For jobseekers whose resumes aren't getting selected, this article talks about some of the basic reasons why this happens, and what to do about it.
The last point about networking is critical whether or not you're searching for a job.
From the article- "AI is still looking for keywords but if you overuse keywords, many AI programs will flag the resume as suspicious. You can no longer trick the system by using ten keywords over and over again in your resume".
Cover letters are mostly ignored by recruiters, mainly because they're templates and don't tell you anything interesting or useful about the candidate. It takes about 5 seconds to recognize a template, in my experience.
This is also the reason why recruiters scan through resumes. You can scan (but not discern much from) a templated resume in 10 seconds, but you can't read and discern much from a customized resume or cover letter, without reading it attentively. Templates resumes and cover letters don't tell you much about the candidate, other than they know (hopefully) how to copy and paste.
The main benefit of a covering letter is that you can link your strengths to the job vacancy. The resume can't do this well enough, because, hey, we have done a lot of different stuff in our career and we want to showcase our all our versatility. Unfortunately this makes it difficult for the recruiter to decide. This is where a well thought-out cover letter helps. When the recruiter scans the cover letter and realizes that it is not a template, he /she tends to pay more attention and will likely read the resume in more focus.
If the cover letter is well written and draws relevance to the vacancy, then the recruiter is sufficiently interested to read about other areas of the candidate mentioned in the resume. If that is also interesting and bears relevance to the vacancy, there are great chances of the candidate receiving a call for the interview.
Among other services, I also help my clients write their cover letters, resumes and prepare for interviews, based on their strengths. This allows them to showcase their uniqueness from other candidates who use templates, as well as stand a better chance of landing an offer for a job that will satisfy and engage them, while benefiting their employer.
Watch my video "Why you need a Strengths-based Resume" here.
Write to me on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com if you want to prepare for your next job like this.
What would you like to have? An ice-cream - which flavour? something from the picture above? Or perhaps a sandwich or a burger? A toy car or a football? An easy project or a challenging assignment? A job close to your home, or a job in another city?
Throughout our life, we are offered preferences. A preference is about stating a choice from among different possible like-able options. I think it is important, to have and state a preference when offered, because the chances of instantly and completely liking whatever is placed in front of us, is not a surity. Strangely, we hesitate to state our preferences.
At a party many years ago, a friend was offered a choice of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. The friend kept saying "anything will do". The more the host pressed him, he gave the same response. So finally the host told him "Ok, you shall have water", to which an instant choice was stated, much to our laughter.
This kind of indecisive behaviour also enters our workplace. Sometimes, you hear it at office meetings when the boss says "I'm buying ice-cream for the team - what will you have?" Perhaps it's our upbringing or we're just shy.
Normally, this behaviour is not going to impact our lives very much. There are some dangers however, as we may come across as indecisive and get a reputation of not being able to make up one's own mind. Not really positive, is it? And unfortunately, some of us take this approach into our career and life choices. How? We say things like "Any job will do", "I'm looking for any opportunity to show my skills" or other such phrases when we are asking someone to help us find a job. This is a common thread, particularly with those who have lost their jobs during the past 10 months. It's predominant among freshers, most of whom have little or no access to a career counsellor or career coach who is not selling them an education course.
This approach is quite ineffective, because now, your friend or consultant has no idea what sort of job to refer you for. For freshers particularly, the friend or consultant may not know your skills well enough to make a judgement call on sending your resume to another organization in his network for a particular role. Additionally, a lot of resumes come in a common template format, which makes it hard for any reader to distinguish one resume (and by that extension, a candidate) from another. And so your resume remains in the back since no preference was mentioned to keep it at the top of the mind, and you remain unemployed longer.
So here's the deal - Freshers and seasoned professions MUST tell their network in very clear terms-
This is applicable to both fresh graduates and seasoned professionals.
So don't just ask for 'any' job. Get clarity about your job preferences by doing the following:
Want to know how to do this? Contact me. I am a Strengths-based Career Coach and Career Transition Coach who can help you do this. Call me on +919820155778 or email me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com for a discussion.
