How to find your dream employer

Many of us have changed our priorities or had a career epiphany in the last year or so. There’s nothing like a crisis to make you reconsider where your life is headed or what you want to achieve. If you have started to reevaluate your career path or you’ve decided to pivot your career entirely you’re not alone. According to recent research from Reed over half of their survey respondents say they have changed their priorities when searching for a ‘dream employer’ since the pandemic hit. 

So, when you’re looking for a sustainable long-term career in procurement and supply chain, how do you decide what aspects of an employer to prioritise? And how do you then identify the businesses that can offer you what you want? Read on to discover some top tips on how to find your dream employer. 

Define your goals

Even the most talented procurement and supply chain professional is likely to struggle if they don’t know what you want from a role, or a company. The Reed survey found the majority of respondents (38%) were looking for a salary increase, which is what you’d expect. Just slightly behind in second place with 35% of the vote was wanting a company that treats its staff better. This is very encouraging when you consider that an HSE report revealed that 828,000 people in Great Britain suffered from work-related stress, depression or anxiety between 2019 and 2020 alone. It’s certainly time to prioritise our well-being. 

So, whether it’s better remuneration, a healthier workplace culture, job security or training and progression opportunities, make sure you establish your goals before you start your search. And if you aren’t sure, don’t worry. Talk to one of the consultants at Bramwith. They have plenty of experience with helping candidates discover their dream employer and are happy to help. 

Identify the employers you’re interested in

Keeping the goals and ambitions from the earlier step in mind, try to build them out into a wider picture of what your dream company looks like. Here’s a list of questions to start you off: 

1. What business sector, or sectors, are you interested in working in? 
2. Do you want to work for a large organisation or a smaller venture?
3. Do you want to work at an established firm or a startup?
4. What kind of management structure would you prefer/do you thrive in? 
5. What kind of workplace culture would you enjoy? 
6. Where are you prepared to travel to? 

Find out where the job opportunities are

Sometimes fate intervenes and your dream employer is hiring right now and you are 100% suited for the role. But even if your ideal company isn’t on the lookout at the moment there’s no harm in contacting them to see if you can submit a CV for them to keep on file. If they don’t encourage that approach, consider following them on social media or asking your recruitment consultant to keep an ear open for you. 

If you have your goals in mind and are open to hearing about opportunities from a variety of companies then settle get yourself set up for a good look at the various job sites and social media and get those keyword searches refined with your requisites and nice-to-haves. 

Refine your list

For some people, it’s more effective to cast your net wide in your initial search then narrow it down once you have done your research. For others, a more comfortable approach is to zoom in on the perfect roles and try your luck before expanding your search. If you are in the latter group, feel free to move on now to the next section. If you are in the former, it’s time to refine your list. 

Job specs can say a lot about a company, but it’s definitely worth extending your research to the company’s marketing channels and even review sites like Glassdoor to get a broader view of the company values and whether you will be a good fit there. Many businesses have a ‘meet the team’ area on their website that will tell you more about their story. They may even have recruitment-focused social media channels. If you do check review sites, take the content of the posts with a pinch of salt. They are often written by disgruntled employees and you don’t want to miss out on your dream job because of biased reviews. 

Perfect and submit your application

Once you have your dream employer in your sights, it’s time to refine your CV and target it at the company, or companies you’ve chosen. Even if you have updated your CV recently it’s important to revisit the content and make sure it is aligned with the job spec the employers are advertising. Need some guidance? Check out our top tips for producing an outstanding CV. 

We hope these tips for finding your dream employer have been useful. It can be a long journey to finding your perfect job, but it’s worth it in the long run. Always keep in mind that you are not alone and that there is plenty of support out there for ambitious job seekers. If you want to talk about the next steps in your career or learn more about the fabulous clients that Bramwith works with, and the opportunities available with them, give us a call. We are specialists in procurement and supply chain recruitment and we could help you find that dream employer.