Indeed! The job hunting process has become increasingly competitive; between online applications and a whole catalogue of tools to help job seekers optimize their resumes and cover letters and other tools to help employers sift easily through job applications – The difference is made by innovation, creativity and a good old sense of determination.
How we approach our resume has changed significantly in the past decade alone. How employers review job applications these days have also changed significantly. SEO (Search engine optimization) resumes and cover letters are gaining increasingly more ground and job seekers are pushed to new limits.
See: Essential Tips For Hiring The Right Employee
Here are a few tips and tricks to help you navigate the world of effective job hunting and making your job application truly stand out from the rest
- Inject Personality and Flavor in Your Resume’s Design
This piece of advice may not be applicable to some more conservative industries. Nonetheless, a compromise could be successfully reached. There is a wide variety of tools that can customize your resume and give it a designer-made look.
The days of the black and white flavorless resumes’ are slowly edging out. If you have a knack for graphic design, you can try your hand with an extra-creative resume. Engaging graphics and creative designs are sure to draw a potential employer’s attention. Showcasing your projects, experience, value and skills in both image and text will give your resume an edge.
Treat your CV as an empty canvas where you can play with styles and designs. Make it easy to follow and read through, and as less tiring as possible. This designer-look tip is bound to make the resume more entertaining, thus retaining the hiring manager’s attention for longer.But still be sure to keep the old fashioned black and white one around somewhere just in case.Not every employer is 21st century compliant you know.
Also Read: See Some of the Worst Mistakes young People make in Job Interviews
2. Keep your Basic Information Short
- Keep details related to family, address, and marital status short. This is partly due to the fact that it’s just information that tells the prospective employer a little about you without addressing the ‘nitty gritty’ of the matter or who you truly are or your capabilities. its information that eats up too much space.Depending on the requirements of the employer, your personal opinion and the cultural background of some countries, you can include a professional photo if you see the need to.
- Place special emphasis on your skills, strengths, and capabilities. Don’t turn your resume into a novel as nobody will have the time and patience to sift through it for the relevant information. List your skills and strengths in view of the job you are applying for, shortly demonstrating the value they have brought to previous employers (if any) and the value they can bring to the company where you’re currently applying.
- Leave room to list your extra-work activities and your personal interests. If the employer gets thus far, he or she may find your personality and interests particularly fit for the environment of the company. List blogs (professional ones make an impression), voluntary work, events you helped organized and others that say something special about you. Refrain from listing such interests as ‘music’, ‘reading’, ‘skiing’. They’re general and highly impersonal.
3. Create an Online Portfolio
This is an engaging and entertaining way to get more attention from your prospective employer. There are various tools that will help you create an online portfolio featuring all your projects. Nonetheless, a link to the online portfolio and any other social media account that may be relevant to the employer (they will look up your social media activity eventually) inserted in the resume could work wonders for you.
4. Tailor Your Cover Letter
Cover letters may be close to extinction for some jobs. Nonetheless, they are still relevant for some others and employers value a job candidate who will take the time to craft this often painstaking piece of professional biography.
Don’t emulate your resume in the cover letter. Take the opportunity to expand more on your skills and strengths in addition to the value they can bring to the company. Blow your own trumpet! Choose three key points to focus on and make sure you repeat them during the interview. This is the proven rule of three. Few people remember more than three things about a person they just met, a new book they just read.
Make these three skills and strengths the centre of your self-eulogy and put them in perspective for your potential employer.
5. Be Determined and get rid of Shyness
One thing most employers appreciate is having job seekers contact them to inquire about the job application process, preferences related to the format of the job application pack and other pertinent questions.
Moreover, surprise ‘gifts’ such as job candidates who send a tailored proposal as to how to answer one of the company’s needs or how to solve a problem related to the company are always welcomed. They showcase will and determination (even though they haven’t yet gotten the job), and attention to detail and orientation towards problem-solving, as well as courage.This puts you in the spotlight and turns their attention towards you.
Few job seekers really dare to take the chance and think outside the box when it comes to adapting a job application to a shifting reality. Make full use of these tips and experiment with your own personal style.
Also, Always remember that your resume is all about you ”Blowing your own Trumpet”. That’s exactly what your resume should be about if you really need to get that job!
Good luck!
Related:
3 Sure ways to ‘Beat Out’ Another Candidate in the Final Interview
How to know it’s time to change jobs
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