In the past, the standard initial resume review time as self-reported by HR professionals averaged 3-4 minutes. The Ladders followed 30 recruiters for 10 weeks (or more accurately, it followed their eyes using eyetracking gear) and it turns out that recruiters on average spend only 6 seconds on the initial resume screening.

Only 6 seconds!  That is the average time a recruiter in the study spent to decide if your resume went into the initial ‘yes’ pile or the ‘no’ pile.

In short, the study confirms what we’ve talked about here before on AH Jobs List before: Resumes must be succinct, easy to follow, written with confident language and relevant and specific connections to the job you are applying. The study also confirmed that it is important to create your resume with strategic, visual patterns that allow the reader to quickly grasp ‘bursts’ of relevant information.

In fact, the study says, “…recruiters tend to follow a consistent visual path when reviewing both resumes and online profiles, so an organized layout is crucial. Because professionally written resumes have a clear visual hierarchy and present relevant information where recruiters expect it, these documents quickly guide recruiters to a yes/no decision.”

The study’s “gaze tracking” technology showed that recruiters spent almost 80% of their resume review time on the following data points:

* Name
* Current Title/company
* Previous title/company
* Previous position start/end dates
* Current position start/end dates
* Education

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW There was a 60% improvement in how recruiters responded to professionally written resumes compared to self-written resumes.

A final point of the study is that self-written resumes fared much worse than resumes written by a professional. For most job seekers, it is difficult to understand their key areas that make a resume ‘pop’ for success. Professional resume writers have experience in understanding the critical points of your background, expertise and accomplishment and more importantly, they know how to craft a resume that helps to define these important areas of your history that will grab a recruiter’s attention.

According to the study, “…..the ‘gaze trace’ of recruiters was erratic when they reviewed a poorly organized resume, and recruiters experienced high levels of cognitive load (total mental activity), which increased the level of effort to make a decision. Professional resumes had less data, were evenly formatted and were described as ‘clearer.’”

So what can you do to improve your resume?

1.) Invest in having your resume created or re-done by a professional.

2.) Don’t try to get creative. Photos, info graphs, or other clutter are a distraction.  Specific jobs that require creative work will ask for portfolios or other examples of your work.

3.) Make your resume easy to read. It should have a natural rhythm that allows the recruiter to easily understand your career progression based on the six points mentioned above.  In fact, the recruiters in this study responded positively to ‘bursts’ of informational bullet points that helped them to easily grasp the career history and the experience the resumes were touting as relevant to the job opening.

Dear Bored:
This is a pretty common complaint. You HAVE a job, it’s a paycheck so you should be happy and quit complaining, right?

But actually, its not that simple.  As a matter of fact, of the 25,000 subscribers on AH Jobs List, 60% are CURRENTLY EMPLOYED!  That’s right, 6 out of 10 currently employed professionals are regularly looking for a different job!

Let’s face it: All too often, our lives are our jobs.  Our self identity is tied to what we do for a living.  We spend more time at the office with our colleagues than we do with our spouses, kids and significant others.  When you think of it this way,  it is a totally acceptable expectation to be happy and fulfilled with your work. In fact, far too many people forget to take a gut check about their jobs and ask themselves if they are fulfilled and if not, why and what can be done about it.

In many ways, a job is like a relationship.  Everyone remembers those first few months at a new job.  It is exciting, challenging and fun.  There’s the ‘newness’ factor of meeting new people, learning new things and being part of a new team; you getting to know your new colleagues and them getting to know you.

But eventually, what was once ‘new’ now seems routine.

People who you work with who were once fun and exciting now appear normal and boring.  The energy and creativity you brought to the job screeches to a halt when it meets the hard, cold reality of entrenched bureaucracies, policies, procedures and budgets.  Throw in a good dash of passive-aggressive personalities and office politics and it doesn’t take long for you to begin wondering if you made the right decision committing to this new job.

So, as you consider your future ask yourself if your core values match your job, your company’s culture and your overall profession in terms of doing what you really WANT to be doing. In addition, use these tips as you consider applying for a job to make sure that they are in line with the job you are taking.

Values important to being happy at work:

Being paid what you are worth.  For many people I’ve met, money is not the most important thing; however, believing that they are being paid what they are worth is critical to feeling valued at work. It is reasonable to be compensated fairly in terms of your skills, your years of experience, your education, your accomplishments and how much you contribute to the team and the company in general.

