Why Hire You Over Your Competition?

Why should someone hire you over your competition?

Almost daily, applicants question why they were not chosen over someone else. Rarely do they grasp the reality the job search is a competition against other applicants with the one with the most marbles wins. If you know why you should be chosen over all other applicants, share it. This should be included in your application and/or in your resume. Selling yourself to the prospective employer is important to a successful job search.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to see hastily assembled resumes and poorly written applications with no intention of customizing them for each job inquiry.  Bad mistake.  Would you hire someone who spent little effort on these two very important items, and what do you think an incomplete application says about someone?

Want the stability, respect, and recognition a great job can afford you? You must put some effort into selling yourself. Toot your own horn to receive the attention and recognition you have earned from past positions. Ask yourself what values you bring to the table and address those in a brief summary.

Take whatever time is necessary to create an attractive paragraph of your best marketable attributes and skills. You may even want to create different summaries to directly address different types of jobs.  Remember, you have to at least get your foot in the door for an interview. Step one.

Companies look for stability and practiced skills that are important to the success of their business. Do you possess those qualities? If so, quickly outline those traits in a brief statement. This will be the introduction to your resume, cover-sheet for your application, or included within your job responsibilities.

Create a summary enticing enough to stop the employer from flipping applications and focus on you.  Doing this one simple task will place ahead of 80% of your competition.

Improve Your Job Search – 6 Simple Changes

Not happy with your job search results?  A few simple changes in your process will significantly improve your callback ratio.   

  1. Examine your resume and text you use to complete online applications. Do they contain keywords contained within the job ad?  These are the very words the recruiter uses to search through their computer database. You don’t include them, you will be lost in the infamous black hole.
  2. Do not spend more the 10% of your time browsing the big job boards.  Surveys show this practice produces the lowest percentage of success. 
  3. Every day, MAIL  at least 3 resumes to companies you would like to work for. Address them to the boss of the person you would be working for and never to HR.  They are a black hole.  Write “personal/confidential” in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope. The idea here is for the big boss to give your information to the person you would be working under.  In this way, it looks like his boss is recommending you.  This “direct marketing” gets your information two steps past the resume boards and directly in front of the decision maker.
  4. Improve on your Personal Network of people employed at different companies.  Make at least three contacts toward this goal – daily.  The more working people that are made aware of your job search, the better chances you have of getting that “inside” job referral.  60-80% of jobs are filled through referrals for jobs that are never posted anywhere. Be one of the lucky ones.
  5. Keep online profiles and status updated on all social media. LinkedIn, Facebook, where ever.  
  6. Even if it is not your area of interest, consider working contract or temp jobs.  The object is to get people to notice you. People appreciate talent when they see it in action. 

Other helpful articles are available by simply visiting our Personal Career Portal.  Just click on the above “Job Seekers” tab, then the “Get Career Help” tab in the right menu bar.

The 90 Second Interview

Recently, I was reading an article by Undercover Recruiter. The survey results were not too surprising to us from older generations, but many in the under 40 crowds will definitely not like the findings. Of 2000 recruiters surveyed, 33% said they knew within the first 90 seconds of the interview whether they would hire the applicant or not.

What you need to know in a nutshell:

  1. 65% said clothes and the way in which they were worn was a deciding factor when comparing applicants. If they did not dress to the interviewer’s standards… forget it.  File 13.
  2. 55% said the way a person dresses, talks and walks into the office heavily influenced their opinion of the recruiter. Dress, talk, and walk in like you don’t care – they will not care either.
  3. 67% of the hiring authorities said the lack of eye contact did not reflect well.
  4. Number one mistake: Not asking for the job.
  5. Having no knowledge of what the company does a common mistake.  If you don’t care enough to visit the company website, their opinion of the applicant drops. 

Other items that knocked applicants out of the running were: not smiling, bad posture, crossing your arms, mumbling, and the lack of enthusiasm. Additional questions you should be prepared for are:

  • Why do you want to work for us?
  • Tell me about how your experience relates to this job.
  • What ended your employment at your last job?

Now that you know this: be prepared, look and act the part of a person who really wants the job and then ask for the position. Good luck!