Last time we were talking about what package job seekers should have prior to reaching out to employers. A resume, cover letter, portfolio of work samples - all of these things are essential for a successful job hunting adventure. Also, we mentioned that it is important to have a clear understanding of what kind of jobs you want to pursue as it will help you target your job search efforts. However, that is not all you could do in order to increase your chances of getting hired by a successful company. There some other things we would like to share that could open new opportunities in your job hunting campaign.
Standing Out For Employers
It really boils down to the question: "How can I stand out for employers among other candidates". We all know the competition is extremely high today on the job market and in order to attract the attention of hiring authorities one needs to demonstrate more than what most candidates have to offer. How do you do it? How can you actually stand out in the job search process? Well, first of all, you don't apply for job openings that you are no match for. For example, if you have worked as admin support it makes no sense to apply for the position of a sales director. Quality of your job applications should be more important than the number of applications you send. This is critical if you want to be noticed by people who are responsible for making the hiring decisions. People who have been working in the job search for a while know that it is not the resume that defines whether one will be hired or not, but an interview. Therefore, one of the keys to an effective job search is to be prepared for a job interview. Obviously, you should have a well-written resume first because without it you will unlikely get to this stage. But we kind of covered that one in the previous blog post already so we will move on to interviews. Many job seekers take this lightly and they don't really prepare for interviews and as a result, become run-of-the-mill candidates. Those who do take time to prepare often stand out and are hired. So next time you receive an interview invitation make sure you know what you will be saying at the interview and how will you be answering tough questions.
Lastly, don't forget to follow up interviews. This is another way how you can stand out among the crowd. Most job seekers never bother to do any kind of follow up. We recommend sending a thank you letter after the interview to reiterate your interest in the position and to say a few important things you didn't say during an interview. Obviously, it will be a good idea to thank an interviewer for the time and opportunity to be considered for the job. This way interviewing authorities will get notice of you as it is likely you will be one of the candidates who actually did the follow-up.