Doing what you WANT to do.  This one seems simple but it is easy to feel unhappy at work if you are not doing what you want to do. If you have skills and expertise that are not being utilized in your job, it is easy to get bored or worse, resentful and unmotivated. Talk to your boss and find out if there’s a position that you can cross-apply to at your company where you can use the skills that will keep you fulfilled.

Being recognized for the work you perform.  It’s easy to feel like a bump on a log if you are not recognized for the work you perform. Yes, most employees are required to perform exemplary work and shouldn’t expect a pat on the back for EVERY thing that is expected of you. But when you’ve put in overtime after hours and on the weekend, volunteered for the new project no one else wanted, helped solve an unexpected client crisis or anything else that is above and beyond your normal duties, you should be recognized.  If you are not, it is easy to feel under-appreciated and it can easily turn to resentment and unhappiness.

Respecting your colleagues and your bosses.  You work hard and value honest and integrity but you constantly see your colleagues flaunt company policies and display boorish and unacceptable civil decorum. It could be a boss with an anger management problem who yells at everyone creating an environment of anxiety and tension. You witness regular sexual harassment by a superior and don’t feel there’s anything you can do about it. Your colleague constantly pads his expense report or takes an extra 45 minutes at lunch. You witness an inappropriate romantic relationship that results in an unfair promotion.

Respecting your company.  It is important that the values of the organization you work for are in line with your own values. Often I hear stories from employees who work at companies they claim are unethical. They witness client bill padding, illegal financial reporting, or excessive officer bonuses. These types of work conditions are reflective of the company’s overall culture and in general, are easy to detect. A culture of success is not a culture of do anything necessary (even if it is unethical or illegal) to show profits.

Life/Work balance.  While somewhat cliché, there are things that can help us to balance our professional lives and our personal lives. Often it simply starts with our commute in the morning. Spending an extra two hours on clogged highways to get back and forth to work is not a great way to start and end your work day.  Some people love to travel, others feel that spending two weeks out of the month away from their family is unacceptable. Feeling as if you are always having to put in extra time after hours and on the weekend and not being able to concentrate on your family, hobbies or other priorities is a one-way ticket on the burnout express.

Fortunately, my employer gave me a couple months of severance, but now that this is running out, I realize I need to get my job-seeking mojo happening.   My problem?  I just can’t get into the job-seeking groove.  I’m overwhelmed with insecurity about my age, the quality of my resume, my skills, etc.  I got off to a good start and sent out a half a dozen resumes and I had two interviews with companies but they didn’t lead to a job.   Now I’m finding myself always finding an excuse to do things other than looking for a job.

What can I do to get motivated?

– Down in the Dumps in Denver

Hey DDD –

The first thing you need to realize is that what you are experiencing is completely normal.   Psychologists tell me that the range of emotions you go through when you lose a job is often more difficult than experiences of a divorce or the loss of a loved one.  

Let’s face it: Our jobs are a major part of our lives and we are often identified with what we do for a living.  We also are so used to our daily routines and the habits of our job as well as our work relationships with colleagues, vendors and clients.  The cold, heartless experience of being laid off is a major shock to the system.   Getting used to NOT going to the place you’ve called work for 15 years takes some adjustment.

And on top of that, you are now somehow supposed to sweep all of those difficult emotions under the bed and put on a happy face and find a new job!

There are a lot coping tools that people use to move forward in such a rotten set of circumstances.

Here are five things you can start doing right now.

1.)    Surround yourself with friends.   Friends will let you grieve what you are going through and let you express your emotions in full.  Friends are people you can call at any moment to get some advice, bounce ideas off of, to give you frank and truthful feedback and are people who can you trust are honestly looking out for your best interests.

2.)    Don’t lose your sense of power or control over your life.  Yes, the fates have dealt you a tremendous blow.  Remember, the trauma you are going through is IN your life.  It is not your WHOLE life.  It is important to keep this perspective as you move forward.  You lost a job.  You didn’t lose your skills, your experience, your accomplishments, your expertise.  It might not seem like it, but you do have a lot of power; power to decide your future, power to do something with your life that YOU want to do. You have the control to determine the next direction you want your career to go.  Don’t allow yourself to accept being a victim to serve as an excuse for not moving forward.

