Yogyakarta, November 6th 2020 – Career Development Center (CDC) Fisipol UGM held another discussion called “Job Hunters: What Should I Do?”. This discussion was a part of the Mental Health Society CDC FISIPOL UGM webinar series. This event was held by CDC in order to give tips to manage stresses and career planning in the future. This discussion presented a speaker, Emmanuella Reika, a Senior Partnership Event Specialist of Nusa Talent and Galuh Setia, a psychologist of STIPSI Yogyakarta and HR Practitioner.
Starting her presentation, Reika talked a lot about personal branding, tips on managing LinkedIn and also good interviews. Her experience in Nusa Talent as a Job Platform made her tell many stories about how Nusa Talent became a bridge for the job seekers and companies. Before giving tips about LinkedIn branding, Reika talked about the importance of knowing yourself. “At least we should know about what values that we could sell, what we need, and what are our plannings in the future,” Reika explained.
What she meant by value is something that differs us from other people. According to her, at least there are three things that can be analyzed for knowing our values. There are skills, experiences, and accomplishments. In addition, according to Reika, it is important to know the values and needs in order to be able to have good expectations. “So when we graduate and look for jobs, at least we can ‘sell ourselves’ to a job that could fulfill our needs,” she added.
To start a relation and find a suitable job, Reika provided some tips for managing your LinkedIn account professionally. The concept is similar to online shopping where the customers, in this case the job seekers, would take a look at the quality and the price that are offered. Reika revealed that at least 88% of the use of photos on LinkedIn or CV is not professional yet. In fact, according to her, that is very important for our LinkedIn appearance. “LinkedIn is a platform for the professional world, so the photos must also be professional,” she said.
In addition, we should consider other aspects such as the background that must be adjusted to our expertise or skills. No less important than that is the “about” point which should describe ourselves well. According to Reika there are four ways to make an interesting “about” column. First is purpose, we should have a vision linked to a short-term or long-term plan. Second is experience, things that are already done and can sell like education, organization, and other experiences. Third is skill. Fourth is believe, a concluding section that can conclude the self-description. In this closing, we can use the motto and other things according to the preferences of each individual.
Then, about managing stress in this pandemic time, Galuh Setia presented a material about Managing Stress in Career Preparation. This thing is important to maximize our potencies in a career during a pandemic. “Because basically, career preparation is actually the biggest developmental task of humans when they enter their late teens or early adulthood,” she explained. So, according to her, it is natural that many people will feel afraid, tense, and worried about career planning. According to Galuh, the fears that arise are closely related to the extent of career planning and the social background of each individual.
This is explained by Galuh as a result of the gap between expectations and reality. This gap then causes feelings of anxiety and triggers stress. Therefore, Galuh provides suggestions to minimize the gap between these expectations and reality. This step can be done by improving mood, taking advantage of the social environment, and return to the original goal.