The job search can become an ordeal for many. It requires hours and hours of writing resumes, looking at offers, waiting for the call or response from companies… Frustration, stress due to the passage of time, fear, uncertainty… There are many negative emotions that can invade us during the process. Eva Porto knows it, and that’s why for almost two years offers advice through social networks to help their followers get the job they want.

Psychologist specialized in human resources, Eva has worked for years as a recruiter, has seen thousands of resumes and interviewed hundreds of candidates for different positions. Therefore, she knows what things we should never do in an interview or some tricks to make our CV stand out among the hundreds that reach companies when they publish a job offer.

Through short and entertaining videos that he publishes on his social networks, he gives us the keys to having a successful job search. Total, accumulates more than a million followers -600 thousand on TikTok and 800 thousand on Instagram- and his success in the digital world has led him to write his first book, What do I do with my life? Revolutionize your job search (Montena, 2022).

In its seven chapters, it breaks down the job search process so that readers have a solid foundation on which to start.

As knowledge is power, Eva Porto seeks empower workers and give them extra motivation. Because, although she was only unemployed for two months after finishing her degree, she herself suffered the anguish and pressure of not finding work, and she considers that “it is a drama” that is not talked about enough.

“Looking for a job is an effort and I think that people who don’t have a job feel bad, because it’s like society sees you as a nini or an unemployed. And you are working harder than ever to find it, but you get very unmotivated,” he declares to MagasIN.

A lack of understanding that is linked to the radical change that has been experienced in recent years. We have gone from looking for offers in newspapers, to having several accounts on different job portals and searching directly on company websites.

Therefore, although the majority of her followers are young people between 18 and 32 years old, Eva explains that some ask him for advice for their parentswho face a very different labor market from the one they knew in their first jobs.

During her interview with MagasIN, Eva Porto comments on some of the most important keys if you are facing the job search:

1. CV or interview, what is more important?

Both parts of the process are essential. However, Eva remembers that “without the resume, you never get to the interview”.

“It’s a bit difficult to choose. You have to start with the resume and even a good profile on the job portal, which in the end is not given so much importance. From there, you have to have the ability to reflect. If, for example, you arrive to the interviews and then they never call you, because you have to work on the interview. If you see that no one calls you for a selection process, something is wrong with your profile or your resume.

@evaportorrhh #curriculum #rrhh #cv #rrhh #empleo #aprendeentiktok #employability ♬ CHICKEN TERIYAKI – ROSALÍA

2. Set goals and routines

Among the initiatives that Eva has carried out, one of the most successful has been the 30 day challenge, in which he posts small daily challenges for all job seekers. It is a way to guide people and, above all, to keep them motivated during the process.

“It’s very important to take the general objective, which is to find a job, and break it down into small objectives to be able to motivate yourself a little, because if it’s not like: ‘I want to find a job, I can’t, well shit.’ But if you make small ones, daily tasks, you feel good about yourself.

And he continues: “That is why we have to look for those tools to also gamify the job search. It is a hard process and people can have a very difficult time, but this way we try to make sure it is not something horrible and that it does not damage your self-esteem, which is what that I felt when I was searching”.

In the event that you need work urgently, Eva advises that you set a short-term goal to find any type of job and, once achieved, if you want, set up a strategy to achieve a better position in the future.

3. Trial-error

Eva Porto insists that her book and its advice are very general, so Each person will have to adapt them to their circumstances and their professional sector.. Therefore, he affirms that the key is in trial-error and being flexible in the way you search.

“I always say that you have to have the capacity for reflection. I can give you a lot of advice, but I am not God, and in the end you have a specific situation and you must know which ones adapt to you. And if you don’t know, try and analyze An example is whether or not to include a photo on the resume. You can try including it and if you see that no one calls you, try removing it,” he explains.

She herself had that trial-error process when she started uploading videos to social networks. She first started on YouTube, but without much success. From there she went to Instagram, and neither. She experimented with different formats and ideas, until she came to TikTok, where she began to have more views and find the style that best fit.

“Mine is not a story that I uploaded a video, it went viral and it was great, but it is like the search, it is trying.”

@evaportorrhh #aprendecontiktok #rrhh #humanresources #curriculum #employability #learn #lifesheet ♬ Don’t Go Yet – Camila Cabello

4. Learn to “sell yourself”

As Eva says, “an interview is not the time to be the most humble person in the world”. Because it is one thing not to be arrogant, and quite another not to take the opportunity to highlight your qualities. In the end, in an interview you have to know how to ‘sell’ yourself, you must convince that you are the appropriate person for the position. A very important factor in which, unfortunately, many people still fail.

“I saw an inequality. A majority of people who didn’t know how and a percentage who did it very well. And that’s also why I started with the videos because it seemed like a great injustice to me. There were people with a lot of talent, who I noticed, but who “They had not developed their communication skills and it was difficult for them to convince.”

“Some even gave you reasons not to hire him. He introduced himself and said: ‘Hello, I’m José Miguel. I have no experience, I’ve never done this…’. But then I saw the resume and thought wow, he has a lot of skills. things cool…”.

5. Admit your mistakes

One of the classic questions in interviews is for you to say three own defects. In these cases, you have to avoid the typical response “I’m too perfectionist” or “I work too much” because, as Eva commented, it’s one thing to know how to sell yourself and another to be arrogant.

With these questions, says the expert, “companies are not looking for people who do not have errors, but who know that they have them because we all have them. “If someone doesn’t know they make mistakes, then there is a problem.”.

The key is have some self-criticism and be real Although, Eva points out, do not point out a defect that has a lot to do with the position you have applied for. “Imagine it’s for a customer service job, so don’t say: I hate talking to people.”

6. Don’t be afraid to reject an offer

In this path of trial and error, Eva remembers that we lose nothing by applying for positions that, perhaps, do not fully convince us or for which we think we are not qualified. It is a way to open ourselves to more possibilities or even practice for future interviews. After all, if you end up passing the selection process, you can always politely decline the offer.

This is a situation that scares many people because If there is any “blacklist” for those who decline the position. But does that list really exist? Eva admits yes, but with nuances. “Let’s see, as a recruiter I am sincere and I do have a small blacklist of people in my brain, but it has never been because they told me no, but rather, because of not having good communication.”

“For example, a person told me that yes, I was writing the contract and at the last minute, the day he was going to join, I called him and he didn’t answer the phone… Or another person who told me that he had a career and when he I asked for the title, I didn’t have it. Well, for the blacklist too. But in the end, it is a matter of not behaving professionally,” he clarifies.

“In the end, what you have to keep in mind is that the recruiter is a person who, if they were offered a job that they were more passionate about, would surely leave that company and there is no problem. It is something human that each one takes “the decision that best suits your needs. The point is to communicate it and do it professionally.”

7. Adapt

“The general advice for looking for work is that It’s like natural selection: Adapt. In the end, people who know how to adapt to the needs of the labor market find it,” emphasizes Eva Porto.

The expert encourages us to leave fears behind and remember that the key lies in finding the value we can contribute, the needs of the sector and adapting our objectives to formal reality – such as training or experience -. Thus, with the passage of time, we will arrive at that dreamed – and necessary – job.

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