If you are a VLSI professional and planning to make your first job switch this article will help you.
You have joined the industry, working for a while. Now one of your colleagues or someone in your friend circle has changed job with amazing salary hike. He is happy and sharing about his journey. Now you started to think whether you should make a move. Lets discuss about it. Job change is not a mandatory thing. Every person and his/her situation is different from the other so there is no simple and straight answer to this question.
Reasons behind Job Change :
Now let’s see, what are the most common reasons behind job change. First job change is not exception. All these reasons are valid for first job change also. Most popular reasons are :
1. Not satisfied with present company :
You don’t like your present company. You expected a better management, a little bit more activities in company. Its has an all work and no fun attitude, many of your collegues like it, whereas you expect more events. Even the situation could be reverse, you are a reserve person and the office conduct a lot of activities. You do’t like this environment.
Whatever may be the reason you want a change.
2. Looking for a better pay package :
You love almost everything about your present job. Amazing ambience, Friendly boss and collegues, very less office politics, amazing work life balance although salary hike is not good. For last three Financial year even after apriasal it seems your salary stuck at the same range. You want a better pay.
3. You are not enjoying the job role :
You don’t enjoy the work or project you are in. You’ve just grown out of your current role or your skills don’t match up to your personal interests. You often feel stressed and tired because of the situation. You tried to find a different job role in your company and no positive results came. You are looking for a better job role where your potential are utilised and lead you to more opportunities in future.
4. When you have personal reasons :
There might be many personal reasons. Any reason which is beyond your control and at the same time is hampering your life. It might be office politics, might be work life balance, work culture or anything.
5. When you want to pursue other goals:
You have some other goals in life and your present job is hindering it.
6. Company is facing down time :
Many times a company faces business downtime, which means financial crunch. In such a situation initially any company will try to manage the crunch and restore the equilibrium. Although after certain period they are compelled to layoff some off their employees. If you see your company is coming hard on expenses and many of your Mid to Senior level managers are leaving the company there is a sign that some financial trouble is there. You might start to look for a new job.
7. You feel undervalued :
You feel undervalued in your present company. This might be general culture of the company , none of the employees feel valued so they are not that motivated to do the work. Another scenario is you are facing politics and they just don’t want to give you credit. This is basically psychological push back. One part in you want to protest another part in you is completely frustrated and sad. Gradually you lost belief on your company. In my opinion its better to leave toxic people and toxic ambience behind. If you believe that you can do somthing better that petty office politics then go for it.
Stages of Preparation :
If you have any or many of the above reasons you might plan to change the job. When you look for job change you must assess your situation with utmost sincerity. Once you have decided to change start preparations, i.e
1. Prepare your CV/ Resume
2. Start technical preparation
3. Take HR preparation
1. Prepare your CV/ Resume:
This is your first job change and most important part of your CV/ resume is your work experience. Whatever you have done in these few years list it properly and mention it in the CV. Use generic terms so that everyone understand. Don’t mention any term that indicate anything confidential, Remember you have signed Non disclosure agreement with your present employer.
Also take good care in writing the CV, its creates good impression. Since you are a salaried person if needed take professional help.
2. Start technical preparation :
You are one job old now. So the first question you will face regarding your job role. They will ask you many questions to understand how much you have understood your job role. If your understanding is clear its obvious that you are a person with technical capabilities and logical reasoning and obviously you can learn new things. So probability of getting hired is high.
During interview multiple technical person may ask you same question, its because all of them want to judge your capabilities from different angle and when the panel meet post interview thay can get 360 degree idea about your job role and your performance to rate you.
3. Take HR preparation :
Be well prepared for HR interview. Since you are experienced first question you will face is “Why do you want to change the job?”. Prepare the answer. Never be too personal. Even if you faced harsh politics don’t utter a single word about it. Limit your answer in better work oppurtunity or what you see great in the job role. We have listed some common HR questions, such as :
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Why are you interested in this position?
3. Why are you leaving your current job?
4. Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses.
5. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
6. What do you know about our company?
7. Why should we hire you?
8. What questions do you have for me?
These are most cliche questions, but trust me in every interview we have faced almost all these questions. Even you will face them. Actually they want to judge you as an employee as HR team is responsile for managing ppl and keeping an equillibrium in the office ambience.
Start looking for job when you are absolutely sure that this job change is necessary as too much job hopping is not good for one’s career. You need to spend few years in a company/job role to build up a solid work history. Otherwise its hard to demonstrate your abilities and value to potential employers. Job hopping can also lead to gaps in your employment history, which can be viewed negatively by employers.
As a thumb rule, start looking for a new job before you desperately need to. You will need to work hard for 3-6 months to find a better role.
Hope this article will help you. All the best from us in advance. If you have any question in your mind feel free to post in comment section. We will be happy to help you with best of our abilities.
Find the video lecture on this topic here :
Courtesy : Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
