When employers are receiving countless cover letters and resumes each day, you may wonder just what you can do to stand out from the crowd. Of course, having a well-crafted cover letter and a flawless resume helps. However, hundreds of other candidates are submitting equally compelling material.
How do you go above and beyond the norm to catch the attention of a company you’d like to work for? Here’s how to get noticed by your dream company, along with a checklist of steps for you to take during your campaign to hired by an employer you’d be thrilled to work for.
How To Get Noticed by an Employer You’d Love to Work For
Showcase what you have to offer. When you’re writing your resume and cover letter, be specific as to what you can offer the company if you are hired. Be sure to write a customized cover letter highlighting the credentials that make you a perfect fit for the job. Your resume should also reflect the specific qualifications that will make you an asset to the employer.
Present yourself, both in person and online, in a polished and professional way. For any role, a dream candidate will provide a universal, well-rounded, and informative picture of themselves professionally.
Let your online presence and your face-to-face demeanor reflect your resume. Everything content-wise that appears on each channel should match up in terms of expertise, accomplishments, and personality, and fit with how you present yourself in person.
Maintain an active presence on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is your unofficial resume, and most companies spend a lot of time there. Optimize your profile and keep it current so it reflects your most recent accomplishments. Check to see if you have contacts at the company and connect with them, if you do.
Let your expertise shine beyond LinkedIn. For some jobs, companies are seeking experts —people who speak about technical challenges they are having at work and the people who offer advice to help resolve them. Quora and Twitter are key places to ask and answer questions in specific fields of expertise.
Tap your connections. A referral to a company is one of the best ways to get hired. In addition to using LinkedIn, if you’re a college student or graduate check with your career services office. It may have an alumni network you can use to get insight into the employer and possibly a referral.
Use social media to set up introductions at conferences. Let the company know that you’re attending the same conferences as they are through social media channels. Help the employer get a good idea of who you are and what you’re looking for, and you may be able to set up a meeting with someone from the company.
Keep your accomplishments fresh. Keep a running list of your accomplishments at work. It helps you update your resume easily when you need to.
Set professional goals—and reach them. Every New Year, you should think about your game plan for the year. Are you going to simply update your LinkedIn profile, or are you going to take that class that you have been meaning to take, or actually apply to jobs? Tell one friend and keep yourself accountable by meeting with your friend every quarter. Accountability keeps us true to what we set out to do at the beginning of the year.
Checklist for Job Search Success
As you gear up to approach your dream company, it’s good to have a plan. Not only will this help you to focus on your job search, but it will also give you the confidence and the information you’ll need to impress when you finally do land your interview.
[ ] Make a list of your top 10 “dream” employers, and then carefully research their organizations. Become familiar with their corporate history (a good source for this is the “About” section on their website), their mission statement, their organizational structure, and the names of their key personnel in management, human resources, and the department you envision yourself joining.[ ] Regularly review the company’s current job listings to see if there are positions they are hiring for or internship opportunities they offer that would be a good fit. Often the best way to “get your foot in the door” is to land an entry-level job and then work your way up the ranks.[ ] Create or update your profile on LinkedIn so that it emphasizes the skills and professional experience that would best qualify you to work for your dream company.[ ] Use LinkedIn, as well as the organization’s website, to learn who works at your target companies and how long they have held their current tenures.[ ] Check with your LinkedIn connections. Approach your contacts at the company, if you have them, and ask if they’d be willing to provide you with a referral to the company.[ ] Research and list all of the job fairs and conferences where you know your dream employer will be recruiting, and make it a point to attend as many as you can.
from Career Tool Belt https://ift.tt/QlKW3iN
0 comments:
Post a Comment