3.)    Get out of the house.  Socialize.  Hang out with friends. Go to networking groups.  Call up former colleagues.  Let folks know you are on the market and looking for your next opportunity.  Sign up for a class to learn a new skill.  Make some cold calls to companies you are interested in.  Attend a lecture or a job seeking seminar.  Limit the amount of time you are spending on your computer looking for a job to only 20%.  The rest of the time be engaged and social in your job search.

4.)    Healthy body, healthy mind.  Yes, this is the BEST time to concentrate on your health.  It is a fact doing something physical for only 30 minutes a day will put you in a better mood, will provide you with clarity of thought and will give you an amazing boost of energy. Working out is inexpensive to do and the benefits of becoming healthy are off the charts.  Take regular walks.  Lift weights or do yoga.  Eat well.  Train for a 5k or if you are feeling really ambitious, train for a half or full marathon!   You will see that your getting-healthy goals quickly become aligned with your job-seeking goals.  

5.)    Create your personal vision for the next chapter in your life and go for it.  Many people who are laid off say “I just need a new job!”  However, those that approach this hiccup in their life as an opportunity to create a new vision for themselves are ultimately more happy and more successful in their job search.   Instead of asking yourself “What do I want to do?”  Ask yourself, “What’s my vision for my new job that will allow me to contribute my skills and talents in a way that is going create more meaning in my life?”  It’s a very different question and puts you in the driver’s seat for your future ambitions.  You then can start searching out the types of things that you WANT to do that are relevant to your skills and background but you also will begin searching for companies that reflect your values and the vision you created for yourself.

Remember, there’s a long list of successful people in this world who have been laid off, fired or have experienced failure of some sort.  They’ve learned from the experience and used it as leverage to push themselves up even higher.  Your rebound will require all of the strengths of your personality, your fire-in-the-gut attitude and keeping the bigger perspective that this is part of the adventure of life.   Resilience and determination and motivation will soon follow.

I write and lecture a lot about self-branding and how to connect the relevant skills between a job seeker’s resume, cover letter and interviews; and participating in these panels reinforced my theories about successful job seekers and the things that job seekers do to sabotage their chances.

In general, the most successful candidates created a ‘sigh-of-relief’ connection with the interview panel.

Following these interviews, the words and phrases that were used to describe the most capable candidates included:

• “Exactly what we were looking for; ready to go…”
• “Confident with bold answers to our questions…”
• “They would have a short learning curve and would fit in quickly.”
• “Really made me believe their skills were aligned with this job…”
• “She could solve our problem.”
• “They displayed specific experiences that are tied to this job.”
• “They really took the time to research and understand us.”

And while these described their capabilities, the ‘soft-skills’ of the successful candidates were described as:

• “I got a really good feeling from him.”
• “She had great energy and got me excited listening to her describe her history!”
• “She sounds like she’d be easy to get along with.”
• “He comes off as a good people person.”

For those that didn’t interview as well, the words and phrases used included:

• “Disappointed; based on their resume, I expected more…”
• “They were way too general – it made it sound as if they were making up answers and hoping we didn’t notice.”
• “He didn’t do much research on us.”
• “Wow – what a blown opportunity.”
• “Where do I go to get my 45 minutes back?”
• “He was so stern!  I wish he’d smile a bit and show us some likability.”
• “They were so nervous, it was difficult to understand their answers.”
• “I never heard anything specific to how they could do the job.”
• “They were trying so hard, they sounded desperate.”
• “I felt they were lecturing me.”
• “They had problems even answering the softballs we threw them.”

An interview, for the most part, is a traditional sales pitch.  In a sales pitch, you must be the champion of your product; deftly and confidently describing and persuading why the benefits of your product create the strongest differentiators from your competition.  You are showing how your product will best help create a desired outcome – perhaps addressing a problem, increasing sales, or providing a specific result that is not available at the organization.

As a job seeker, an interview is the best opportunity to get a job offer.  In your discussion with employers, your goal is to capture their imagination and give them that ‘sigh of relief’ moment that says ‘the search is over, we’ve found the right employee for this job.”

