Have you ever wondered if what you are doing to get hired is working a little, a lot or not at all? How do you measure your achievements and failures in the job search? How does a hiring manager make the decision to hire you and what does he or she think of your job interview and who are you as a candidate? If you’re being hired, you’re making all the right moves; you’re doing great to get the job. If you are not being asked to join a company, then your application form is not working for you. Just because you’re not instructed to get to the human resources office to take your job ID doesn’t mean you’re not a great candidate for the job. It means you haven’t mastered job interviews and probably haven’t come up with the best career search plan.
When a job seeker is not hired, you have no way of knowing what advantage the hired job seeker has over other job seekers. The only way to measure your job search is by making sure that all elements of a successful job search are actioned. Hiring managers start their selection with a screening process, and it starts with resumes, phone interviews, and any other tools that come your way, before calling you in for an interview. So, physical appearance is not the presiding factor, although it can be a final and determining factor.
Yet it’s the first personal branding toolkit to ship that tells a hiring manager not to throw their documents on the curb or in the trash during the recruiting and selection process. The decision maker believes that he is hiring the candidate who is excellent at doing all the right things to get noticed. If he sticks to the normal or even the ancient steps to get hired, he has already sacrificed the opportunity to get his foot in the door.
At this point, either you’ve made it or you haven’t. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, there are just ways to do things that require you to go out of the box and for the new job search scene you have to.
Here are some ideas listed below to get you thinking about what you might be doing wrong by getting hired.
1. Review your resume and other job search marketing tools; look for errors and presentation.
2. Create a career search plan that includes all job search marketing tools.
3. Apply action to your job search plan.
4. Know who you are and what the company is looking for – don’t apply to a company and not be a match or fit. Don’t waste your time or the company’s by applying for a position for which you are not qualified.
5. Follow up with your resume submission and interview process.
6. Document your search, submission dates, times, and results. Pay attention to time frames and keep track of where and what can go wrong. Correct mistake.
7. Keep trying and don’t give up! Hiring managers have no idea who you are until they look at your resume in the six seconds it takes to review it.
Hearing this phrase over and over again is often ignored, but it is a true measure of weeding out resumes and candidates for the position that the hiring manager is not interested in following through with. My message to job seekers is, take the time to present YOU the right way and learn the criteria for the job search and what the hiring manager is looking for in six seconds of elimination.
You must not only make a new resolution for your New Year, but also make a switch to a new type of job search.
