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Key Strategies To Stand Out In The Competition And Increase Your Job Search Results

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9-strategies-to-gamify-your-startup-efd45e3f72To cultivate the positioning that will help you reach your career goals, you must understand and be able to communicate what makes you exceptional and compelling.

You must find a way to stand out in a crowded job search. If you’re not known for something, you won’t be known for anything. One size does not fit all.

Finding a job is a lot like dating — it’s about finding a match between two parties (you and the company). It’s not just about money — although that is important. It’s also about helping the company meet a need that it has.

Companies hire because of their needs. This is true for all jobs — from entry-level administrative positions to the CEO’s job.

Understand the emotional motivation behind the job opening. What problem is the company trying to solve? Solving the problem can be about saving time, or building customer relationships. However, it’s crucial that you position yourself to solve their problem.

The question you want to answer for the employer is, “Why should you hire me?” When employers are hiring, they really want to know: “Why should I choose you instead of someone else?” Positioning is an important part of answering this question. You can’t be all things to all employers, so you need to figure out what sets you apart.

Personal positioning is unique to you. Figure out what makes you different. Consistency in your messaging will help you throughout the job search and interview process.

You need to express: “I am this.” Someone who is reading your résumé or LinkedIn profile should be able to recognize you in it.

The most difficult part about positioning is sounding original. Be specific about what distinguishes you. Your positioning is not your job title. Also, if your position could be said about almost anyone with your same job title, it needs work.

It’s important for a job seeker to stand out from the pool of applicants in order to receive serious consideration as a candidate. Personal positioning allows you to establish a clear message of who you are, the experience you have, and how you can be an asset to the employer.

Make sure your personal positioning aligns with your target company’s wants, needs, and/or values. Remember: Employers hire for their reasons, not yours!

You have to get the reader’s attention quickly. Your positioning is often the first impression an employer has of you, so make it count! (And speaking of first impressions, remember that how you dress is also part of your personal positioning.)

Benefits of Positioning

The ability to communicate “why you” is important in the job search. It can help you stand out from other job candidates. It can make you memorable. You want the interviewer to say, “Oh, I remember (him/her)!”

You will also use your positioning in many ways throughout your job search. Your LinkedIn Headline can be your personal position tagline. Your tagline can also be used on your résumé and as your tagline on your Twitter account. It can also be used as the subject line in an email to a prospective employer, hiring manager, or recruiter.

Your full positioning statement can be included in your LinkedIn Summary section, worked into the Qualifications Statement or Summary on the résumé, or incorporated in your cover letter. When networking, your positioning statement can be the answer to the question, “What do you do?” In an interview, your personal position can be used when asked, “Tell me about yourself.”

Knowing your skills and professional qualifications — and being able to articulate them — will also help you navigate applicant tracking systems (ATS).

Position yourself effectively to attract connections, opportunities, and job offers.

How to Develop Your Positioning

To identify how to position yourself, it helps to examine a couple of key issues:

  • What is the Company’s Need? What specific problem are they trying to solve with this job? Are they trying to make money? Save money? Save time? Keep existing customers? Acquire new customers?
  • What are your Core Abilities? What special abilities do you possess that separate you from other candidates for this position?
  • What are your Values? What is your belief system (behavior and ethics) that is inherent to you? Does this set you apart?
  • What is your Connection to the Company’s Need? Do you possess something special that solves your target employer’s problem?

Be aware of the kind of work you are willing to do, and the kind of work you don’t want to do. Make a list your likes and dislikes. Most of the time writing this list offers clarity.

Look at your work history for clues to your positioning. What in your work history did you do to make things better? Look for instances where you showed leadership and accomplishments.

Check out your existing online profile. What comes up when you Google yourself? What is your social media presence? What are you known for online?

Begin with the end in mind: What job do you want? Then figure out what qualities, attributes, and skills are required for success in that job. Do you possess them? How can you demonstrate that?

**Are you about to interview and dread the “what’s your salary requirement” question? Do you want to ask for a pay raise, but not sure how? Download my free EBook today and find out how to successfully ask for more money. Just click here.

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If you’re located in the U.S. or Canada,  click here to schedule your free strategy session today! 

What’s the Difference Between a Resume and a Professional Resume?

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Big-DifferenceThere are times that I speak with potential clients, and they aren’t clear on the difference between a resume writer and a professional writer. To begin with, it’s the training.

