn't I share what I'm doing with you?

Let's get to it.

Volunteer

Volunteering is something I did for a few hours over the weekends for a couple of months. I was primarily working in the back of a charity shop, steaming and hanging clothes, checking gift aid and such. I was also given admin-related tasks, as well as researching the values of some items that were donated, and on occasion, I would check the stock on the shop floor.

This gave me something valuable to put on my CV, especially when I had yet to have a paying job.

Take Online Courses

I love to learn, but unfortunately, I'm not best in an academic environment. So being able to do online courses from the comfort of my own home is fantastic.

The price you want to pay for a course is completely up to you. I've done courses I've paid for through discount sites such as Wowcher and Groupon.

And sites such as Centre of Excellence have a variety of courses at different prices.

Learn Skills For Free

Online courses are one option, but there's also learning for free.

Youtube, blogs, and the internet in general, have a range of content that you can learn new skills from.

Be it cooking, languages, or content creation, there's a huge range of topics to learn if you go and search for it.

Personally, I'll be using this method to boost my Excel skills. I know Word like the back of my hand, but Excel will help me out!

Is Your CV Up to Standard?

The CV is what they see first. Make it good, make it professional.

I've come a long way with creating CVs. I'm happy with what I've got now, but I know I can improve it simply by rephrasing some of the text I've got written on it.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is my CV professional and formal?
• Is it the best I can create?
• Is it clear and easy to read?
• Is the text well written and free from punctuation, grammatical, and spelling errors?

If you have the budget for it, you can always do a search to see if there's anyone you'd be happy to hire to create a CV for you.

If you want to make the CV yourself, but aren't too sure where to get started, you can google 'CV template'.

Up-sell yourself in the CV, tell them why you should be hired. Don't oversell yourself, you don't want to come across as too big-headed, or give them the impression you've lied or faked your skills and work.

Finding work isn't always easy, in fact, if it's anything like mine, it'll be stressful. But I believe in you. Stick with it, stay positive, and I bet you'll get that job you've been looking for!