The job market is highly competitive in many areas. Applicants often find they are one of several hundred, which makes it hard to get out of the slush pile and into a shortlist. To prevent your job application and resume from being overlooked, you need to do everything in your power to stand out from the other applicants. Here are a few ways to do this.
Boost Your Education
The first – and the most obvious – way to boost your credibility as a candidate is to add some new educational achievements to your resume. The better qualified you are, the easier it will be to secure a well-paid job with good prospects. It also makes it easier to score a promotion with an existing employee.
Thanks to online colleges, it has never been so easy to earn a second degree, a master’s, or a Ph.D. You can enroll on an online degree course and study in your own time. Even if you have yet to achieve a qualification, it still looks good if you mention the fact you are studying for an MBA or master’s in accounting in your spare time. Check out New England College degrees for a list of business degrees worth investing in.
Polish Your Resume
A resume is often the first thing people look at when they are trying to fill a role. If your resume is a bit tired looking or out of date, it’s a great excuse for the recruiter to throw it in the trash pile.
Don’t give recruiters any chance to reject you. Beef up your resume with details of your achievements. Tailor your resume to the position you are applying for, and make sure you tick all the right boxes. If you lack relevant experience, make sure you excel in other areas that the recruiter might be looking for, for example, soft skills such as people skills and emotional intelligence.
In many cases, someone who gets on well with everyone and is willing to work hard is more valuable to an organization than a candidate who has the right qualifications on paper because they are more versatile.
Networking
Networking is a great way to end up on a shortlist for a much-coveted role. In many businesses, it’s not what you know, but who you know. This is especially true of senior management roles or niche jobs. Recruiters and HR professionals often go through their contacts book to find out who might be looking for a job. By making it your mission in life to build a solid network, your name might end up at the top of that list just at the right time.
Make the Most of Your Leisure Time
Employers want well-rounded candidates, not robots. If you do interesting things in your spare time, such as help coach a youth soccer team or plant trees, then it reflects well on you as a person. It shows you have a life outside work, which is important. Make an effort to get out more and engage with the local community. It could help you land your dream job!
Put a bit of effort in and it will pay dividends. Let us know how you get on!