Find more articles on interviewing strategy at www.andrewhudsonsjobsblog.com

To find the best jobs in Colorado, go to www.andrewhudsonsjobslist.com

After all, you are the one ANSWERING questions, right?   It’s normal to feel as if you are shooting at an invisible target trying to connect your answer with what an interviewer wants to hear.

But actually, that’s the wrong approach.

You DO have a lot of power and opportunity in an interview. You CAN turn a one-way interview into a two-way conversation that is engaging, interesting and interactive and that creates a clear picture in the employer’s head of why you’d be successful in the job you are applying for.

The goal of an interview is to verbally connect the relevant threads that exist in your resume and cover letter to the job you are applying for.  In other words, the interviewers already have an idea about who you are from the resume and cover letter, now you have to create an ‘in-person’ perception that shows you are for real and that you can masterfully describe why your relevant skills, background, expertise and accomplishments are the right match for the job.

The job posting provides a map – read the job posting and know what 3-5 points are the most important to the employer.  In every touch point you have with the employer – through your resume, your cover letter and through your interviews – you are attempting to create a consistent perception that you are the best person to be hired.

If you think about it, you’ve already been qualified.  I mean, particularly in the final interview, you are one of maybe 3-5 final candidates who conceivably do the job if you were offered it.  So now, the interviewers are looking for the intangibles that they weren’t able to get off the resume.  Are you confident?  Is your personality the right fit for the culture of the company and the department?  Do you REALLY want to work for the company?  Can you weave your background into a believable scenario of how you fit at the company you are applying?

I’ve heard from many HR recruiters who have told me that the most difficult thing for them is to find someone whose resume is a true reflection of the job seeker in person.  One told me, “It’s like reading a really awesome book and then you go to see the movie version of the book and its nothing at all like the book!”   In other words, we can all spin a good yarn on paper, but can we tell the story in a compelling way out loud?

Believe me, I empathize with job seekers.  Talking out loud about yourself is the hardest thing to do.  You don’t want to brag and sound egotistical and you don’t want to understate yourself and sound desperate.

There’s a sweet spot that exists between arrogance and desperation: it’s called CONFIDENCE – knowing what you bring to the table and having a laser-like focus that connects your skills, differentiators, background and knowledge to the job and the company.  People respond to confidence – it gives them a sense of strength and reassurance in your qualifications.  Remember, those that are interviewing you are constantly imagining you in the position and whether it is a fit.  It is up to you to help create the picture in their minds that you are a good fit.

An important interview technique is “bridging.”

Bridging is a powerful means for taking charge of and controlling an interview. The goal of an interview is to focus the interviewer on a few key messages that are true, accurate, clear, concise, brief, and memorable. If done well, bridging significantly increases the probability that your key messages will get across.  By using bridging techniques, you can re-focus or re-direct the interview to the points that are most most important, relevant and critical to YOU.   Bridging phrases allows you to always bring back the topic to your core and confident focus areas – the issues that best describe your strengths and abilities.   Using bridging phrases also keeps you away from trying to answer a question in a way that you ASSUME they want to hear, but in a way that best connects your relevance to the job you are applying.

Here are some key bridging phases that you can practice and consider trying in your day-to-day discussions as well in your interviews.

• “And what’s most important to know is…”
• “However, what is more important to look at is…”
• “However, the real issue here is…”
• “And what this all means is…”
• “And what’s most important to remember is…”
• “With this in mind, if we look at the bigger picture…”
• “With this in mind, if we take a look back…”
• “If we take a broader perspective…”
• “If we look at the big picture…”
• “Let me put all this in perspective by saying…”
• “What all this information tells me is…”
•  “And that reminds me…”
• “And the one thing that is important to remember is…”
• “What I’ve said comes down to this…:
• “Here’s the real issue…”
• “Before we continue, let me take a step back and repeat that…”
• “Before we continue, let me emphasize that…”
• “This is an important point because…”
• “What this all boils down to…”
• “The heart of the matter is…”
• “What matters most in this situation is…”
• “And as I said before…”
• “And if we take a closer look, we would see…”
• “Let me just add to this that…”
• “I think it would be more correct to say…”
• “Let me point out again that…”
• “Let me emphasize again…”
• “In this context, it is essential that I note…”
• “Another thing to remember is…”
• “Before we leave the subject, let me add that…”
• “While…is important, it is also important to remember…”

Continued good luck in your job search!  Go to www.ahjobslist.com to look at the most updated jobs list in the Rocky Mountain Region.

