Job hunting is never easy, so it’s no wonder that so many professionals are even more frustrated with the process today. We all know that in these very competitive times crossing t’s and dotting i’s is important, but what else should you be conveying to make yourself more attractive to employers?
William Rolack is a human resources and diversity executive who understands the hiring process from the inside. President of the Greater New York chapter of the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR) and a member of the organization’s board of directors, he is also author of a self-titled book offering “7 Secrets to a Winning Job Interview.†Here he sheds strategic information on how to better position yourself to make a solid impression with a hiring manager.
Show results on the resume. It’s not necessarily about what you did or what you were in the act of doing. It should be about your accomplishments — things you started and saw to fruition. It’s important to determine how what you’re doing impacts the bottom line of the business so you can draw that correlation on your resume. If I’m in data entry, what is my impact on the business? Maybe it’s that my value ensured that 1,000 checks were processed accurately.
Do the research and use it. The important thing is to know when to use it. The critical point is in the silent pauses. That’s when the interviewer is shuffling their papers or looking for the next question to ask, you can then say, “Hey, I heard you have a new competitor in the space.†It could be in the form of a question or in the form of statement. What’s important is that you are conveying what you know about the business.
The morning of your interview, it’s also important for you to research again. There may be something critical that just came out that morning in the news that you can leverage or use in your interview.
Send an interview confirmation. Sending an e-mail or a formal letter before the day of your interview to confirm your meeting and to thank them for the interview, gives you another chance to make great impression. You get a real opportunity to express your excitement and it heightens the level of interest in the company meeting you. It also gives you an opportunity to include your letters of recommendation, which are more effective before an interview, not after.