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Beyond the Resume: 14 Strategies to Get Hired in 2019

Topics: Career Advice
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A good resume shows hiring managers why you’re qualified for the job, whether you’re applying to be the janitor or the CEO. The best resume sets you apart from the competition and makes the case that you’re the right person to solve the company’s problems.

Your resume has one opportunity to impress. Ideally, your content must evoke awe and wonder, but mostly interest. But in 2019, even an excellent resume isn’t enough.

To get hired, you must have a keen sense of what specific employers want, rather than broad knowledge of what they generally want. Beyond that, you must be persistent, resilient and willing to adapt. Use these strategies to land the job:

1. Follow up the Right Way

You won’t find the right job if you’re playing the role of a passive candidate. Be persistent, as well as patient, but make sure you’re following up with the right person. During the interview, ask who the best person is to follow up with (and when).

Do You Know What You're Worth?

2. Solicit Feedback

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Good feedback can come from anywhere — your peers, parents or kids. However, the highest ROI feedback will come from knowledgeable professionals in your industry or industry of interest.

If you want to make a lasting impression on someone who can influence a hiring situation, ask for feedback and then show that you implemented their suggestion. It’s up to you to make it comfortable for that person to offer you truth.

3. Apply CPR (Courage, Persistence and Resilience)

These personal attributes are staples in every phase of your job search. They are the intangibles employers recognized in the best candidate not found on any checklist. CPR helps you remain steadfast interviewing with fickle hiring managers.

4. Don’t Be Scared of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

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Machines won’t be taking over completely, but they will play a part in the workforce. Always emphasize the qualities that computers don’t have. There are two things machines can’t show hiring managers or their companies: Personality and plain ol’ humanity.

5. Get Insight From Employees

When researching a potential employer, go beyond the About page on their corporate site. What are former employees saying about the employer? Check LinkedIn and other social networks to find out.  What does the competition say about a potential employer? Scan recent news items to get insight.

4. Interview the Interviewer

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The spirit of this strategy is not to assume power during a job interview but to expect real answers from the employer. Mark Babbitt, President of Work IQ and CEO of YouTern, suggests that you ask questions like, “What is it like here? What is keeping you here?” Then, he says, “Look for radical candor from the interviewer. If you don’t get real answers, perhaps it’s not the right fit for you.”

7. Turn Your Multiple Interests Into Real Career Choices

You’ve heard how important it is for you to control your career and that you need to create opportunities to gain experience and skill. Professionals are weaving their interests into their career profiles, giving their hobbies the spotlight along with their job titles. An example would be Engineer/Photographer/Videographer.

8. Take Control of the Narrative

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Changing careers while working is tough. I recommended providing updates consistently through your social networks. For most people, it will be their only way to control the narrative of their career and draw the interest of hiring managers.

9. Create Your User’s Manual

You are the author of your professional user’s manual. By demonstrating and explaining your methods, strategies and plans, you are showing how you’ve invested in work product outcomes. Before a job interview, customize examples to the employer’s needs so that you can demonstrate your effectiveness.

10. Network Your Way to a Referral

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You might assume that the best referrals come from people who know you very well, but your strongest leads could come from people who don’t know you very well. Use your network to connect with potential referrers who can link you to the job of your dreams. Creating and demonstrating key skills employers desire through audio or video, or in writing, offers others to point to proof their reasons to hire, refer, or connect with you.

11. Be Patient

Too many people give up early without doing everything possible to change careers or advance in their current industry. It’s a process and there’s no magic pill. Networking will take time, as will demonstrating competency and skill. But it’s well worth the wait.

12. Create Opportunities to Get Noticed in Two Years

For most of us, our articles, podcasts, videos, etc. may not reach their potential in their first year of existence. I search my name weekly, and I often find content I published years ago appear under my name for the first time. Recently, someone connected with me on Linkedin expressing her excitement about an interview I did two years prior.

13. Say No and Walk Away

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Gone are the days when you would hang around waiting for one employer to say, “Yes.” You have choices, too. Job seekers approach the job search and interview process differently these days.

Babbitt told me that it’s essential for job candidates to expect radical candor from hiring managers about the company. When you ask questions such as, “What is it like here? What is keeping you here?,” anything less than a frank and honest answer may indicate that the opportunity is not the right fit.

14. Be Persistent to Impress Hiring Managers

“…a reasonable level of persistence and determination are also good attributes,” says Sarah Morgan, a Human Resources Executive and founder of the blog, The Buzz on HR. “The best hire that I ever made was someone who called and emailed after applying to request an interview. She told me all the reasons she thought she’d be a fit for the role and what she hoped to learn. I offered her the position before she left the building and never looked back.”

Most professionals wait for someone to offer an opportunity. In 2019, you make those opportunities yourself. Every chance you get to demonstrate value increases your chances to get hired. You do the PR, marketing and presenting so others will know your value before you walk in the room. Then what you demonstrated becomes the topic of discussion, not your potential to do a job.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Most professionals wait for someone to offer an opportunity. In 2019, you make those opportunities yourself. ” quote=”Most professionals wait for someone to offer an opportunity. In 2019, you make those opportunities yourself. “]

Tell Us What You Think

What other tips would you add to this list? We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.

Mark Anthony Dyson
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