Amanda Augustine, career expert, Career.io, joined TheStreet to discuss the most effective strategies for standing out in a competitive job market.
Transcript:
CONWAY GITTENS: So tell me, what are the most effective strategies for job seekers to differentiate themselves in a competitive market.
AMANDA AUGUSTINE: Now it’s a great question. I think the first step is you really have to take a step back and define your goals. You want to be strategic about your job search. This isn’t a let’s throw every application out there and hope something lands. But you want to be really thoughtful and intentional with your job search strategy. So I always recommend taking a step back and saying, OK, what have I liked about what I’ve done in the past. What have I not liked. What are my strengths. What are my weaknesses. What am I great at and passionate about. And how can I take that and compare it to the job market to identify the opportunities that really make the most sense.
Because once you have a very clear set of job goals to work off of it makes the rest of your job search strategy that much easier. How to reframe or frame your resume, how to reevaluate your LinkedIn profile and other online branding materials, as well as who in your network you should be prioritizing, what events you should be. Prioritize using, and even what skills should you be developing, honing or emphasizing as you go through your job search.
The worst thing you can do, especially in a competitive job market, is if you’re just shooting out a generic resume when you haven’t taken the time to take a second look at that job description, what are they really looking for. What do they care most about, which skills seem to be the most important and what are they. Yeah, it’s nice, but it’s not. Not the most important thing to have. And I want to look at that information and then take another look at my resume and say, OK, are there words I should be swapping out. Is there an accomplishment I should be swapping in. Is there a skill I possess that’s important for this job but I didn’t already have on my resume. How can I work that in and what is the actual language that’s being used in that job description.
For instance, if I’m looking for a marketing communications job, how are they referring to that term within the job description. Is it marcom marketing communications. How are they abbreviating it. And I want to make sure that I’m optimizing my resume so that I’m using the same language that I’m seeing in that job description, assuming I do possess those skills and it makes sense to incorporate it in. I know I went a little off track there, but what I really want to emphasize is that you want to apply for as many jobs as you that are actually a really good fit, but you’re wasting your time applying for roles if you don’t meet the requirements and you’re not taking the extra step to make a few tweaks to that resume before you send it out.
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