Today, the competition for the best job openings is fierce. Companies receive hundreds of online applications in response to a job posting and only interview a few of them. The selected candidates should meet a set of criteria to their professionalism, personality traits, attitude and cultural fit. Sounds pretty challenging, doesn’t it? Still, even under these circumstances, there are people who hardly ever struggle getting the job.
These people seem to find great career opportunities everywhere and know how to make the interviewer fall in like with them. Moreover, recruiters are chasing them, offering lucrative opportunities. And even if the company is closing, they are capable of finding the new employment in no time.
So, what are the secrets of the most successful job-seekers? Of course, you need to make a professional resume if you still haven’t one; still, there are much more factors that contribute to your job search success. Today, we’ll reveal the most effective practices that will inevitably help you land the job of your dream.
Successful job hunting isn’t determined by your professionalism and experience only. Your mindset and attitude is probably even more important at the stage when you need to impress the hiring manager and convince them that you’re exactly who they are looking to hire. The tips used by the most successful job-seekers who always get the job you want will help you get hired faster and continue building a successful career.
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Secret #1. Foster positive and upbeat attitude
Job-hunting process is often accompanied by insecurity and frustration. Having spent a lot of time applying for jobs, communicating with hiring managers and attending interviews, we tend to be down on ourselves when the effort we put in doesn’t bring the desired result. This negativity, in its turn, demotivates us from going an extra mile to land a desired job.
How do successful job-seekers approach their doubts and concerns? First of all, they replace the negative thinking patterns with positive ones, for example, “I am a successful professional with good reputation, and I am capable of landing a job I’ll be happy with”. They know their professional self-worth and don’t let a drop of motivation to stop them.
To build your confidence and approach the whole job search in a more positive key, try doing the following. Write down the list of your best qualities as a person and an employee and read them aloud in front of the mirror. This will give you a confidence boost before an important event.
Need inspiration to continue the job-hunting? Check out the inspirational techniques here: http://resumeperk.com/blog/10-ways-to-find-lost-desire-and-inspiration.
Secret #2. Identify your stressors – and work with them
The job-hunting process is stressful in general; however, the particular reasons for fear are individual. And while a minor stress is normal as it’s caused by leaving the comfort zone, if your stress causes serious setbacks (such as lack of decisiveness to apply for jobs you’re perfectly qualified for or failing interviews), it’s high time that you addressed it.
First of all, understand what stresses you most about the job hunting. If it’s a concern that your resume isn’t good enough to land you an interview, consider getting a resume written by a professional writer. If this is the necessity to network that doesn’t fit your introverted communication style, opt for online networking or attend the training to reduce the anxiety. And finally, if the interview is the toughest part that you often stumble upon, be sure to do the homework thoroughly and practice answering the question in front of your friend or family member. Don’t forget to use the tips for successful job interview in your preparation.
As soon as you’ve identified the scariest part and developed the strategy to reduce the stress, you’ll be able to take your job-hunting easier and will get more successful in it.
Workplace stress isn’t a rare thing either. To find out how to cope with stressors in the office, read our guide here: http://resumeperk.com/blog/workplace-stress---manage-it-efficiently.
Secret #3. Find a passion and sense of purpose in your career
What differentiates the most successful job-hunters? They see their career not only as a primary source of income, but as a realization of their life purpose in the first place. When your career is aligned with your long-term goal, it gives you a sense of meaning and you see your daily job in a completely different light.
And this reflects on your job hunting process, too – what you’re looking for is not just the next employment to get a monthly paycheck, but another chance to develop personally and to do something you’re passionate about. During the interview, the hiring manager will definitely notice your love and genuine interest in what you do – and this is a better reason for hiring you than years of relevant experience.
So, if you’ve never thought about your career in this key, now it’s time to start. For example, if you’re a journalist, don’t just say that you ‘love to write’. In which aspect of your daily job do you express your lifelong purpose? As soon as you’ve got this question answered, you’ll feel more confident and will get the chance to find the most fulfilling role.
Do you have a suspicion that your current job isn’t the right fit for you? Here you can find out: http://resumeperk.com/blog/how-to-know-if-your-job-is-right-for-you.
Secret #4. Quality beats quantity, always
The Internet has opened the access to hundreds of job postings in your town and across the US. You might be thinking that the more companies you send your resume to, the faster you’ll land a new job. However, if you’ve tried this approach to job-hunting, you are probably aware that things don’t work this way.
Successful job-seekers know that 10 quality applications are more effective than 100 cookie-cutter resumes sent in response to every job available. To create a resume that will resonate with the employer’s needs, you need to write (or at least modify) a resume for every specific job ad and add relevant keywords. Generic applications hardly ever bring results – ATS weeds them off even before the hiring manager gets their eyes on it.
So, focus on writing personalized cover letters and targeted resumes. The better you anticipate the needs of the hiring company, the higher is the chance that you’ll get an interview invitation and a job offer afterwards.
