Get Smart With Your Job Search: What is Your Strategy

Job seekers, there is no doubt that you are confronting a challenging time. Whether you have 20 years of experience or only a year, the pressure is on. However, realize it is not impossible to find opportunities, despite challenges. However, you need to go the extra mile to show employers that you are the right fit. The cost to let an employee go and hire another is high. Employers want to pick the right fit the first time around.

Here are our tips to help you stand out:

1. What is your brand and value proposition? What will you bring to the company? What makes you better than the rest? This step needs to show in your resume, cover letter, interview and even as you network. Have your elevator speech down. If you met the CEO of your dream company and had 15, 30 or 60 seconds to talk about yourself, what would you say?

2. Utilized free career-related workshops. Services that can cost hundreds of dollars are available at no cost (or minimal fees) from organizations looking to help out job seekers in transition such as RE-Academy. There are chances that you can get assistance with resume development, interview preparation, networking effectively, and much more for free depending on your income. Stay tuned to this site and signup for our newsletter for information regarding events coming up in the area and online training.

3. Research every organization before you submit your resume. You need to know about these companies well before an interview. It displays your professionalism and your interest in the company. Employers want employees who will love their company not just the job. This step will help you stand out by showing that you are genuinely interested in the organization and you will be ready to hit the ground running on day one. Do not just check out the company’s website. Read articles on the company and create Google news alerts for organizations. Your goal is to impress the employer with your knowledge of their business.

4. Joining LinkedIn is a requirement. Job seekers are having fantastic luck on LinkedIn. Recruiters, headhunters, managers, and others with hiring decision power are recruiting via this site. Make sure you are taking advantage of every aspect of LinkedIn. Many resumes and business cards will have a link to a LinkedIn profile. Create your profile today. You can also use LinkedIn to find out more about a company and their employees. Job seekers use the site to become more familiar with the interviewer. You can also use it as a powerful networking tool and meet people who have similar interests as your own.

5. Your documents need to be flawless. Resumes, cover letters, thank you emails, websites, social networking sites, portfolios and any other tool you are using to market yourself must be perfect. I know this seems like an apparent one, but typos and grammar issues are pet peeves of employers today. If you can, get the advice from someone in the industry. Again, all marketing tools need to be 100% error free and relevant to your industry.

The mission of RE-Academy is to empower people from underserved communities, youth and disabled achieve economic self-sufficiency by providing a network of support, professional coaching, development tools and a confidence boost to help them thrive in work and life.​