Most resumes I review will list the company, title, years, and job duties. If you’re working with a professional here are a few things you should expect:

  1. A new format that includes an excellent eye-appealing design that can be used as an attachment and also passes through the ATS system without any issues. Also, no Word templates.
  2. Works with you to identify your value and presents it in the resume. This is critical to separate you from the other applicants.
  3. Understands that your document is a marketing snapshot of your expertise and can work with you to identify the key information without over sharing.
  4. Presentation of information─it’s more than job duties, and if your writer is trained well, they know exactly how to do this.
  5. A professional resume writer is up to date on the ATS system and provides a clear explanation to the client about what it is and how it works.
  6. Keywords are a must. They need to be strategically placed throughout the resume to be picked up electronically and through keyword searches by hiring managers.
  7. Position placement is also crucial. Professionals are trained to strategically place information in sections of the document.

I hope this helps you when you select someone to write your documents.

Common Resume Problems And How To Fix Them

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Problem SolutionDue to differences between computer systems and software compatibility issues, you will likely experience formatting issues that cause your Microsoft Word résumé to look different from the Adobe Acrobat PDF file of your résumé.

This is normal in Microsoft Word as the software adapts to the printer and formatting settings on the recipient’s system. Most employers and recruiters are equipped to make the necessary changes to get your file to work with their systems. (If they express formatting concerns to you, you can offer to send them an Acrobat Adobe PDF instead.) Because each user’s system is different, I cannot provide technical support.

I recommend copying the files onto your hard disk and also creating a backup (on CD, DVD, or flash drive). For confidentiality reasons, do not copy these files onto your employer’s computer system.

Using Your Adobe PDF File

You will not be able to make changes from this file; however, if you open it, you will be able to print a copy of your résumé that can be used as an “original” and printed on résumé paper, or the PDF can be used for producing high-quality photocopies, if printed on a laser printer. Double-click on the PDF file. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for FREE from www.adobe.com.

Using Your Microsoft Word Résumé

First, open Microsoft Word on your computer. Then, choose “Open” from the “File” menu and locate the file. Make any changes necessary to correct font substitution and line spacing problems. (See below.) Note: You must have the Microsoft Word software application installed on your computer to manipulate the Word file.

Common Fixes to Problems with Your Word Résumé

  1. After saving the file to your hard drive, open Microsoft Word FIRST. From the “File” menu, choose “Open,” and select the file from where you saved it on your computer.
  2. For font substitutions, highlight the affected text and choose a font from your computer system to use instead. If the font that was substituted is too big (for example, your one-page résumé now runs 1-1/2 pages), go to the “Edit” menu and choose “Select all.” Then choose a smaller font (for example, Times New Roman). See if that fixes the issue.
  3. If the résumé is running just a couple lines onto an additional page (or pages), adjust the document margins. (If the existing margin is 1 inch, change it to 0.9 inches and see if that makes a difference.) If that doesn’t work, change the margins again or choose a smaller font.

Sending Your Résumé as a Microsoft Word E-mail Attachment

Open your e-mail program. Address an e-mail and indicate in the body of the e-mail “Attached is my résumé, prepared in Microsoft Word. If you would prefer to receive my résumé as a text-only file, please contact me.”

Click on the icon to “attach file” and select the file.

Using Your ASCII (Text-Only) Résumé

This is the version of your résumé you should use when you are using a career website that asks you to paste in a copy of your résumé. Have your text-only file open (first open your word processing program or text editor, then choose “open” from the “file” menu). Copy the text from your résumé and paste it into the space provided on the website.

If you’re located in the U.S. or Canada,  click here to schedule your free strategy session today!  

Jennifer Owenby offers her combined expertise as a recruiter along with training as a professional resume writer. Please visit ONB Professional Resumes and LinkedIn Services for additional information and scheduling an appointment.

5 Crucial Action Steps You Need To Land Your Dream Job

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mapIt’s estimated that 90 percent of our daily lives are spent doing routine tasks. But a habit can be a bad thing, because “if you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’re going to keep on getting what you’ve always got.”

One of the most important things you can do is to take the time to plan your career roadmap. Whether you want to change jobs — or careers —or simply get more out of your current job, a career plan is essential to helping you reach your goals.

This exercise may take you 20 minutes, or you might devote a few hours to planning where you want to go. If you want your life to be different in the next 12 months, especially your career, take the time to work on your career roadmap.

Action Step One: Take Stock

The first step is to assess where you are. To figure out where you’re going, you must first look at where you’ve been.

Here are some questions to help you assess where you are:

  • What are you most proud of this past year — personally, and professionally?
  • What went right this year?
  • Did you receive any awards or recognition this year?
  • Did you take on any additional responsibility this year? If so, what?
  • How did you take the initiative in your job this year?
  • Have you learned any new skills?
  • Did you earn any certifications or licenses?

Record this information in a success journal. A Microsoft Word file on your computer, Evernote, a series of emails you send to yourself or even a physical notebook will work. And in the coming year, take the time to record your accomplishments as you go through the year instead of waiting until the end of the year.

