Does job searching take the biscuit? Here are 5 tasty ingredients to help you rise to the top!

If you’re familiar with ‘The Great British Bake Off’, you’ll know that the showstopper bake is an opportunity for the candidates to showcase their skills, talent and experience. Like this fearsome challenge, a new job search is similar. But don’t panic, following our 5 step recipe will ensure you’re the star candidate amongst other job hunters.

1. Organising your recipe ingredients – Make sure you’re the Star candidate with a show-stopping CV! It is vital to start the process understanding and showcasing your skills, talent and experience in a coherent way. Writing a strong CV can be a difficult task, so take a look at our CV writing guides HERE and HERE.

2. Mix it up – Is it time to change career and tackle a new sector? Having written that killer CV you should have noticed the transferrable skills you probably have. This is a specific set of skills that don’t belong to a particular niche, industry or job; they are general skills that can be transferred between jobs, departments and industries. Here is a list of skills that you may have overlooked:

• Leadership and team management
• Problem solving
• Teamwork ability
• Communication skills
• Time management
• Work ethic
• Listening and providing feedback

Employers often value these skills because they can be used in so many ways in the workplace. Transferable skills tend to bring flexibility, diversity, portability and employability.

3. Don’t be half baked – Make sure you have the right job strategy. Understanding what you want to achieve from your next opportunity, finding the right time and right resources to seek these opportunities will, in time, land you your dream role. Alter your CV to match the specific roles you’re applying for, highlighting skills you posses that meet the job criteria. Read more on creating a winning job strategy HERE.

4. Test, test and test again – Like the showstopper challenge, where the bakers practice, practice, practice to make the perfect bake, you must do the same with your job search. Let’s face it, you won’t be successful for every job you apply for and sometimes you won’t even hear a response from a potential employer. However, it’s important you request and listen to any feedback you receive and change your CV or interview technique accordingly.

5. Assembling your bake – The last step is putting your creation together. Following the previous steps correctly should put you in good stead to succeed in your job search and help you rise to the top of the candidate pile! After all, like Mary Berry, employers don’t like a soggy bottom!