Standing Apart from the Crowd

Differentiating yourself from the other candidates for your “dream job” has a lot to do with communicating to the HR recruiter, resume screener, interviewer(s) and hiring manager “how” you applied your skills, talents and experience to produce exceptional results.

That’s right…exceptional results. Hiring managers are mostly concerned with how well you would perform on their team, in their department or group. Will you be “the one”… the hire who will evoke a “Wow, bringing in that new person was a terrific decision!” from the hiring manager’s peers and boss?

Hiring managers rely heavily on your ability to prove to them that you actually performed in the past as well as you claim you have…and this is where you have the opportunity to stand above the crowd - by focusing on specific examples of your accomplishments (What you did, How you did it and the Outcome or Results of your actions). Your prospective new boss does not care to read or listen to generic information about you that sounds more like a position description than a validation of your outstanding performance with previous employers.

Remember…as the hiring manager, I (normally) have only ONE position to fill…and most likely hundreds of resumes from which to select my “ideal candidate”.

Before you send me your resume, take an honest look at it and ask yourself, “Would I interview this person?” If so, “why”? If not, “why not”? If you have interviewed and hired people in the past, put on the “hiring manager hat” again and become your own toughest critic.

Here are a couple of key criteria that hiring managers look for during the resume review and interviewing process:

• Is the resume customized to focus on the skills/abilities/talents that I (the hiring manager) included in the position description as “required/desired/preferred”?

• Does the candidate come across as believable? Credibility is earned as a result of using examples of very specific situations that demonstrate the candidate’s ability to apply their skills to produce strong results. During the interview, good eye contact, body language and message delivery are key components of demonstrating self-confidence and thus, credibility. Don’t look up at the ceiling when answering questions…trust me, the answers to the interviewer’s questions are not up there! It is OK (and preferred) for a candidate to show some passion during an interview. There is a terrific synergy that is created when you blend the logical part of your answer, which is “in your head”, with the passion for what you love to do – which is in your heart.

• What does the candidate really know about my company? Researching a company is easy...company websites normally contain a good amount of information regarding the history, culture and vision of the organization along with recent news articles about them (press releases, links to articles from various media outlets or YouTube video messages/flash video clips). You can also Google for news about the company, employee forums, and reports from stock analysts…etc. Incorporating such information into your cover letter and responses to the interviewer’s questions does much to help differentiate you within the candidate pool. Hiring managers very much appreciate a candidate who has “done their homework”.

The bad news is that the vast majority of job seekers do very little of what has been discussed here. This bad news is actually good news for individuals who are willing to invest the time and effort necessary to provide themselves with the tools needed to stand out from the other candidates. Seize the opportunity to prove that you are “the one”.