INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY – VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

School of Business Administration

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ANALYSIS JOB SEARCH STRATEGY

Submitted by: Group Gia Khanh and friends

NGUYỄN VŨ LAN CHI (BAFNIU18292)
NGUYỄN MINH HIẾU HÀ (BABAIU18047)
ĐẶNG HUỲNH ĐĂNG HUY (BABAWE18614)
NGUYỄN PHẠM GIA KHÁNH (BABAIU18077)
VÕ GIA NGHI (BABAIU18361)
NGUYỄN DIỆU NGỌC (BABAIU18346)
ÔN NGỌC NHI (BTBTIU16173)
PHẠM DIỄM PHÚC (BTARIU17036)

Assignment: No.2
Submitted to: Lecturer NGUYEN VU ANH TRAM
Date of submission: 29/03/2020
Institution: International University – Thu Duc District
International University - School of Business Business Communication

The important thing to do before finding a job that is suitable for you is to analyze
yourself (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, etc.) and find job sources to come up with
strategies to help you. show yourself the skills that make you stand out more than others,
especially in the age of technology development, there are many tools we can use to find
the right job for ourselves. The following analysis will highlight each of the items listed
above.

1) Analyzing Yourself

It is advised that in the first step of your job search, you should have a thorough analysis of your
own self, including your interests, goals, qualifications, and the career opportunities that might
be suitable for you. From the viewpoint of young students/fresh graduates from IU, what are
your strengths/advantages and weaknesses/disadvantages when you apply for a job?

Self-analysis is the very first step in the job search process, which is a guide for each individual
to learn about himself. After figuring out our core values and setting the career goals, we should
identify factors that would support or even prevent us from landing a job.

Fresh graduates have both strengths and weaknesses when they start to join the job market.

Advantages:

● Gen Y, Gen Z are exposed to the Internet early. The more modern this world becomes the
more opportunities that we approach cutting-edge investment.

-> We are up to date about new technologies

● Apart from what we study at school, we can make use of the diverse resources of
information on the digital biosphere for self-study. Having chances to practice lots of case
studies from all over the world.

-> Fresh graduate comes up with fresh ideas/perspectives

-> Good understanding global trends and best practices in the work field

● For students who used to study or have experience working with foreigners during their
college years.
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-> They have the ability to work in a multinational environment

● Most courses in IU require students to do many assignments. projects, field trips.

-> Proficient in MS Office skills

-> Strong communication, cooperation, and leadership

● An open mindset, enthusiastic and highly motivated

● More experience and soft skills if that student joins any school's clubs, projects or
extracurricular activities

Disadvantages:

● Lack of understanding of the changing in the job market

● Understanding and being able to communicate in another language (except English) can help
one candidate have an edge over others, language skill makes the process more competitive

● Less technical expertise compared to experienced employees

● Lack of hand-on experience

● Networking skills need to be improved

2) Section 13-2 and 13-3 has listed out several job-search strategies on both the open and
hidden job market.

• In your opinion, is there any other source not listed in the textbook that you can utilize for job
searching?

• Consider all the sources for jobs and job-searching strategies listed in the textbook as well as
from your suggestion. What are the top three sources/strategies that you think are the most
suitable for young students/fresh graduates from IU? Provide brief explanation for your
answers.
International University - School of Business Business Communication

In this digital age, job searching is not a difficult task for fresh graduate students, the question is
whether that job is suitable for him/ her or not. Fresh graduate students can involve in both the
open job market (also known as a solicited job) and hidden job market (known as unsolicited
position). The open job market positions are listed on Internet, newspaper, journals, or posted
internally in organizations or publicly announce through a career fair. A job that is available, but
it is unlisted or unadvertised is called the hidden job market.

i. Job search in Open Job Market:

Thanks to the development of information technology these days, people have many ways to
seek a job. The Internet has become the most useful source to find a job due to its convenience
and promptness, people spend nearly 5-7 hours a day surfing the web and they can catch the
recruitment advertising easily. People can access the company websites, explore the Big Boards
like CareerBuilder or Monster, use LinkedIn or social networks to learn more about the recruited
position through Internet, or they can check the newspaper at the “Recruitment Section” for
gaining information.

