I have watched several friends and family join the ranks of the jobless – a seemingly ever-growing sea of intelligent, hard-working Australians predicted to rise to seven percent by mid-2010.
Feeling ambivalent about leaving the safe haven of university is something I have in common with many others in my position. Quite understandably, many of us are nervous about stepping into the ‘real world’ of job-hunting that sees graduates competing in pools of hundreds and sometimes thousands of applicants for one single position.
So how does one manage to beat out the other starry-eyed graduates vying for the same spot?
Daryl Warren, Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia, recently wrote an article for the PRIA website arguing that Communication is the key to turning a crisis into an opportunity for any smart business.
“Consistent, strategic communication will build your business’s brand and trust, now and when the good times come again”.
For students like me these ideas are relevant to our fight to get our feet in the door of the workplace – where we must become our own brands and communicate to potential employers in order to stand out from the rest.
It’s commonly known that brand recognisability is the key in the commercial success of any product and the same goes for jobseekers. It’s not just about what you know or even who you know anymore, it’s the way you can present yourself and what you have to offer that counts.
