Recently, I was chatting with a candidate who asked "what should I be doing to increase momentum in my job search"? The following are four suggestions I shared to support their efforts to stand out in a competitive labor market:

¨ Build a pipeline of potential opportunities (published job leads, referred job lead, networking conversations, scheduled interviews, offer negotiations) and will not let it drop below 7 at any given time.

¨ Engage in all four avenues of job search leads: applying to published job leads, social marketing, speaking with recruiters, and developing and refining target company lists.

¨  Explore alternate marketing approaches such as direct mail and cold calling.

Apply to published job postings by identifying potential advocates, tailoring my resume, applying, and following-up.

To develop a multifaceted marketing campaign that delivers results, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

14%-18% of hires are made from job board postings with only 1 in 219 online applicants are hired (compare that to the 1 in 10 personal referrals that are hired!). With this in mind, I encourage candidates to network and follow up after submitting an online application to increase your chances of standing out from your competition.

ACTION ITEM
Before you apply, look for contacts in the target company using LinkedIn to see if you know anyone who could connect you to the hiring manager or other hiring team member. For those without a direct organization contact, follow up by reaching out to the recruiter and/or the hiring manager via LinkedIn or email.

How to distinguish yourself from competitors who apply for the same published job lead?
Don’t wait until an open position is posted to apply because recruiters begin looking for candidates before positions are officially posted. Register and post your resume on all of your target companies’ career pages. This step will ensure your resume is uploaded to each of their Applicant Tracking Systems and available in their database when they search for qualified candidates. Be sure to regularly refresh your resume with additional skills and trainings as accumulated.

How to answer the salary question on applications?
Online applications may ask for your salary requirements or salary history so I offer three options for your consideration:
Option 1 When at all possible, leave this blank, enter "negotiable" or "will discuss."
Option 2 If the application requires a number, give exactly as asked. Provide your salary history and enter your expected salary (or if allowed, a range).
Option 3 The riskiest option, is listing your (researched) target salary in every salary box (or a range if the system permits). Then, in the first open text box enter: “all salary figures reported reflect my current salary target" to address confirms related to dishonesty. However, decision makers may not appreciate this approach.

How to answer essay questions on an online application?
Determine how many characters or words you can work with. If the word limit is not easily found, simply paste several paragraphs of text into the box to identify where the text cuts off. Write your response in Microsoft Word and proofread your work before pasting it into the application. Your communication skills will be evaluated as a part of the selection process.

Should I apply for more than one job at a particular company?
Applying for more than one position within an organization may not make a great first impression try to gain more information before
submitting your resume. One way to determine next steps is to reach out to network contacts or company recruiters to learn more about
the role's job duties and status.

To brainstorm strategies to support application submissions, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

To prepare candidates for launching their job search campaign, I encourage you to clarify your focus and job search target. To do so, I encourage candidates to complete the following:

1. Develop SMART goals that clarify your job target, including job title, industry, and location (this will clarify the messaging you will use when tailoring your resume, constructing interview responses, and scheduling networking conversation.
2. Identify at least 10 companies to target when building your job search pipeline with plans not to allow the number to diminish to less than 7.
3. Create professional branding documents including resume, LinkedIn profile, tailored cover letters, and follow-up correspondence (schedule a coaching session to uncover your strengths, talents, skills, and values).
4. Strategically tailor your resume towards specific roles.
5. Formally conduct salary research to understand your current worth in the market.

To develop a strategic action plan to accomplish these objectives, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

To prepare success stories aligned with employer requirements, review the job posting to identify the top competencies/skills required for the job then construct a script that addresses each one with an example in the form of a PAR success story. (Attached is a copy of the job posting you shared, highlighting the transferable skills I suggest you focus your efforts towards as well as an introduction to the PAR formula.)

Many candidates make the mistake of describing past or current job duties without validating claims of experience with quantified examples. Many employers use the behavioral interview method to explore real examples of how well you perform in your area of expertise. The behavioral interview method is applied because research studies suggest past behavior predicts future behavior and success on the job. Therefore, the successful candidate will creates informative PAR success story examples that validate how they've previously performed a specific task.

Craft your response using the following formula:
P stands for the problem with which you were faced as well as the inherent challenges,
A stands for the action you took to solve the problem, and
R stands for the result you yielded.

This approach applies regardless of the question you are posed. Naturally, this approach applies when responding to behavioral questions that present themselves something like "Tell me about a time when...", but when you are asked a question as general as "Tell me about yourself" or "What are your strengths/weaknesses", you still should respond with the employer requirements and job duties in mind (see the attachment entitled "Professional Value Proposition" ). For instance, when responding with your strengths, emphasize those that are aligned with the employer need OR when sharing a weakness be sure to identify something not relevant to the position and while doing so talk through how you have adapted to improve in this area.

