Five Great Career Tips We Have Learnt from TikTok

In case you've been living under a rock, TikTok is the popular video entertainment app taking the world by storm. It features short videos under 1 minute long, the topic of which can basically be anything you can think of: humour, makeup, animals, plants, conspiracy theories, science experiments, dance trends, photography, political content, magic, travel - the list goes on!

You can waste hours scrolling on TikTok, but you can also use it to learn something new! We recently stumbled upon #careertiktok and discovered so many great accounts which provide excellent tips about all things work and career. In this blog, we wanted to share some of the great things we’ve learnt so far.

1. How to stand out in a pile of resumes (Layla Shaikley)

   Layla recently shared a hot tip about how to stand out in a pile of resumes, based upon a resume she had received from an applicant. In the applicant's resume, he included two additional sections: How I Work and Principles. In the How I Work section, he outlined things like he maintains a tidy inbox and that he over-communicates when necessary. In the principles section, he included things like "if it's broken, own it and fix it" and "when in doubt, google it".

   This is a great strategy for including additional information in resume that makes you stand out as a candidate, allowing the person reviewing your resume to get an idea of what you are like as an employee before they even meet with you.

2. Three things to do when you quit your job (Career Becky)

   In one of her recent videos, Career Becky provides some great advice about three things that you should do when you quit your job. She recommends being gracious, writing handwritten thank you notes to the people who helped you and if you have something bad to say, say it with facts not with emotion. This is great advice to ensure that you don’t burn your bridges and keep in touch with valuable connections you have made in your role.

3. The best answer to the question "Where do you see yourself in 5 years" (Self-Made Millennial)

   Don't be bamboozled in an interview by the question "where do you see yourself in 5 years". This question is designed to see whether the job you are interviewing for is the path you want to take and whether you will get restless quickly, so it's not ideal to answer “I want X job” which is not the role you are interviewing for or “I want X responsibilities” which are not within the job description of the role you are applying for.

   Madeline Mann from Self-Made Millennial suggests responding by saying you are interested in learning about the industry, or being the go to person in the company with a certain skill that is in the job description of the role you are applying for. She suggests that rather than talking about getting a promotion, you can talk about working on bigger projects (the result of a promotion) or saying you want to mentor people rather than managing people.

4. Three tips for better email communication (tiktokjobtips)

   Sarah from tiktokjobtips provides three simple but brilliant tips for better email communication:

   1. Use searchable subject lines with key words so that people can easily locate your email when they need it;

   2. Be clear and concise, breaking things up with bullet points and sections; and

   3. Always proofread, including checking the tone of the email before sending .

5. How to handle a micromanager (thatcareerchic)

   Rachel from thatcareerchic has a great series on how to handle a micromanager. She has posted four videos in the series so far which include some great tips such as:

   1. Offer to pro-actively provide updates at a set time (eg once a week), which shows ownership of the tasks you have been given and releases them from their niggling urge to check up on you;

   2. Don't take it personal; and

   3. Clarify instructions at the outset.

If you don’t have TikTok, make sure to follow us on Instagram where we post our favourite TikTok tips to our “Tips and Advice” highlight reel.