Next, look for opportunities for improvement in your career. How does your salary stack up against your peers? Is your current position in alignment with your priorities and your core values? Where is the change needed?

Action Step 2: Articulate Your Goal

Decide what you want and visualize it. Get specific: What does it look like; what does it feel like? You have to really want it to invest the time and energy to follow your dream. Describe your ideal job:

What is your ideal employer? (size, industry, culture, location, structure)

How much would your dream job pay? (Realistically)

What are the most important benefits — other than salary — that would prompt you to go to work for a new company?

Describe your ideal job — the position you would most like to have. What is the job title, responsibilities, who you would report to, who would report to you? Would it involve travel? Do you want to work independently, as part of a team or both? Do you like short-term projects or long-term projects?

What do you want your next job to do for you that your last job didn’t do? In other words, what will be different about your next job? Is there anything that you do in your current job that you don’t want to do in your next job?

Think about the person that you want to be, and imagine the possibilities. Then, identify 2-3 goals you want to tackle. Use the S.M.A.R.T. goal system to articulate your goals — goals should be “Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Oriented.”

For example, let’s imagine you have worked as an accountant for the past three years, but you really want to work in marketing. Your goal might be: “By Jan. 1, 2016, I will be working as a Marketing Assistant in a Fortune 1000 company.”

You should also write down why you are interested in making the change. In other words, what is your motivation for taking this path? Another good question to ask is, “How will I know when I’ve achieved my goal(s)?”

Action Step 3: Make a Plan

Part three of Building Your Career Roadmap. Take the time to prepare a game plan for how you will reach your goal. But don’t use planning as an excuse to procrastinate. You want to get to Step Four as quickly as possible because actions create momentum.

Take each of your goals and write down the list of steps under each of them that you will need to take to make the goal happen. The more individual steps you can map out, the easier it will be for you to reach your goals. The steps should be practical tasks that will lead you to achieve the goal.

For example, with our goal of making a career change from accounting to marketing, here are some sample steps:

  • Research job postings for entry-level marketing jobs. What are the skills, education, and experience required?
  • Join the American Marketing Association and attend one virtual event or in-person boot camp in the next 90-120 days.
  • Enroll in semester-long online marketing course focusing on marketing principles.
  • Identify a volunteer opportunity to put marketing skills into practice — either in current job or with a community organization.
  • Assess transferable skills from accounting that would be useful in a marketing role (project management, analysis, financial management, client relations).
  • Work with a professional résumé writer to create a targeted marketing résumé.
  • Join three marketing-related groups on LinkedIn, and follow 5-6 Fortune 1000companies in the area that have company profiles on LinkedIn.
  • Assemble people in a network to act as references for marketing interview.
  • Connect with 2-3 contacts at Fortune 1000 companies in the area.
  • Identify possible employers and submit résumés.

Give yourself milestones so that you can measure your progress. How will you know when you’re on the right track? Include specific dates and numbers in your milestones.

Action Step 4: Building A Career Road Map

With the tasks you’ve outlined in Step Three, this gives you a checklist of items to use to take action. If you are working through the steps and discover you need to add additional items, update your task list. You may also discover additional projects that need to be completed to make the next step — and the overall goal — easier to accomplish. You may also find that you need to make adjustments to your timeline.

For example, if you discover that a six-month program to learn about social media would help you land your new marketing job, adjust your goal deadline. This would give you time to put some of the new skills into practice before you put them on your résumé.

As you work your way through your task list, focus on the actions you are taking, realizing that if you are taking the right actions, these should eventually lead to the results you seek. If you’re not getting the results you want, change the plan, not the goal. Re-examine your tasks and see if there is something you are missing.

It can also be helpful to get outside feedback. Enlisting the help of an accountability partner — a friend, family member, coach, résumé writer, or therapist — can provide valuable perspective on your progress. This individual can also keep you on track, making sure you are working through your task list. And if there are specific areas where you need help to cross the task off your list, make sure you ask for assistance.

For example, writing a résumé to support a career change can be difficult. Enlisting the help of a professional résumé writer can help you cross that task off your list.

Action Step 5: Building Your Career Road Map

When you’re on a journey, it can help to periodically assess where you are to make sure you’re on the right road. If you miss a step along the way or take a “wrong turn” — you can find yourself a long way from your intended destination. So plan periodic assessments of your progress along the way. This can be a monthly “check-up” where you review your plan and make any necessary changes, or a quarterly review.

