All About Jobs

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Standing Out in a Crowd is important for job applicants.

Imagine you are a recruitment officer in a large firm. You have a nice, cosy office, the pay is okay and you like the work, with the sole exception of having to read hundreds of job applications that are almost identical. It’s plain boring (I know, I’ve done it!).

When someone advertises a job vacancy, they expect that all the applicants, no matter how many there are, will have similar qualifications and experience. Let’s face it, if you aren’t qualified and experienced in stores management, you wouldn’t apply for a stores management job would you? Doesn’t that make sense? I hope so.

Given that all of the applicants have the same or similar qualifications and experience, how can you stand out from the crowd?

Here’s a tip: Why not telephone, or call in and see the employer and ask them what type of person they are looking for? They will probably tell you things that fall outside the wording of the advertisement. Advertisements cost money, so they tend to be very brief with only the key information that will discriminate applicants. For example, if I state in a job advertisement that I want a person with a “NT driver’s licence class C”, noone without that qualification should apply, even though all their other qualifications etc might match perfectly. What I might really be looking for is a person with an NT driver’s licence class C who has an intimate knowledge of Alice Springs streets and businesses.

When you telephone me, I may tell you that. You can then state in your application that you have the NT driver’s licence class C and an inimate knowledge of Alice Springs street’s and businesses. Your application will stand out from all the others. You will have a better chance of getting an interview.

The key information about what benefits you can bring to your prospective employer needs to be right on the first page so it can be seen. You don’t necessarily have to follow some rule about how to write your resume. Tomorrow I will cover a slightly different approach that will help you get attention and stand out even more.

Action
From now on, make it a habit to contact prospective employers and discuss what they want that isn’t in the advertisement. Ask them, “What kind of person are you looking for?” Most people will be delighted to tell you.

Robin
“Think success - Achieve success”