reCareered: 30 Things You Can Control In Your Job Search

Friday, July 20, 2007

30 Things You Can Control In Your Job Search - Page 4

Focus On What You Can Control - Controllable Job Search Items #11 - #20:

Make your subject matter expertise crystal clear: Must resumes start out by describing the candidate’s objective. What do you think the hiring manager cares more about: Your Objective? Or how you’ll make money for the hiring company? See how to create a succinct, crystal clear personal branding statement at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-personal-branding-statement-can.html.
Understand the culture and fit: You can understand the culture and fit of a target company, or just guess and cross your fingers. Either way, HR, the hiring manager, and the hiring manager’s boss, peers, and team will judge your resume vs. the corporate culture. This is a part of your resume communications that you can control. See http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-good-career-changers-are.html to learn how you can control the cultural fit of your resume.
Communicate WIFT: Most resume communicate What’s in It For Me (WIFM). Your hiring manager doesn’t care what’s in it for you. Candidates can improve their odds of winning interviews by writing with WIFT (What’s in It For Them) in mind. Learn the difference and how to communicate WTFT at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/job-seekers-tell-your-readers-wift.html.
Demonstrate employer value: By featuring how you’ve built value for your prior employers, you give your reader a good idea how you can make money for them. Just about everyone has ways they can show how they’ve built employer value - see more here: http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/employer-value-statements-make-your.html.
Address the 3 things employers look for: There are 3 basic things most employers look for in hiring a new employee. Include them in your resume to improve your odds and gt more interviews. See what they are and how you can incorporate them into your resume at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2009/12/3-things-your-next-employer-will-search.html.
Don’t expect telepathy: Hiring managers can’t read your mind, so if you are a perfect fit for a position, explicitly state why you are a perfect fit on the resume - not the cover letter. The most explicit way to state your perfect fit is through prior examples, rather than just listing skills. See how you can put your skills into action to demonstrate that you’ve solved problems and achieved results at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/01/recruiters-and-hiring-managers-arent.html.
Effectively communicate to all 4 audiences: There are 4 audiences for your resume. Each of these audiences influence the hiring decision, but most resume writers address just the hiring manager. Learn who each of the 4 audiences is and how to make your resume address each audiences’ needs at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/05/your-resumes-4-audiences-best-of.html.
Use job boards for information, not for openings: You can control the amount of competition you have for a job ... to a point. You can choose to apply to jobs with hundreds (or thousands) of competitors by applying to job advertisements, job boards, or company websites. Or you can choose the road less traveled, and use job ads to signal general needs. Rather than applying for specific jobs, ads can signal the direction a company is going and it’s future needs. Using this signal to start discussions with hiring managers about future plans, upcoming needs and problems allows you to get ahead of the curve and have little competition. By discussing needs before there is an approved headcount addition or job advertisement, you’ll have little competition. Learn how to use job boards to understand upcoming employer needs at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/05/3-ways-to-leverage-job-boards-and.html.
Understand recruiter’s relationship with employer: Would you pin a great deal of hope (and effort) to a recruiter-presented opportunity if you knew you that every recruiter in the western hemisphere was competing to present candidates for the same job? What if the recruiter was the only recruiter supplying candidates - would that change your level of effort? While you can’t control a recruiter’s relationship with the employer, you can control your understanding of it. The better you understand this relationship, the better you’ll allocate your time, and estimate your chances of landing a job or interview. Learn how to better understand the recruiter/employer relationship and gain job search cues at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/06/is-your-recruiter-any-closer-to-job.html.
Spend more time asking questions, and less time talking: You can control what information you seek from contacts, how you ask for that information, and how you can pick up employer cues during an interview. Or you can talk. Learn how to gain better information by spending more time listening at http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/does-your-job-search-strategy-include.html.