And then?

Zip.

Nada.

Nothing.

Not even a courtesy email saying your resume was received.

WHY?

A good guess is that a living, breathing human being never actually saw your resume.

Not getting a response back from an employer is the number one frustration amongst job seekers according to the hundreds of job seekers I’ve surveyed.  According to a recent survey by Information Strategies Inc., publisher of Your HR Digest, an online newsletter, only 19% of hiring managers at small companies actually look at a majority of the résumés they receive, and 47% say they review just a few.

The rise in the use of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) is the main reason why.

The Wall Street Journal writes this morning about the widespread use of computerized Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes in their search for qualified job seekers.   You can read the entire article by clicking here.

Here’s basically how an ATS works: a corporate HR recruiter will program qualifying questions into corresponding fields that a job seeker is required to fill out on an online application.  A job seeker will then fill out the online application and the ATS will actively search for key words and phrases and then rank each applicant based on their responses.  In addition to the responses from the job seeker, the computer will also search for terms and words that are in the resumes and cover letters of the job seekers.

If you think that its not a fair process, you are not alone.  Even HR professional agree that they might be overlooking the best candidates.  But think about a large company: they are receiving literally millions of resumes per-year to fill perhaps only 50,000 openings.  Even with a large staff of HR recruiters, there’s simply not enough time to go through each resume.  On a smaller scale, a small business might have to wade through hundreds of resumes for one position.

For this reason, job seekers have to take control of the process by understanding how an ATS works and using that knowledge to better position their resume to get a higher ranking.

Customize each of your resumes sent to an employer in order to conform to the widespread use of Applicant Tracking Systems.  Search for keywords and phrases in the job posting and match your relevant skills, experiences and past jobs to the job you are applying.  Don’t be shy!  Use the EXACT phrases and words they are using in the job posting.  You are not trying to ‘trick’ the ATS, you are conforming the language that best describes you and fits the words and phrases they are specifically looking for.

One of the biggest frustrations amongst job seekers is that there is no response from a company when they send in their resumes.

While certainly rude and impolite, it also is a terrible marketing strategy.

Think about it, the company that is ASKING YOU TO APPLY, doesn’t have the simple grace and good manners to send a simple response letting job seekers know that they are appreciated for applying, that their resumes were received and a brief outline of the hiring process.  It is that simple!

Then there’s Domino’s Pizza.

Check out the ‘sweet’ response a job seeker got after applying for a corporate position there.  While she didn’t get the job, in appreciation for her applying, they gave her free CinnaStix with her next Pizza order!

It’s not the biggest thing in the world, but that small gesture certainly is something that won’t be forgotten by folks who have applied there.

Way to go Domino’s Pizza!  I know where I’ll be ordering my next Pizza!

Dear Laurie,

We have received your application for the position of  Field Marketing Manager-O-ALFM National.

After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that you have not been selected for this position.

We will retain your information in our database and may inform you of job openings that match your profile if you selected this option.

We thank you for your interest in Domino’s Pizza and wish you all the best in your career.

As a thank you for applying, we’d like to offer you a free order of CinnaStix with your next Domino’s Pizza online order, click here!

Regards,

Domino’s Pizza Selection Team

re currently employed but simply trying to find a way to move ahead in their chosen profession; they may be burnt out, feeling unappreciated or are realizing that their current position is not the path they want to follow.

From what I notice, it’s rare to find an job seeker who’s not struggling with many aspects of their job search.  I mean let’s face it, job seeking is difficult.  Job seeking is an intensely personal journey fraught with risk and an uncommon amount of failure that most people are not used to.

Very rarely has anyone ever TAUGHT you to look for a job. Despite what a career counselor might have told you in college, it is a lot more than simply drafting a resume and blasting it out to prospective employers.  This is particularly true for mid-career job seekers who are either trying to reinvent themselves or simply trying to find another job.

Usually, I am approached by job seekers who are seeking help with their resume; they are either needing help in creating a new resume or simply want someone to critique their current resume.

