An Interview with Sohaib Hasan on How to Get Jobs on LinkedIn and Transition from one Career to Another

The rate at which job seekers complain about failed job interviews and their resumes being snubbed is appalling. It seems the recruiters and hiring managers derive pleasure in hurting the job seekers.

Who knows?

You can’t treat job seekers like a piece of trash simply because they are looking for jobs. Considering the fact that we are all job seekers at some point in time.

However, we could rant from now till the end of the world, it won’t change anything. Rather, this will continue to go on until we provide a lasting solution to this problem. That has propelled me to search for help from a Career Coach like Sohaib Hasan. 

Sohaib Hasan is a career advisor that offers a worldwide service for job seekers and those looking to transition into another career. 

Hello Sohaib! Can you please share your journey on how you started and grow to become a career advisor?

Thank you for the opportunity to showcase my interest and be the voice of job seekers. It all started back in 2013, in Germany, when I helped a friend of mine land at a job opportunity. I can still echo my excitement at that time and how I felt. I realized that God wants me to be the servant to job seekers’ entire community. It took a while though but I started to grow my audience and since then it has become a passion.

I do come across your posts most times on LinkedIn, and I must admit that they are really golden nuggets. Can you talk more about your advocacy for job seekers and those looking to make a career transition?

LinkedIn has evolved so much in the past 5-7 years that I may not be able to summarize here. But yes, the tools which are available now on LinkedIn I call them as Success Tools. Those who are looking for a career change or are unemployed should begin using LinkedIn to its fullest potential. You will never know how things will connect and a simple click can give you the career break.

Looking at the complaints from job seekers about not getting jobs or scaling through the interview session, what do you think is wrong with their job search process?

I will be honest here, unless the applicants do not tailor their resumes/profile for the job they are applying for; it is unlikely that they will be contacted. It is as simple as when you go to shop to buy a shirt; you make sure it fits on your body and yes it looks good as well. Similarly, make sure the resume is skin tight with the job description. I usually say – that if you have amazing communication skills, you can drive any interview to success and win it.

You have worked with many employees looking to transition into another job, what can you say is the most likely problem that would face them at the initial stage?

People usually come up and say – I wish to change my industry, employer or region etc. The most important thing here is to identify if these wishes are influenced or you actually see the career breakthrough taking this step. The biggest challenge is for those who have worked for many years in one industry and now they want to change the industry. I would say this is the initial stage challenge for anyone then who is moving from an industry to another that their applications may not be seen very promising.

How can they overcome this problem especially at the initial stages?

Can I say in two lines:

• Build your network who can talk on your behalf that you are the best fit,
• Be able to showcase your passion for this change (and not just for the sake)

How can someone who wants to work in a foreign country write his/her CV to suit a foreign company?

The best is to google and read about the cv formats used in that region. You can also google the job portals available in that region and then check out the BLOG section. It is likely that you would get so much information that it will not only save your time but you get different perspectives on the same question / topic. This will help you build further action plans.

Do you think LinkedIn can play a good role for job seekers in landing jobs?

Absolutely yes!

How do you think job seekers can apply for a job with at least 70 percent success?

This is a good question. Now when you say with 70% success, here we talk about the efforts that will be required to put in:

• tailor resume to the job ad
• put keywords in the resume and make sure your resume is ATS (Applicant tracking system) compliant
• reach out to your network if they can push your application
• do not forget to follow up after you have submitted job application (no matter how many, chase them)

If you would advise a job seeker and an employee looking to transition into another role, what would your advice be?

Be genuine and honest with yourself for the role that will satisfy your wishes and help you achieve your dreams. Do not just do any job, if you do, you are more likely to leave it soon.

How people can reach out to you?

They can connect and follow me on LinkedIn.

Also I run a telegram channel where my subscribers get the latest updates on jobs, career tips, networking events, videos and LinkedIn Lives. To join simply download telegram app and search for “SohaibHasanOfficial”. Alternatively you can logon here.

Thank you, Sohaib Hasan, for your time. I wish you great success in your career.