Don’t know how to optimize your resume for ATS systems? Read our guide: http://resumeperk.com/blog/why-keywords-are-so-important-for-successful-resume.
Secret #5. Do your research and homework
It’s impossible to predict your chances for success during the job hunting process. What you can do, however, is to increase your chance to get a particular role simply by doing your homework thoroughly. This rule is obvious but is still neglected by many.
At the resume stage, be sure to optimize your resume for the role you apply for using keywords. Before writing a cover letter, do a research about the company to identify their goals, challenges and the problem they need to have solved by closing the position. If you write a cover letter with this information in mind (or, what is even better, suggest your own solutions or improvements), your chances for an interview will significantly increase. By the way, here are the cover letter writing tips from our writers: http://resumeperk.com/blog/how-to-write-winning-cover-letter-for-job-applications.
When preparing for an interview, go above and beyond reading a few quick facts on the company website or social media page. Learn and investigate as long as it takes to be able to talk business as if you were already working for the company – that’s what the best job-seekers do. For example, if you’re an online support representative, you can offer rewriting scripts to make communication with clients more effective and discuss new time optimization techniques. This approach is whole different from the typical “I want to work for the company” discussion, isn’t it?
Secret #6. Learn from your mistakes
Nobody is perfect, and every job-hunting strategy needs to be tried in the real world – and corrected accordingly. If the things don’t go smooth at the particular stage or the setbacks occur, it’s time to analyze and address your weaknesses.
As mentioned above, if you send dozens of resumes and rarely hear from someone, it’s time to rewrite it and adapt for every job posting. If you make it to the interview stage and then they don’t call you back, it means that you’ve done or said something wrong (here’s the list of forbidden job interview things). Hint: it’s a good idea to ask the interviewer how well you performed – maybe, you were under qualified for the role, or badmouthed your previous team, or looked insecure. Knowing your mistakes for sure will save you lots of time and will help perform better during the next interview.
Ability to accept criticism is one of the in-demand traits in any setting. Learn how to develop this ability: http://resumeperk.com/blog/effective-ways-to-face-criticism-at-the-workplace.
Secret #7. Take advantage of networking
The vast majority of jobs are never advertised: according to a survey, 85% of jobs are filled through networking. Therefore, the more people in your industry you know, the wider your access to the jobs which haven’t been advertised yet is. The top companies prefer hiring through an insider recommendation or recruitment agencies, and if the vacancy isn’t filled in this way, the job is being posted online.
So, if you’re job hunting now, the lion’s share of your time should be spent on networking. Reach out to everyone you’ve ever worked or studied with: former colleagues, bosses, alumni connections and ask if there are openings in their current companies. Let everyone know that you’re on the prowl (except for the case you’re looking for a new job while on the job). Leverage your personal connections, too: it might happen that your neighbor knows someone who could put in a word for you.
Making new contacts will go you a long way, too. Be sure to attend professional events or volunteer to meet new people. Finally, use LinkedIn to reconnect with your old acquaintances and establish new connections – since many companies hire through LinkedIn, the profile completed thoroughly and a great number of connections will increase your online visibility.
Social media can be used as a job hunting tool as well: learn how to use hashtags fo find a job.
Secret #8. Make your application materials perfect
Although a well-written resume and a cover letter cannot win you a job, they are very helpful in facilitating the exhausting job hunting process for you. Firstly, resumes written by a professional get higher ATS score, which means that your resume will get more consideration from a hiring manager. Secondly, quality application documents are written with an employer’s goals in mind and therefore ensure more feedback from hiring managers.
Moreover, ordering professional help automatically relieves you from the huge stress connected with writing, editing and updating your resume. You won’t need to worry about the quality of writing any longer and will be able to focus solely on networking and sourcing new opportunities. Taking advantage of professional help can save you weeks on job hunting, and the most successful job seekers know it.
At Resumeperk, you can get your resume, covering letter and LinkedIn profile written by a professional with years of industry experience – check out our prices and special offers.
Editor's Choice:
To get the most out of your job hunting, it’s important to hear the recruiters’ and hiring managers’ opinion on the hiring process. Recruiters have their own secrets to finding, attracting and hiring the best candidates – and knowing which criteria and approaches they use will help you get more visible for headhunters and find a job faster accordingly. Below, you’ll find the simple yet effective strategies to increase your visibility for recruiters:
Your success in finding a new job heavily depends on the ability to present yourself in the most favorable light, use the right techniques and stay persistent until the goal is reached. And while the networking and interviewing skills are something that you should develop by yourself, you can give your job hunting a head start by getting your resume written by an expert.
There are no trifles when it comes to resume writing – structure, design, style of writing, grammar and keywords are all important for constructing an effective application. With deep understanding of what the modern workplace requires and how a winning resume should look like, our writers are ready to create a perfectly written resume to support your career needs and allow you to become one of the best job-hunters.
Contact us, letting the writer know your professional goals and fill out a quick questionnaire, and receive your resume in accordance with the deadline you set. Moreover, our pricing policy is flexible and we offer significant discounts off your first order.
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