Anyone who tells me “My resume stinks and that’s why I’m not getting a job,” has usually fallen off the rails, so to speak, with the many other important aspects of their job search. The resume, while important, is only one of the many aspects of the job search.  Job seekers who have sent out hundreds of resumes with no response usually have leapfrogged over these important aspects of the job search work that connect realistic opportunities with their true strengths and skills.

In short, your job is a marketing campaign and requires a marketing plan to promote yourself to a targeted audience of employers.   Like any marketing plan, it requires thoughtful research of your audience, a thorough understanding of the strengths and aspirational qualities you are marketing and an action plan to put into play the touch points that advertise, promote, market and ultimately influence your audience to take action in your favor.

Successful job seekers have honest conversations with themselves about what it is they want to be doing and the type of organization they want to be doing it with.  They develop a clear and understandable confidence about their skills, talents and values and are able to communicate these confidently in every touch point where they have an opportunity to influence an employer’s opinion about them.

The successful job seeker communicates a brand promise that immediately connects the relevance of background, experience and accomplishments, skills and talents and most importantly, rock solid confidence.  A successful job seeker brand creates a ‘sigh of relief’ emotion that inspires your targeted audience to want to ‘try’ or ‘buy’ the product.

The touch points in a job search are generally pretty obvious. Your personal brand must consistently connect in your resume, cover letter and in every conversation and interview you have.   ‘Consistently connect’ is an important phrase.  Many job seekers have terrific resumes but are weak interviewers.  Interviewing skills are perhaps the most important part of selling yourself into the job.

Part of your job-seeking plan is also a sales plan.  Sales is not a typical skill for most job seekers, so understanding basic sales skills and routines to get your foot in the door and resume in the interview pile is an important tool in your job search.  It means tapping into your networks of friends, family members, former colleagues, bosses and mentors to let them know you are searching for a job and to identify prospects.  It also means developing new networks through professional associations, cold calling, researching companies and industry trends and following up on leads and suggestions.

Successful job seekers have thick skins and rock solid confidence; failure doesn’t pollute their minds with doubt or insecurity, its simply a part of the process.  Successful job seekers set goals throughout the week that helps them develop keep a high degree of motivation and inspiration and is a good measure of their progress.  Most importantly, every job they apply for is done with a thoughtful connection between the relevance of their background and experience to the job (and organizations) they are applying.  They don’t apply for every job that ‘looks interesting’; they apply for jobs based on the criteria they have developed for themselves that considers their strengths, values, the type of job, the company and, of course, is something they want to be doing.

I realize that the job-seeking process is more complex than could be described in a few paragraphs.  But I go back to something I wrote earlier – rarely have job seekers been taught the skills for successful job seeking.  Even those that have been successful searching for a job in the past quickly realize that job seeking in the year 2012 is a very different process from when they had to look for a job two, five, or 20 years ago.

By learning the skills to search for a job, you will be a better job seeker and these are skills that will serve you throughout your career.

Now what?

In fact, the resume and cover letter are only half the battle; acing the interview requires a completely different level of skills and preparation.

One HR recruiter told me, “My biggest frustration in the interview process is when I find a terrific resume and cover letter but the candidate in person is nothing like they appear on paper.  It’s like reading a really good book and then the movie version is nothing like the book at all!”

Let’s face it – you are now in an elite group of applicants who are vying for this one position.  If you make the final interview stage, you will now be going up against a maybe 3-5 other professionals who have also demonstrated that they have the skills, accomplishments, experience and background to be successful at the same job for which you are applying.  In addition to calming the natural anxiety you are probably facing at this point, what are the things that you can do to take control of the interview and show the company that you are most perfect fit for this position?

YOU have the opportunity to turn a run-of-the-mill job interview into a CONVERSATION… a conversation where those interviewing you are not buried in their notebooks, avoiding any eye contact while they madly scribble notes and answers, but where they are engaging you in your answers and are showing intense interest in your answers.  It is at this point where they are actually developing the believable connection between you and the position.

Research and Anticipate
Having reached the interview process, you have probably crafted your resume and cover letter in such a way that connects the relevance of your background and experience to the job you have applied.  On paper, that is great, but now you have to convince the organization in person why you are the best candidate for the job.  So much about acing an interview comes in the preparation for the interview.

