Don’t be Just Another Candidate!

There is no shortage of opportunity in the job market today based on what you will find when you peruse any of dozens of job listing websites. With easy-to-use filtering options, you can drill down to find exactly what you want, where you want it, at the money you want, seemingly in the type of culture of which you wish to be a part. In just a few clicks, it would appear that you can be highly selective and still find an almost unlimited number of options to get precisely what you’re looking for.

So why is that not translating to companies or recruiters banging down your door to pull you into their company?

The short answer is simple – The hiring manager or person reviewing resumes will never see what you see. You know you, and they don’t. You see an obvious, perfect fit, and they see only a resume that may be missing too much of what they are looking for to fill their open role. And perhaps the areas that do match are not standing out as prominently as they should be. Thus, you can be missed, or misperceived as being too ‘run of the mill’, and easily added to a pile of uninspiring resumes, many of whom like you, actually represent much stronger candidates than their resume may suggest.

The long answer takes some work. Think about what is missing, not on your resume or your bio or social media presence. But what is lacking within your Strategy to Land the Right Job? Here are 5 Steps to move you from ‘Just Another Candidate’, to one that Stands Out. 

Many of the methods people sought job opportunities ten, even twenty, years ago are still being used. But like many things, they get old, stale, and replaced by newer, and improved ways. We know the population grows vastly year after year, and the average candidate pool grows along with it. Thus, it is paramount to the success of the job seeker to stay as current in their job-seeking tactics and strategy as possible to keep themselves a cut above the rest.

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• Tailoring

For every open position you find, you notice that the same skills and experience are consistently listed among the job family you are looking for. That is a good start, but are you paying attention to the structure of the listing? Think of it this way. If you were posting a job, you would compile a list of all of the skills and experience you need, but you likely would put the most critical ones at the top. Thus, while in totality you have the requisite skills needed to be a great candidate, perhaps what stands out on your resume are toward the bottom of the ‘required’ portion of the listing. You need your resume to scream ‘perfect fit’ by having your top skills match the top needs of the job posting. It may take a bit more doing, but worth it to give yourself the best chance at being noticed and being considered for a job you really want.

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• Start Strong

Remember, the average ‘resume reviewer’, whomever has that enviable task, spends six to seven seconds on average reviewing each resume that comes to them. If you had just that long to give your elevator pitch to the CEO, what would it sound like? It likely would not be a paragraph long objective, or too much fluff. You would get right to the point and hammer your message home. Lead with your Strengths, Achievements, and Proven Examples of the Great Things You’ve Done. You need not try to be overly clever in constructing your resume. Spending too much time creating the perfect, catchy tagline is not worth your time, and will likely be viewed as just that. What those hiring want to know as quickly as they can is what you have done, how long you’ve done it, and how closely those skills match what their job needs. Structure your resume to make your Achievements and Skills jump off the paper, featured prominently on the top end of your resume.

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• Cover Letters Matter

Interestingly, Cover Letters are often optional, and some would suggest they are not used much anymore. Think of it as risk and reward. The risk is what? Zero. The reward is, if fewer people are providing them, and the company you’re applying to wants them, you have already asserted yourself as a more serious candidate than those who didn’t bother to do so. And while you certainly have to be specific in your cover letter to the job and company to which you apply, you can still have a basic template that allows you to tinker and tailor without having to fully re-create the wheel every time. In other words, it’s free advertising, with no downside, but potentially high upside. A well-crafted cover letter can make a huge difference. While the resume is more about the structure and highlighting of skills and experience, the cover letter is where you pitch yourself, your experience, and how valuable a contributor you have been and can be for the company hiring. Do not omit this step. Take advantage of the opportunity to market yourself as clearly and strongly as you can by having several cover letter versions available, much like with your resume, you will want to tailor it to the specific job as you apply

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• Make it Personal

Companies put themselves out there, from their story and mission, to often multiple levels of their leadership team. Reach Out! Sometimes it’s clear who the right person is for the role you want, but even if you miss your target, most executives are good enough to pass you along to the right person. A Win-Win. Upon reaching the right person, or as close as you can get, introduce yourself, and get contact info. Send a personalized cover letter or email to that person directly and share your story on who you are and what you know you can do for them. It will stand out over the simple submission they sift through day to day and give them something to remember and more seriously consider on whom to bring in for next steps. It’s all about getting to next level rounds of interviewing and the more you personalize your approach through each step can make all the difference.

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• Living Out Loud

Every candidate has a distinct advantage over applicants from years gone by thanks to social media and online platforms that can not only give you access to more information than ever before but allows you to have a presence that can be made available for people to come to you, check you out, and better understand the type of person they are considering. Leverage key social online platforms, be it social media, blog sites and posts, or even your own personal website where you may offer your skills, consultancy, or can post your own successful projects, all of which raises your stock and value to prospective employers.

There is much you can do to stand out against the crowd, and particularly as you move throughout your job search, you can be lulled into a false sense of security that it is as simple as putting in for a job that looks to fit. But you will quickly realize when the phone is not ringing that there is much more to it. Be strategic and purposeful in how you attack the process, and you will see a better return, better response rate than those who continue to just click away at every suitable open position. Stand Out!