Other suggestion:

One trend that we’ve noticed lately is that there are many listings that advertise career fairs and
job fairs. Job fairs are one of the best ways for job seekers to meet recruiters in person. They are
able to access multiple potential companies at a time. Moreover, the job seekers résumé is
quickly analyzed and replied directly which avoids time-wasting compared to applying for a job
through a career website or through a job board.

ii. Job search in Hidden Job Market:

One important way to enter the hidden job market is by creating networking for themselves. To
create a network, you should have to meet and communicate with the people. In today’s digitized
world, everyone is using social network sites to keep in touch with friends and family members.
Except for being in touch with them, we can also create a circle to find out a job so that everyone
in that circle can share information with each other about any known job. Another way to help
you maintain the network is by developing a phone number list and personal contact with known
persons like friends, neighbors, relatives, and in communities also to help you find the job in the
hidden market.
International University - School of Business Business Communication

Other suggestion:

Leaving a good impression to the target employer creates your own job. Keep a positive attitude
and maintain confidence in yourself and show the strengths that you can bring to the employer.
Throughout employment process or internship period, keep the focus on how you can contribute
your skills and knowledge to help the prospective employer, present your qualifications
convincingly, this may motivate an employer to create a job for you as a result of confidence,
creativity, and ingenuity. How can we know which employer is our target one and how can we
leave a good impression on them? Take my brother as an example of this question: In his
internship period, he found out that he matched with senior people because he can find the
common things between them and him. Then he watched the news, read books to find the topic
for their talks to show that he has wide knowledge in many aspects. This is not only leaving a
good impression to senior employers due to his knowledge, his respect for others, but also create
new relationships in the workplace for long-term purposes.

However, no matter what the source is, finding the right position is one of the most important
activities that any student will pursue. To do that, they should ask themselves questions that
related to their personality, and their ability in each aspect, they should develop SWOT
(Strengths – Weakness – Opportunities – Threats) strategy to find their position and narrow the
target to find a right and suitable position in an appropriate company.

The three most suitable sources/strategies for fresh graduate students from IU

After an extensively careful and thorough consideration process, we have decided the top three
that fresh graduates will find it useful for their job searching is presented as follow:

Sources Strategies Brief explanation

1. Internet  Based on SWOT Students in the digital age are
model to find out the sensitive to Internet problems and
company that recruits they know how to optimize the job
the right position for search for themselves. According
yourself. to research, students spend more
International University - School of Business Business Communication

 Build your online time surfing the web looking for

image to attract jobs than reading newspapers
employers. because they can contact and learn
 Create the online more about the company they
curriculum vitae with intend to apply for quickly.
highlighted
qualifications for
quick applications
 Develop a social Students today are very active, and
networking circle. they are always proactive in
 Develop a phone creating relationships from before
number list. graduation with famous people in
 Develop personal the field they pursue to bring
contact. benefits not only in job search but
 Make use of also as Professional support to help
2. Networking
relationships with them on the job path. In particular,
friends, neighbors, IU students through the school's
relatives. activities have brought them
 Join professional networking with professionals
groups for many through sponsorship or inviting
specialized speakers to judge the competitions.
information.
3. Motivation for a  Leave good Today's students are considered the
target employer impressions about z generation because they are
attitude, ways to deal always looking for good ways to
with people, deep achieve their goals, they know how
knowledge. to behave wisely to be kind to
 Create new people and they are proactive in
relationships. every situation for the sake of
yourself. Especially for IU
students, through job fairs, it is a
special opportunity for students to
International University - School of Business Business Communication

impress the employers of the

company they want to apply for,
and they know how to attract the
attention of recruiters. Employers
are willing to invite them to work
for their companies with the
knowledge and skills that students
have.

3) Networking is an efficient way to explore the potential of the hidden job market. As
young students, what can you do to build a meaningful network for your career? For this
question, you should first read the textbook for general guidance and references only. Then,
come up with specific suggestions and recommendations that are suitable and applicable for
you.

It goes without saying that creating social networks places an emphasis on career-building for
our future. However, detailed guidelines on how to build profound networking are not taught
during our studying course. Hence, these following recommendations are encouraged for
International University to form relationships for our future path. 

First and foremost, building our offline network is the very essential step to emerge into hidden
job market. This success involves creating our meaningful network in everyday routine. For
students like us, university professors and classmates are considered as the most likely yet
potential sources of suggestion when it comes to job hunting. Just in case one of our lecturers’
former students is looking for an outstanding candidate to fill up the vacant position, our names
will probably pop up in the teachers’ mind. Apart from job introduction, our professors can
excellently play the role of either consultants or insight-providers, which offers the most perfect
mentors into job market for novices.

Another solution to address the problem of job seeking is to actively get involved in campus
events. Those dynamic activities can happen around such environment like school campus or
International University - School of Business Business Communication

dormitory. At school, we will try to extend our circles of acquaintance by joining a variety of
associations from academic clubs to youth union. There is an abundance of occasion such as
workshops, talk shows, mock job interviews, or annual competitions to offer us an opportunity
for a broader network and the first preparation to dive into the job market. Since these activities
like this are mostly welcomed by distinguished speakers or experienced mentors and advisors,
our participation guarantees that we will not miss out on any chance to increase our connection
to job hunters. Also, instead of being a couch potato at home, we try to expand our networking as
well as explore brand new experience such as taking up a foreign language class or signing up
for a public speaking course or attending outside workshops about soft skills and lifestyles, etc. 