Taking the time to think through and plan out your career roadmap is an important step in helping you create the career you want for yourself. If you don’t, you may find your career stuck or stalled. Or you may wake up five years from now and wonder, “How did I get here?” If you want to achieve more in your professional life, invest the time and effort in completing the Career Roadmap Worksheet.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Author Lewis Carroll

STEP ONE: TAKE STOCK

  • Current Job Title:
  • Start Date of Current Job (month/year):
  • Current Salary:
  • What I Like Most About My Current Job:
  • What I Would Want to Change About My Current Job:

STEP TWO: ARTICULATE YOUR GOAL

  • What Is Your Goal?

STEP THREE: MAKE A PLAN

  • What Are the Specific Steps (Tasks) You Need to Take To Achieve?
  • Your Goal?

STEP FOUR: TAKE ACTION

  • What Help (Outside Assistance) Do You Need to Reach Your Goal?
  • Who Is Your Accountability Partner?

STEP FIVE: MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS

  • How Close — or How Far Away — Are You To Reaching Your Goal At This Moment?
  • Do You Need to Make Any Adjustments in the Goal, Tasks, or Deadline?

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If You Really Want the Job…

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A man ponders a question - wondering What Should I Do with words in a thought cloud

A man ponders a question – wondering What Should I Do with words in a thought cloud

I can’t tell you how many thousands of people I interviewed while working as a recruiter. I met some great candidates, and even though we had a system to track them, they would get lost in the shuffle. However, there was one thing that really set someone apart.

What is the one thing to do if you really want the job you ask? Handwrite a short thank you note and mail it to the person who interviewed you.

When you are one of many candidates being considered, what you do after the interview can set you apart significantly and increase your chances of being offered the job.

The first — and most important — thing to do is to send a follow-up note. The etiquette for thank you letters after the interview has changed as email takes a larger role in communication during the hiring process. Surveys reveal a wide disparity of preferences among hiring managers about whether a handwritten or emailed note is best. However, what hasn’t changed is the need to send a thank you note. It’s a must.

If you have decent penmanship and access to pre-printed thank you cards (no flowers or animals, please!), and can hand write a note immediately after the interview, go for it. Just make sure you mail it right away so that it arrives the next day, or within 2-3 days of the interview. Make sure you address the card correctly so that it will be received directly by the interviewer. Be sure to spell the interviewer’s name correctly! And double-check the card to ensure you didn’t spell anything wrong.

If your handwriting could use some help, or you wouldn’t be able to mail a card promptly, email is also acceptable for sending a thank you message. Just make sure you address the email to the right person. For a subject line, you can use something like, “Great to Meet You Today” or “Thanks for Meeting with Me Yesterday.” (And again, spelling counts here too!). Do not send the thank you email from your work email address. But do send it from a professional email address. Not cutiepie38@hotmail.com.

What should you write in the thank you note? The best post-interview thank you notes are brief and to the point.

Cover these four points:

  1. Address the person by name. (Ms. Jones or Mr. Smith, not “Bob” or “Nancy,” unless the interviewer directed you to use his or her first name.)
  2. Thank them for their time and the opportunity to interview for the (name of position).
  3. Mention one thing from the interview that especially resonated with you, or mention an issue (or answer a question) that you felt you didn’t address properly in the interview. But don’t take an apologetic tone. Instead, say something like, “I wanted to clarify what we talked about with curriculum development. I should have emphasized that I do have experience in lesson planning and creating course outlines, having prepared a comprehensive course syllabus as part of my graduate class on Classroom Management. I would be happy to forward you a copy of these materials for your review, if you’d like.”
  4. Confirm the “next step” from the interview, including what action you will take — or what you’re expecting from the interviewer.

Click here to schedule your free strategy session today!  

Jennifer Owenby offers her combined expertise as a recruiter along with training as professional resume writer. Please visit ONB Professional Resume Services for additional information and scheduling an appointment. Also visit here for LinkedIn Profile Services.

About Jennifer

Hi, I'm Jennifer Owenby and I'm the founder of ONB Professional Resume Services. A few years ago I was introduced to Dr. Sheri Kay Hoff, a life coach. She continually talked about finding your passion and loving what you do. If you love your work, you're full of passion for life, more energetic and Continue Reading »

F.A.Q.

FAQ's Why do I see a difference in resume prices? Lower cost resume services often outsource your resume and all of your personal information to ghost writers overseas. Unfortunately, the resume results include verbiage that is not consistent with our standard English. The final resumes are cluttered with incorrect words, misspellings, and Continue Reading »

Free Resources

FREE! Get my best-selling EBook concerning salary negotiation FREE! This guide gives you insider information concerning how to answer that pesky salary question "What is your current salary?", how to ask for a raise and get results and much more. Don't back yourself into a corner for lower pay than Continue Reading »