Remember, every interview response should directly or indirectly emphasize your ability to quickly hit the ground running by offering examples of how you've successfully performed the work in the past. If you reserve time to write and rehearse your answers, your interview responses will be strategically tailored to the core areas of the role.

For more support in preparing for an upcoming interview or performance review, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

Before the interview, do your homework! Review the company’s website and learn more about the key personnel, the work they do, their clients, and potential areas where you might be an asset. Google the company. Look for recent news articles about the company. Review the company’s social media profiles (if they exist). Check out the company on Glassdoor.com (www.glassdoor.com) and see what current and former employees have to say. Ask your network for help learning more about the targeted company. If you know your interviewer’s name, Google that too. Check out his or her LinkedIn profile and social media accounts. And prepare a list of targeted questions to ask in the interview — 3-5 questions that demonstrate you’ve done your homework and that, when answered, will give you additional insight into the company.

In the interview, listen carefully. Your interviewer is assessing your fit with the company, but you should be doing the same. You want to make sure that this job is right for you, too! Be prepared to give a “closing statement.” If you’re given the opportunity in the interview, be ready to summarize (in 90 seconds or less) why you think you’d be a good fit for the position. If possible, incorporate in the additional information you’ve learned in the interview itself! Prepare the key points of this closing statement in advance, but practice it until it sounds natural, not canned or rehearsed. And before the interview ends, ask if the interviewer needs anything else from you to help with the decision — a list of references, work samples, a 30-60-90 day plan for what you’d do in the first three months on the job, etc.

And don’t forget that it’s okay to specifically express your interest in working for the company! At the end of the interview, ask what the next step is. You want to know if there is another round of interviews, and when it will begin, or when the hiring decision will be made. Ask if it’s okay to follow-up — and if they’d prefer phone or email?

Immediately after the interview, send a follow-up/thank you note. Handwritten notes are always appreciated, especially if you can mail it the same day (and the hiring timeline allows sufficient time for it to be sent and received). Otherwise, an email follow-up is fine. Express your appreciation for the opportunity to meet, reiterate your specific interest in the job and the company, and confirm the “next step” — whether that’s information you’ve promised to provide, or what you’re expecting from the interviewer.

If you don’t hear back from the interviewer in the time you expected to hear from him or her, it’s okay to follow-up. Just remember that hiring often takes much longer than expected, so don’t be a pest. Be respectful in your follow-up efforts. (“You had mentioned that you thought the second round of interviews would start this week, and I just wanted to make sure that you had everything you needed from me to assist in your decision-making.”)

If you don’t end up getting another interview — or the job offer — try to follow-up with the interviewer to get feedback — specifically, why another candidate was a better fit. You may not be able to obtain this information (busy hiring managers may not take the time to respond), but if you can get this type of feedback, it can be helpful in your overall job search. If you can’t reach the hiring manager, watch who is ultimately hired, and assess that person’s professional profile and see if there was something that might indicate a key qualification (perhaps a certification, or a past employer) that might have set them apart. Sometimes you just won’t be able to tell, however, and you must simply move forward to the next opportunity.

Get in the habit of rewarding yourself for effort, regardless of your results. If you put in the effort, eventually the results will follow. To further clarify recommendations we offer to clients, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

As you clarify your job search goal and action plan, I encourage you to gain a better understanding of your competitive advantage by assessing the demand for your preferred job title and skill set.

Start, by locating one or two job postings that describe your ideal job functions/duties as well as position requirement. This exercise will help you gain a better understanding of the roles you're seeking and the skills employers have identified as critical to performing the outlined job duties.

Only worry about physical location if you intend to immediately launch your search and you are also interested in assessing the number of openings available. If so, pay close attention to the number of opening available that match your target role.

Finally, this assessment allows you to compile a list of target employers seeking your specific skillset and even position you to conduct complementary research to identify area employers that may not surface because their not currently recruiting candidates.