Specially, an annual event that appeals a wide network of job hunters and job seekers is job fair
or career fair, which usually takes place in universities. While recruiters provide the information
to potential applicants, the seekers have the chance to make good impression on the company or
organization we aspire for by speaking face to face to the employers and asking several questions
to get the general environment at their future workplace or filling in the CV. If we are not lucky
enough to get the job, at least we are able to have the contact information of plenty of recruiters
and employers. 

In addition to offline networking, social media is also one of the best ways for students to start
building meaningful relationships. The first powerful tool is LinkedIn, which is widely used by
professionals, businesses, or even job hunters. Therefore, we should use it to build personal
branding if we want to find high qualified jobs after graduation. To get started, we first take
time to create LinkedIn profile step by step, which includes a professional photo, personal
summary, experiences, and an overview of our skills to give potential connections (like future
employers) a better sense of our abilities, goals, or how we add value to their network. Another
benefit of LinkedIn is reviewing the profiles of our peers or even professionals in our field by
using keyword research. For example, if you type the words “HR manager” on its search tool,
the results will be different people who work in an HR manager position. This not only helps us
find ideas for highlighting our profile but also gives us the chance to gain valuable experiences
from different career paths others took. After finishing LinkedIn profiles, we can send
connection requests, starting with people who have a commonality such as mutual connections or
a shared topic, and gradually spreading our connections. 
International University - School of Business Business Communication

 
Other extraordinary tools for expanding powerful relationships is Facebook. Firstly, it can be
seen that our friends, seniors, etc. can be found and easily contacted through Facebook, thus we
can make use of this feature to make and stay in touch with our connections. Let’s take one
simple instance. We can grow our network effectively through personal referrals from old
contacts like friends, family, or part-time colleagues, so why don’t we leverage these
relationships? One of the fastest solutions to reconnect is engaging them in numerous ways via
Facebook such as sharing relevant content, giving them a congratulations message on their
birthdays or recent achievements, etc. We should also ensure to keep the online conversation
going or sometimes invite them to hang out to reestablish our relationship.

The second way to professionally benefit from Facebook is joining Facebook groups or liking
fan pages related to our professional interests or future orientation, which provides lots of useful
information and networking opportunities. For example, if we want to be a future startup
entrepreneur, we can join the group named “Administration and Entrepreneurship” to share and
learn useful knowledge about this field, which helps us improve our personal capacity and
organizational productivity. This is also our chances to get acquainted with group members
including famous business owners, entrepreneurs, etc. through discussions with them, or even to
take the conversations offline.

In general, there are some friendly reminders for those who want to build valuable relationships
for career purposes. First, we are suggested to step out our comfort zone and keep an open-
minded attitude for new connections. Next, making the first move is not as scary as it may sound.
That move will not only help us to act on our initiative but also gain a self-confident
performance.  Lastly, it takes a lot of time to create new net workings, so maintaining them is of
pivotal importance. 

To sum up, there are actually various ways for us to build fulfilling relationships. In reality, each
person has unique personality traits, interests and values; hence our most important task now is
taking the time to understand ourselves and our true potentials, and then find our own methods to
meet and develop future quality connections.
International University - School of Business Business Communication

4) Currently there are several career-orientation events and job fairs organized for
students, by universities, youth organizations and companies as well. What should you do,
in terms of pre-event preparation, during the event, and post-event, to make the most of
these m opportunities?
To have a good performance, as well as increase the chances of finding and getting a job in
career orientation and job fair, requires us to prepare carefully and effort of each of us, and here
we can clearly see the three most important moments in which we need to act: before, during and
after the show.

Before career orientation and job fair, we will find out which companies and organizations will
participate and which industries and sectors they will bring to the job. Next, we will identify
which companies will bring career opportunities to ourselves and further we will learn more
about the working environment, company culture, how it works. After that, re-selecting to find
the most suitable companies is necessary to increase your chances of working.

During career orientation and job fair, we will focus on learning more about the companies we
have screened. And most importantly, in order to better understand the company, we have
learned before, we can ask the consultants at the booth and consider whether the information
they bring is accurate or not. And from there, we will make more realistic and thorough decisions
in choosing the company. And besides that, in order to get the attention of employers at the
career orientation and job fair, we need to be more concerned about the direction their company
is heading. And it is very important that we leave our information at each booth so that they can
easily contact us. It can be said that our performance also plays a huge role in these job
opportunities.

After the career orientation and job fair process we need to make some decisions. Having had
real experiences, it is certain that we can understand the nature and operation of a company. And
at the same time, we can consider our own capacity to be able to make the most appropriate
choice.
International University - School of Business Business Communication

After all the thorough preparation, our job now is to wait for the contact from the employer. It
can be seen that thorough preparation will bring a good result.