Websites to apply for jobs

Get the fundamentals of your CV – and social media – right.

According to Nishan Pillay, executive director for open programs at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), organizations nowadays are as interested in your CV as they are in your online activities. So, in addition to updating your LinkedIn page, make sure your CV looks excellent and is completely spell-checked.

According to Gumtree's Nagel, most competent human resource departments would also examine someone's social media before an interview. Applicants should ensure that their internet presence reflects the picture they want potential employers to see.

"Set your social media accounts to private if there are a few photographs from your New Year's Eve blowout that you don't want your potential employer to view."

However, although you may conceal earlier internet transgressions, be clear and honest in your CVs. This includes neither exaggerating or lying about one's experience, according to Pillay.

And, according to Nagel, don't forget to notify the references you put on your CV that they may be contacted.

Prepare for interviews – and arrive on time.

When applying for a job, applicants often fail to consider logistics, according to Christiaan van den Berg of entry-level employment portal JobJack. For example, individuals should consider how much daily transportation would cost to go to work and if the compensation will be worth it.

Van den Berg advises reviewing the employment criteria, researching the organization, practicing replies to potential interview questions, and preparing questions for the interviewer. Consider your strengths and shortcomings, since this is a common question in interviews.

Then, come 15 minutes before an interview to demonstrate your seriousness.

In interviews, speak less.

People who don't speak about themselves too much, according to Kumeshnee West, director of executive education at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB), create a better impression.

According to a recent Harvard research, individuals spend 60% of their talks talking about themselves.

"By listening more and asking intelligent questions, you demonstrate interest rather than seeming self-absorbed and selfish," West explains.

Get dressed up.

According to GIBS' Pillay, always dress one level higher from the organization you're interviewing with. "You wear sneakers if they're wearing flip-flops."

Avoid wearing too many accessories, avoid caps and sunglasses, and lean on the conservative side, advises JobJack's Van den Berg.

"Button-up shirts are an excellent option."

If you lack experience, put in the effort.

According to Gumtree's Nagel, if you are a new graduate with little or no experience, you are at a disadvantage. She recommends volunteering or working at an unpaid internship in the sector you want to work in - even if it's just one or two days a week.

"Treat that job as if it were a paid employment; who knows, if you make a good impression, it may become one."

To demonstrate initiative, you might also attempt beginning your own company in an area such as babysitting, dog walking, home sitting, or lawn mowing.

Even if you aren't completely fresh to the job market, businesses value life-long learning, according to GIBS' Pillay. That does not have to be academic or formal learning, which are both costly; the internet provides various free ways to broaden your knowledge. Just make sure you're working with trusted content sources.

Network, network, and still another network.

According to Liz de Wet, coordinator of the Executive Women in Leadership course at the UCT Graduate School of Business, women and other minority groups sometimes underestimate the value of networking (GSB).

Networking may lead to career chances and give a foot in the door.

According to GSB's West, you may generate your own networking chances by asking individuals out for coffee or drinks.

Treat job searching like a job.

According to Gumtree's Nagel, if you are jobless, your task is to locate work.

This entails researching the positions you want to apply for and maintaining all of your contact information in a single spreadsheet or file.