Career Coaching Tips = Success
How to Stand Out From the Crowd and Surpass the CompetitionWith numerous cut-backs, lay-offs and shut downs, the labor pool is growing and competition is increasing for openings at all levels. Hundreds may apply for a single job. So, how can you ‘stand out from the crowd’. Make use of the tools available to you todayThere are so many great online sites for doing job search research. Aside from job boards that post jobs, identify companies you want to apply to. Search out employees who work for these companies and make every effort to establish a connection with an employee who works for this company. LinkedIn is a great tool for this. Before you are interviewedGo to the company website. Read about their products, services, goals, and challenges. Get to know the company and their officers. You want to appear more knowledgeable about the company than your competition. Build your Internet presenceStart to become known in your field. How do you do this? Get your name out there in a good way. One way is to build out your LinkedIn profile OR Join associations and organizations in your industry and start to ask questions on their elists. OR, write a blog pertinent to your area of expertise. These are all ways to market and build your personal brand.
Gaining The Advantage Among Job Seekers
Do you know how to stay ahead of the competition? Over and over I hear job seekers tell me how difficult it is in this economy to get an interview with a prospective employer. The competition is fierce. The resume he or she is using is not working. Usually these comments are followed by: “and that is why I am coming to you. I know I have a good work history and expertise so it must be my resume.” Guess what, these people are right! The resume gets you the interview and is the starting point for getting employed. To be competitive you must have a resume that grabs the eye of the hiring manager or HR department. Many think they can create their own résumé. Much like the patient who is going to self-medicate for a critical illness these people typically wind up with inadequate results. Can you afford a do-it-yourself resume? The rule of thumb used to be that for every $10,000 in salary you should figure 1 month of job searching. So, if you are seeking a salary of $80,000 for example, the job search would take on average 8 months. Times are not that good today and that rule of thumb no longer applies. It takes much longer to find a job because of the economy. What can you do to increase your odds and expedite your job search? Here’s the key: utilize every possible advantage to speed up your job hunt. A professionally developed targeted resume with the right key words, format, presentation, personal branding statement and strategy could expedite your job search. If you find employment more quickly and let’s say shorten your job searching by one month, at $80,000 per year you will have an additional $6600 in your pocket! What is your strategy for staying ahead of the competition? Your resume is the first impression a potential boss has of you. If you are an employer looking at a pile of resumes, some done professionally, some not … who do you think would have the edge for getting the job interview? Remember it is not necessarily about who is the best candidate, it is about who presents himself or herself the best. My recommendation is that you put aside your ego, invest in your future and hire the best resume writer you can.
