With the full-time undergraduate employment rate declining from 72.2% to 68.7% (2019 to 2020)1, finding work is tough for young Australians. What they lack in work experience, 9-5 newbies must add to their artillery as much as possible to compete with other applicants. With the labour market moving to be more online based, there is increased pressure to turn the digital naïve into digital natives.

The ongoing global pandemic has highlighted the need for robust IT skills. As companies have moved to remote ways of working, it is becoming essential for candidates to have up-to-date technological skills. For the last 18 months, COVID-19 has shaped a large portion of how we work and with evolving guidelines, it’s crucial for candidates to adapt.

Research2 reveals employers have trouble recruiting staff, with a lack of suitable applicants the most common reason (48%) for recruitment difficulty. Lacking experience (17%) and lacking technical skills (14%) are the other challenges facing recruiters. For entry-level graduates without work experience, showcasing their course-acquired skills becomes essential.

Highlighting your digital, online and IT skills is one way to appeal to prospective employers, according to world-leading IT training specialists, Koenig Solutions. Here are their top five tips to help you become a front- runner.

Presentation is key.

They say you only have seven seconds to make a first impression. To ensure you get to that crucial interview stage, start with your resume. Make sure your cover letter really showcases who you are and tailor it to each company you’re applying to. Using graphic design platforms such as Canva to spruce up your resume so it becomes your own personal sales pitch. But be careful not to go overboard and clutter with graphics and fonts! Lead with the most relevant information to the role and highlight your biggest selling points up front.

Ensure you are digitally literate.

This does not mean you are able to break down firewalls or build websites from scratch. But rather have the confidence and appropriate skills to navigate technology. Be it through practising digital safety and wellbeing, communicating and collaborating, investigating, creating and managing and operating online.

Link up your LinkedIn.

In a world where distanced encounters and Zoom interviews are becoming increasingly popular, your online profiles must connote professionalism, especially your LinkedIn. It is essential that what is printed on your physical resume, matches your profile online. Keep on top of updating both and making relevant connections wherever possible.

Upskill where necessary.

You can never have too many skills, especially with the everchanging environments and constantly changing technologies! Upskilling does not require you to start from scratch and go back to university, instead it’s about deepening your current understanding of a topic to improve outputs. Investing in yourself automatically adds value to the organisation you’re applying for, which will always be a benefit to them. There are plenty of short-courses or ‘micro-credentials’ (via in-person or online) that you can take part in to make your resume stand out. Something as simple as a Microsoft training and certification course can ensure that your knowledge is in line with the newest practices and open a lot of doors in the online evolution of our workforces.

Internships are everything.

Whether completed pre or post study, internships are the closest thing new graduates can get to work experience. It will give you a taster of what to expect and allow you to acquire some of those required skills that you can’t obtain through a course such as interpersonal skills, commercial awareness and self-reliance. Partaking in an internship could even lead to a further role within the company.

If you’re looking to get your foot in the door of your dream job, investing in additional learning is the perfect place to start. Koenig Solutions is offering the digital naive the chance to bolster your resume to set yourself apart from the competition, particularly for young Aussies, to make entering the workforce less of a daunting feat.