We have always been told to do good in school, because graduating university with good grades will get you a “great” job in a “great” company!

While I agree these are great targets to achieve, but there is more to personal and career development and most importantly, we need to ask ourselves what is a “great” job?

Finding a job isn’t only about going into big companies like Google, Alibaba or JP Morgan, it is about the fit. Your talent, your skills and your degree in school all matters when you are looking for a job. You will most likely be getting a job in a financial institution with a finance degree or step into the creative industry with an art degree. Though, you can still get a job in a financial institution with an art degree, but keep in mind that the competition and challenge will be higher!

I’ve learnt a lot about talent acquisition in the past 4 years with a hypergrowth company – Uber and would love to share my experience and tips in today’s talent market.

Fit is the most important thing in finding a job and remember to read the Job description and meet those standards. You will be ruining your chances with the company if you apply to “Marketing Manager” when you have just graduated and have no full-time work experience or apply to a job which requires 2+ years of work experience when you have none. Rather than the role “Manager” maybe go for something like “Coordinator” - being qualified for the job is your first step getting your first interview.

So, how do we apply and score your chance to the first interview and eventually get the job?

Nowadays, it is more difficult to find a job and people are desperate for a job. Being proactive in job hunting is important but being too proactive may land you to a job you aren’t interested or not passionate about. At the end of the day, you should be at a company where you believe in their mission, love what you are doing and learning a ton!

We often apply to countless amount of companies and to do so, we often have just one cover letter and CV we pass along to all companies. However, companies go through hundreds of CVs, spending on average 5 seconds per CV. Therefore, wha makes your CV eye-catching for the first 5 seconds?

Make sure your CV is easy to read. Think of ways on how you can make your CV stands out. When the recruiters go through CVs, they already have the MUST HAVE requirements in mind. For example, sales role may require skills like full-time sales experience, great negotiator or cold calling. You could literally copy those exact same words from the job description on your CV. When recruiters see relevant key words and needed requirements, you should have a chance to get your first recruiter phone call. But remember, never lie on your CV! Not only it is unethical, but also there is no point as they will be able to pick that up while during interview!

What else can we do to find our best fit job?

LinkedIn can be very powerful! Make sure your LinkedIn is updated and fully polished along with a great professional profile photo. Through LinkedIn, you will be able to see whether you have connections with the company you are interested in. It could be your friends, their friends or someone who was in the same club with you during school. Don’t hesitate to reach out to them, employee usually get referral bonus at companies so they will most likely invest time to put your application through the employee referral program. Referrals often are more prioritized than other regular application so this can be a great advantage.

Master degree is definitely a great bonus for your career. Even though it can be very time consuming and need heavy financial investment, but you can learn foundations outside from your undergraduate studies and meet ton of peers from different industries with different experience. Though there are both pros and cons in going straight for a master degree after your undergraduate studies, but I do recommend having real-world experience before getting into masters. Without real-world experience, you won’t be able to contribute much in class discussions, and you will be in disadvantage while finding a job since you are pretty much at the same level as an undergraduate in terms of skills and working experience.

Finding a best fit job can take a little longer, but it is definitely worth the time. Know your passion and find the best suitable job for your current stage. Don’t worry if you couldn’t meet some of the requirements for your dream job yet, evaluate yourself and try to fit the job. Wish you all best of luck in finding your best fit job or even starting something on your own!!

Biography

Sho is originally from the land of the rising sun (Japan), a city named Koshigaya in the Saitama prefecture. Since young age, Sho has moved around the world, growing up and spending time in different countries and cities (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and the US).

Sho attended the Yew Chung International School of Shanghai (Gubei Campus) from year 2000 to 2011. Upon graduating from YCIS SH in 2011, he attended New York University later transferring to HKUST.

Right after graduation, Sho joined Uber in the APAC recruitment team where he learned all-things recruiting and in the 3 and a half years, he contributed and builtworld class teams across Asia, especially in Japan.

Currently Sho is involved in another venture…