In our digital, online world, there are literally dozens of ways to find critical information about the company where you are applying.  From simply typing in the company’s name into Google, to reading their online annual report, to tracking down key executive bios on Linkedin; when you arrive for the interview, you should understand fully the company’s history, their mission, vision and values and the challenges they face.  Who are their competitors?  Do you know the name of their CEO?  How does the job you are applying for fit into the company’s strategy?  All of this information is helpful in being able to describe and discuss how your unique set of talents and experience make you the perfect candidate for the job.

Anticipate and Practice!
By re-reading the job posting, you will be able to understand pretty quickly the core areas that you will be asked about in the interview.

Remember, those interviewing you are trying to imagine you in the job you are applying.  They are asking themselves, “Is there a connection between this person’s skills/background to the job?”  “Is this person a good fit?”  “Is this person’s experience going to add value to our company?”  “Will this person be right for our culture?”

Here are some tips to take control of the interview:

When I worked as a Sr. Level PR executive, I prepared senators, mayors, CEOs and others for hundreds of media interviews.  No matter what the subject matter, I would sit down with each person I was preparing and ask, “What do YOU want to get across in this interview?”

We’d determine the 3-5 points that were important to get across and then work on developing stories, anecdotes and answers to illustrate our position on the issues being asked about, and no matter what, they would always be able to revert back to the main points that were best representative of our position.

I’d then ask the questions I’d anticipate the reporter would ask – both easy and tough questions.  I’d critique the person on their verbal responses, their body language and their believability.  Even the most dicey and nerve-racking questions could be handled this way.

In much the same way,  as you are being interviewed for a job, you must also think about the points you want to get across and ways to illustrate those points.  In your case, your points need to be tied to the relevance of your experience, your accomplishments and your talent to the job you are applying.

Some basic points would be:

• Why am I the most qualified for this job?
• What can I offer that others can’t?
• What specific experiences demonstrate that I can add value to the organization?
• What are tangible examples of ways I can demonstrate I succeeded in the past?
• What would my former colleagues/bosses say about me?
• How would I describe my work ethic and what are things I value of others in the workplace?

If you are still having trouble answering these questions, answer this question:

In your career, what is an example of an accomplishment that you are particularly proud of?  Why?  What skills did it require?  What types of expertise did you display?  How did others respond?  What were the results?

EVERYONE has an example of their best work.  When I ask this question of job seekers, their answers become more animated, there’s a sense of confidence and believability that is ignited and almost every time, I’m drawn into the story of their success!

And of course, you can determine more specific points that would be important based on the criteria identified in the job posting.

You will be asked about your qualifications to do the job.  You will be asked about prior experiences that demonstrate you can do the job.  You will be asked about your previous work history as they try to determine if you are the right ‘fit’ for the job.

Every question you get asked at an interview is an opportunity to put on full display why you are the best fit for the job. Being prepared with stories and anecdotes that demonstrate your talents, experience and quantifiable results that are relevant to the job you are applying will help you confidently navigate any interview and help you feel confidently in control.

Make the Recruiter Your Advocate
The HR recruiter has one job: to identify and hire the best talent for their company.  Most recruiters are ‘generalists’ who work with a variety of departments within the organization to identify talent and use a combination of skills and gut instinct to determine who in their pile of resumes makes sense to interview. They will be shepherding you through the entire interview process.

Be polite, respectful and ‘maintenance free’ to the HR Recruiter.  Always respond to phone calls promptly.  Be patient and respectful of their time; remember, HR recruiters often are recruiting for several positions at one time within their organization.  While we like to think we are their top priority, chanced are, there are dozens of job postings and interviews they are juggling at any one time.

Controlling Nerves
There’s a sweet spot that exists between the two extremes known as desperation and arrogance. That sweet spot is called “ROCK SOLID CONFIDENCE.”

People respond favorably to confidence in an interview.  Confidence is not trying to desperately fit yourself into a job nor is it arrogantly and condescendingly boasting about all your wonderful attributes.  Confidence is a laser-focused belief in yourself that connects your best attributes to the job you are applying.  It’s taking credit for and demonstrating in concrete ways your accomplishments and also taking ownership of your skills, your experience and background.

But here’s the best advice to calm your nerves.  BE YOURSELF.