To uncover labor market research that positions you for the win, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

To immediately support your efforts to strategically customize your resume, the following resource can be employed to quickly align your resume with the target employer's specifications: Resume Optimization by Jobscan. Both now and for future job searches, I encourage you to tailor your resume to each position you are targeting using the checklist below:

¨ Review the job description to examine employer requirements, essential job functions, and cultural cues (supplemental research topics may include the company and/or industry).
¨ Decide how you are going to sell yourself – what are they really looking for?
¨ Look at the job posting of interest and highlight key words and phrases; use TagCloud.com if needed.
¨ Tailor the "Job Title" to match the title of the job posting (if appropriate).
¨ Tailor the "Qualifications Summary" section by weaving in the highlighted key phrases into this small paragraph – but be sure not to make this section too long.
¨ Tailor the "Skill Set" by adding in field and industry-related “buzz words” as well as the key words from the job posting of interest.
¨ Review the entire resume to see if there are other skills, responsibilities, or achievements that should be highlighted, prioritized, or emphasized based on the employer requirements and essential job functions.
¨ As an extra level of review, you can copy and paste your new resume into TagCloud.com to see if the resume’s keyword cloud matches that of the job description.
 
Before you apply to an applicant tracking system (ATS) via job board, search engine, or company career page, take a moment to customize your resume towards a specific job target. To learn more about the above process, please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

General guidelines to follow as you evolve and refine your resume in response to new opportunities:

The standard and recommended length for a resume is one full page or two full pages (avoid quarter or half pages). There may be an exception if you are in a highly scientific/technical field and require a CV. An addendum may be used for additional experience beyond these recommendations.

Margins of a resume should be no less than .5” all around.

Use a common font to avoid compatibility issues. Common fonts include Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, Verdana, Cambria, Garamond, and Book Antiqua. Font size should be 10 pt. to 11.5 pt.

Include active language and high-impact words throughout. Keep the tense consistently in present for current positions and in past for prior positions.

Use implied first person or third person throughout; avoid using personal pronouns (I, me, my).

Incorporate basic design elements (e.g., bolding and lines to separate section titles), but never a picture.

Avoid listing years for positions or education that go back more than 15 years (use “Prior to XXXX” instead).

Avoid using very long lists of bullets or large blocks of text; break them into categories to provide a visual break.

Don’t use text boxes or tables to list information (i.e., summary statements, key skills, etc.) to ensure it's picked up by the company's applicant tracking system.

Consider partnering with our team to develop a career marketing communications that demonstrate the value you've delivered throughout your career. Please schedule a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.

To quickly land your next opportunity, career experts suggest that job seekers set aside time to:

1.  Tailor your résumé towards specific job postings. Whenever possible your resume should be customized for a specific job, however if this is not possible, your resume should be targeted for a specific “type” of position. Also, if you’ve absorbed additional responsibilities in your current or previous positions, or you’ve completed new training or educational requirements, share this information with your resume writer for inclusion in your final draft.

2.  Develop — or update — your LinkedIn profile. A LinkedIn profile should complement your resume...not duplicate it. A recruiter or hiring manager looking for a candidate with your background may conduct a search on LinkedIn and find your profile. Or, a friend may forward your LinkedIn profile URL to someone they know interested in your particular skill set. So make sure you have an updated LinkedIn profile.

3.  Know what you’re worth: conduct salary research. One of the most often-cited reasons to consider a job search is to increase your salary. But how do you know what you’re worth? There is more salary research data available than ever before. Websites like Glassdoor.com and Salary.com can help you see how your current salary and benefits package stacks up.

4.  Build your network. It’s estimated that 40-80 percent of jobs are found through networking. Networking effectiveness is not just about quality — although that’s important. It’s also about quantity. It’s not just about who you know. It’s about who your contacts know. Many times, it’s the friend-of-a-friend who can help you land your dream job. Grow your network both professionally and personally. You never know who will be the one to introduce you to your next job opportunity.

5.  Manage your online reputation. What will hiring managers and recruiters find when they conduct an online search for you? Do you have a social media presence established? How does it align with the professional image you wish to convey?

6.  Define your ideal job. What does your dream job look like? What types of companies employ this position? What job title and responsibilities are you interested in? Do you want to work independently, as part of a team, or both? Do you like short-term or long-term projects? Who would you report to? Who reports to you? Answers to these these questions help define your ideal position and job functions.

7.  Create a target list of companies you’d like to work for. Like your ideal role, you probably have a preference for the type of organization you want as your employer. Things to consider include: company size, industry, culture, location, and structure (public, private, family-owned, franchise, nonprofit, etc.). Once you’ve identified your preferences, generate a list of companies that fit your criteria.

We invite you to partner with our team to develop an intentional campaign by scheduling a complementary discovery session with one of our certified career development practitioners or transition specialists. You may also visit the Help Center, call 866.827.7302, email us, or use the "Feedback & Support" link located on bottom right side of the page. We also invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your suggestions for advancing in the selection process by adding a comment below.