Technological advancement has seen to it that many companies turn to market their products digitally. This has created a high need for experts in the digital world.
On the other hand, securing a job at a digital startup can prove to be a cumbersome experience. Even though many startups may be hiring, they don’t always create advertisements for job openings through the usual channels.
Moreover, there are several ways you can put yourself in a better position to land your desired digital startup job. This article aims to provide you with five vital tips that you need to know to help you land a job at a digital startup.
- Create a quality profile on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a platform that most employers go to when they are in search of competent employees for their startups. Concerning this profile, here are some of the things that you need to do:
- Explain your experiences in detail. Employers usually search for potential employees using keywords, which in this field could include; “hardware startup”, “Social media”, “mobile apps”, “healthcare IT” or whatever specific niche that you might be experienced in.
- Begin to build up your connections on LinkedIn. You should try to have more than 500 quality connections to start with.
- Request colleagues or clients to add recommendations to your profile.
- Upload any articles that you may have written.
- Add a professional photo and a list of your skills from the most to the least important.
- Be a member of professional groups that are relevant to your area of work, which will then be listed on your profile.
According to this article on Wall Street Journal by Anthony DeRosa, one needs to get the basics right. Your resume and cover letter should be tailored to be able to earn you an interview. You must demonstrate your soft skills and learn as much about the employer and your role as possible.
- Read the most recent content on digital marketing.
As a field, digital marketing evolves very rapidly. It is close to impossible to find a single article that will give a sufficient explanation of the landscape.
Shama Hyder offers several recommendations including the following that can be taken from Hyder’s Forbes article. You must keep yourself informed on any new updates or developments that take place in the digital startup field to make sure you’re always updated. It is also important to read widely and research the company you want to work for so that on the day of an interview, you will be able to express your value to the company.
Make sure your answers are personalized to illustrate how your skills and experiences best qualify you for the job. It earns you a higher chance of landing the job if you share a brief story on a problem that you had and effectively solved. Doing adequate research leaves you confident, sharp, and comfortable during the interview.
- Create a follow-up strategy.
There are high chances that your email application to a company will not get a response. You can send another email, but again, be careful that you do not become bothersome. It is important to keep the emails as direct and as simple and short as possible because the addressed people are always busy and may not have time to read long emails.
In the case of an interview, make a follow-up to thank the people that interviewed you for their time, regardless of the result. Make mention of specific details of things that you talked about to show that you paid attention. Briefly explain why you would be good for the job and express your interest in continuing the conversation with the interviewer.
You can also take the opportunity on LinkedIn to write a short story about yourself, one that is relevant to the kind of companies you are applying to.
- Get good at product management.
Many startups in today’s economy are cautious about the reorganization of resources, their rules and regulations, reduction of costs, and restructuring of their resources. Product managers can perform these crucial functions and can also set up objectives of businesses, establish the target markets to conduct business with.
Being good at product management gives you a higher chance of landing a start-up job. Product Managers enable companies to know their competition and customers, and prioritize tasks for these companies. The tasks performed by a Product Manager are very vital as Digital Authority Partners discusses here.
- Maintain an active online presence.
In most cases, uploading your resume and applications online is never enough to enable you to secure a digital start-up job. There needs to be a high online presence to get you close to achieving this goal.
Most employers who are checking your application will first google your name curious to see what pops up. Your presence online should therefore strategically display your skills and portray how capable you are in making a positive impact in a start-up.
Social media plays a major role in your web presence. Uploading your content online to the people that already know you can increase your odds of landing a job. They can share your work on their pages which widens your presence online and places you in a better position to be noticed by a potential digital start-up employer.
To further your knowledge of start-ups and getting more connections in this field or even a potential chance for employment, you should keep up with the latest news and trends so you can get better ideas.
What we have learned here is that it is not just a matter of making uploads for your application online, or having knowledge in the field of digital startups that can land you a job. You have to be making connections on an on-going basis, have high-quality profiles on every platform to market yourself, and that the learning in the case of digital startups never stops.
We have also seen that when we don’t get email replies, we shouldn’t stop there but make follow-ups, and remember not to be annoying. We wish you a lot of luck in your job search and hope that you found this article useful.