Smile.  Relax.  Take your time in your responses and don’t answer a question based on what you THINK they want to hear, answer a question that best demonstrates your capabilities.

Engage your audience and turn the one-way interview into a two-way conversation.  Ask questions if you need to have a question clarified and be prepared to ask questions about the job, the company, the work environment, the culture and what would be expected of you.

Yes, it is easy to be anxious and nervous at an interview.  By preparing yourself for the interview, developing the 3-5 things that YOU want to get across in the interview and anticipating your answers to the most likely questions, you will be in a way better position to ace the interview.

Job seeking today is a lot more challenging and complex. Job seeking today requires specific knowledge and skills and a good understanding of the strategies, routines and habits of successful job seekers.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing different strategies that might help you get out of your job seeking rut.

Applicant Tracking Systems
I know a lot of people, particularly those in mid-career, who, when faced with unemployment, simply fall back to the job-seeking strategies they used 10-20 years ago: Have one good resume, send it out to as many job postings as possible and wait for the phone to ring.

Today, job seeking has become a lot more complex. With online job boards and access to hundreds of applicants, employers are relying on technology to help screen job seekers for positions.   Job seekers are now required to customize their resumes for each job they apply and make specific arguments as to why they are most qualified for the position they are applying.

When you fill out an online application, your information is being collected by an Applicant Tracking System, a powerful database that is programmed to search for key words and phrases. Based on these responses, the ATS spits out the most qualified responses to the HR recruiter for consideration. Of course, and ATS does a lot more in terms of helping to manage and organize information during the recruitment process, but for the job seeker, the goal is to work with these new technologies in ways that benefits their job search.

You will see an ATS being used at companies throughout your job search. Common ATS systems include Taleo and JobVite, but often, job boards like Monster, LinkedIn, HotJobs and others provide ATS services to employers who want to screen and organize applicant information from job postings.

Does this process seem cold, heartless and unfair?  Yes, but you have to look at it from an HR recruiter’s perspective where it is a simple matter of efficiency.  For a single job posting, a recruiter might have over 200 job seekers applying for the position. That recruiter needs to access organized information quickly in order to make a quick determination about who is most qualified. I’ve heard from recruiters who readily admit that an ATS is not a perfect system for identifying the best candidates, but considering the time and effort involved, it provides them with a general snapshot of a candidate that allows the recruiter to determine whether they should follow up.

Saying that, there are ways for the job seeker to writer their resume and cover letters so they get the highest ranking and get to the top of a recruiter’s ‘to call’ list.

When you are reading through a job posting, it is pretty simple to identify the 4 to 5 things that are the most important criteria to the employer for filling this job. The criteria is usually pretty similar in each job posting: background and years of experience, qualifications, job responsibilities, specific knowledge, skills and abilities and required education. It is your responsibility (and your opportunity) to connect the most relevant parts of your resume to show the employer WHY you are the one who best fits the criteria in job posting. The first touch point you have to do this is in your resume and cover letter as well as in the application (if required).

Remember, an ATS is searching for key words and phrases to determine how close you come to what the the hiring company is looking for.  Once it gets into the top rankings that are spit out to a recruiter, the recruiter will then make a determination if your background is relevant to the position for which they are hiring.

You must customize your resume and cover letter and specifically repeat specific words and phrases in the job posting, but more importantly, you must make sure these words and phrases ARE CONNECTED to your own relevant experience, accomplishments, skills and abilities.

Customizing each resume might seem a bit overwhelming, but in fact, as a job seeker, you learn how to quickly exchange the main areas of your resume and cover letter to reflect the key phrases and words to best reflect your experience and make sure your resume is noticed by both the ATS and an actual recruiter.

A recruiter is held accountable in their job to find the best talent for their organization. They WANT to be your advocate if you are the best person for the position, but you have to make the connection as to why you are the most qualified. You can never assume that your background is easily interpreted by someone you’ve never met – YOU HAVE TO BE SPECIFIC about your accomplishments, experience, skills and abilities and connect these to the criteria spelled out in the job posting.

Bottom Line:
The job seeking process is about connecting your relevant experience to the position for which your applying.  Confident, succinct and specific words and phrases that connect your background, experience and overall qualifications need to be laid out in ways that can both help an ATS give you a high ranking and to help a recruiter determine you are a candidate worth considering.