With higher education becoming the norm, and most jobs expecting a university degree, and not to mention the years of work experience to even be considered, you might be struggling with a fear of getting lost in the crowd.
In our grandparents’ day and age, if you graduated high school you were guaranteed a job for the rest of your working career; with our parent's generation, the same applied to university. But what about us - the younger generation? To help, we have compiled a list of ways to help you stand out from the crowd as a professional:
Find something you are truly passionate about
As the old saying goes, you will never work a day in your life, if you love what you do. Today, this is more true than ever! Therefore, don’t look at your job as a way of making money, see it as a rewarding hobby. Find what you love doing and pursue that. In all job applications and pursuits, being truly passionate about what you want to do will help you stand out amongst the crowd.
Create a captivating CV
A job application always starts with sending a company a summary of yourself, both from a personal and professional perspective. This needs to be clean, concise, and informative, but at the same time make you stand out from the competition. You want to make sure to highlight the important skills and experiences you have and cater these to each different application. A simple layout is often key to communicating your personality and experience. Stick to a 1 page CV, as this is more than enough to show a company who you are. Focus on including a professional photograph, and a summary of yourself. If you are not a pro at design, that is okay! Various pre-made CV templates can be found online, in which you can fill in your information and customize them to your heart's content.
Find your voice
It can be difficult to find your voice in a world where everyone seems to have something new and interesting to share. Don’t compare yourself to others and don’t let what you see online or on social media influence your confidence. People only share the best parts of themselves online, and often a lot of what you see is not the whole truth. Therefore, don’t feel the pressure to be someone you are not, just because of what you see others doing if it does not resonate with yourself. It is easy to become another sheep in a massive herd, but it is a lot harder but more rewarding to stand up and be yourself. Reflect on who you are, what you enjoy, and who you want to be, and start from there. People prefer honesty and transparency, and can often see from a mile away if you are pretending to be someone you are not. Being authentic, finding your voice, and not being afraid to speak up even if your opinion is different from the crowd’s, will help you stand out and be remembered.
Focus on self-development
As the world around us continues to rapidly change, to keep up, we need to work on improving our current skills or find new ones to learn. Whether this is through learning a new language or learning how to code, the possibilities are endless. Reflect and review your current skills and look at where you want to be. If these do not match, work towards attaining your goals. You will stand out from the crowd by being self-aware and well-rounded.
Now that we have shared the best tips for standing out of the crowd, how about taking on a new challenge and focusing on your self-development within one of the international hospitality industries? Indeed, you can get a paid work experience in the USA through the J-1 visa!
If you are interested in working in the US hospitality industry? One of the more popular methods is to seek the assistance of a company that specializes in providing placement opportunities abroad. To achieve this goal we recommend Placement International, a company that specializes in the hospitality industry, offering paid internships, management training programs, and employment in the most luxurious hotels and restaurants in the U.S. to numerous people looking to grow their hospitality careers abroad.
Besides providing placement services, Placement International further provides visa-support services and stands beside you closely to ensure that you enjoy your travel and work experience. To know more about how Placement International can help you find a job in a luxury hotel or Michelin-starred restaurant in the USA, Europe, or the Middle East, simply create a profile on Placement International's website (www.placement-int.com) or send your CV to info@placement-int.com.
