March 10, 2015 •Jenny Dieterle
Ah, Spring! It’s around the corner and, with the renewed sense of purpose this season brings, many of us want to shake the snow off our resumes and find new and invigorating work. These rules of thumb will help ensure that green grass you see on the other side is more than just a vernal mirage.
Know Thyself.
Getting in touch with who you are requires more work than any other part of finding a job. It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, but do start by simply asking yourself some of these questions: What functions do I like to perform? What mix of collaboration versus alone time works best for me? Do I like coming up with the ideas or executing them? What comes easy to me that other people find difficult? As you evaluate a job description, close your eyes and envision yourself doing the work. Do you feel at home, challenged but still comfortable, or do you want to stay in bed? Feeling an affinity for a role at a basic level is a good place to start, and knowing thyself means you have a credible answer when someone asks why do you want to work here?
Know the Field.
Once you have a sense of what you like to do and have found one or more positions that resonate with you, think about the field in which this job sits. Whether finance, health care, or engineering, be able to explain why you are a fit for the field and what concrete steps you have taken to become a viable candidate for it. If you don’t know what steps to take, find out what other people have done to get to where you want to go. Whereas the first step to job seeking success is looking inward, this step is looking outward, having a genuine interest in the field and explaining how you are a viable part of the community.
Mind the Gap Analysis.
When I look at your resume, beyond just the requisite skills you have, I also like to see progression in a job history. That is, why is this position the next logical step in your career trajectory? To make that connection apparent on your resume, conduct a gap analysis, which might look something like this:
Step 1: Assess where you want to go, who you want to be when you grow up, or who you want to be (See Know Thyself above). Select jobs with this in mind.
Step 2: Assess the job description. What skills does it call for? What skills do you already have? What skills do you need? Is this position seemingly a next step on your career path? Think about these overarching themes of your experience, even if it’s across multiple industries, and map them to the job description.
Step 3: Now, make sure your resume reflects and highlights how you have acquired and honed these skills, with growing proficiency, seniority, or responsibility. Note the job description and roughly order your resume bullets to the bullets in the job description, assuming what the company has listed first is what it deems most important for the job. If you are applying to multiple positions, take the care to tailor your resume for each.
Thou Shalt Not Spray and Pray
Do not blanket the virtual earth with your resume. A framework for selecting potential new positions means you can weed out jobs that are not right for you, avoiding this job seeking cardinal sin. Companies tend to sense when you’re applying everywhere, hoping something sticks. This practice does not inspire confidence in a potential employer and indicates a lack of self-awareness about how you best fit into the working world.
With these four tips in mind, you can blossom into that new job that will invigorate you through many seasons! Stay tuned for our next recruiting blog post, which offers tips to help you ace your interviews.
