Increase Your Chances To Be Employed (Part 2)

As Job Seekers, we easily fall into the trap of simply thinking that Desire + Action = Result. The missing ingredient in that recipe, however, is Right’ness or being correct in the Desire, the Action and consequently, the Result as well.

In this instalment, we talk about Right Action to achieve the Right Result.

(1) Customizing Your Resume

The single biggest error in job search is sending out the exact same resume to every company you apply to. You can say that you are the same person so that resume is a fair and accurate representation of you, so why change anything? The issue is not misrepresenting or suddenly inventing things about you that are not true. Even when companies are in the same industry, their corporate personalities are different so when you want to be accepted to be an employee in a particular organization, you have to put forward those aspects of you that will appeal most strongly to that company. Those qualities may not be appealing to the next company which could look for other aspects of you, so you review your resume for the that company and bring other strongpoints up. That is customising your resume. Bring forward those elements of you that your potential employer will like, and downplay or even forget about mentioning the other aspects of you.

(2) Researching the Employer Organization

If companies were paid for every job applicant who knew nothing about the company they were hoping to work with, companies could open a new line of revenue! Consider this: there is absolutely no reason why a job applicant who knows nothing about their potential employer should be hired. The reason is that if the applicant doesn’t care about where they are going to work, how are they going to care about the quality of work they do one they are employed? To show you care as a job applicant, do background research. Don’t just recite the industry name. Work to understand the real business of the company, discover what their recent challenges have been and what they hope to achieve in the future. The internet is of course, the first place to start in terms of getting this information but if you are not satisfied with what you find there, go to the company the day before your interview and at least, ask for brochures from the receptionist. Being completely unable to get information is not the same as not even trying to get information. Your potential employer wants to know how interested you are in trying to get into the company you are interviewing with. You should know as much as possible about the company where you are trying to work. If it doesn’t appeal to you, then don’t apply for a role there.

(3) Know How You Fit In The Employer Organization

By the time you get to meet the recruiting manager, he/she will probably have met dozens of other people interviewing for the same position. Your chances to get hired are significantly improved if you can tell the recruiting manager how you think you will fit in their organization. The reality is that you will probably be wrong in your conclusions because you don’t have the deep, intimate knowledge of the company’s exact staffing needs but your ideas will be appreciated because your thoughts help the recruiting manager confirm your actual role there. Having no idea – or worse, having no opinion – about how you fit in the company leaves all the work to the recruiting manager and does not make you the stand-out candidate.

(4) Rehearse The Expected Questions

(4) Rehearse The Expected The majority of interview questions are predictable so there is no reason not to be prepared before the event. Make a list of the ten most probable questions you will be asked and know what you are going to say in response. Then practise how you are going to answer. Don’t be robotic, don’t be cocky or arrogant like a student who has studied and found the exam has all the questions they know. Be confident and share the answers to the questions you are asked. Because you have anticipated questions doesn’t mean that you will encounter no unexpected questions. You definitely will but if those are a small minority of the total questions asked, your interview should be just fine.uestions

(5) Pitch the Recruiter!

As you feel your job interview is starting to wrap up, take two more minutes to give the recruiting manager three reasons why you think the company would benefit from hiring you as opposed to any of the other candidates being considered. Almost no candidates do this. Culturally in Asia, this could be because such an overtly hard sell of oneself is considered inappropriate, or crass or even outrightly rude. But the reality is that this is about you wanting to be chosen over everyone else. If you don’t make that extra effort to show enthusiasm and desire in your job search and if you don’t tell the recruiting manager why it should be you and not someone else, then be ready to lose again. The recruiter will likely be surprised but they will be pleasantly surprised, and that means they will remember you in a good way, and you should take every advantage you can.

If you have been researching job search and job interviewing, none of the above comments should surprise you. If you have seen comments like this already, then know that this advice is at least consistent. If you have never seen comments like this before but they make good sense to you, then know that you just gained a huge advantage over at least four or five other applicants for the same job! Good luck!