What it takes...
Mark Lyden
Issue date: 2/2/10 Section: Campus News
Lead College Recruiter for
Fortune 50 Aviation / Aerospace Company
Author of the book:
"College Students: DO THIS! GET HIRED!"
www.DoThisGetHired.com
Don't follow the directions when you apply online! What are you crazy? That's exactly what they want you to do and exactly the wrong way to do it. Whenever I make that statement, Career Counselors across the nation cringe. But think about it. If you do the same thing everyone else does, how can you possibly get noticed in this challenging job market with the sea of college students applying for the same jobs you are? The truth is, you can't!
Now I am not advocating that you completely ignore the directions. But I am advocating that you delay following them until the right time. When is that time you ask? Well let me tell you.
Most big and small companies alike are using some kind of "key word" or "key phrase" software to sift through the tens, hundreds, and even thousands of candidates that apply to each of their jobs. Whatever their process is, you can bet the vast majority of candidates are counted out simply for the fact that they didn't have the right key word or phrase in their resume.
But what if I could teach you a way to know the key words and phrases a company is looking for, for each job, before you apply to it? Can we agree that not only would that be helpful, but it would give you a significant competitive advantage?
First, never take the resume you have now and just upload it to apply for a particular job. Before you do anything, look at the job you are interested in applying to and write down or highlight all the key words and phrases that they are using to describe the skills and knowledge they want you to have. Then, before you apply, go back to your resume and incorporate all those same key words and phrases into your resume, EXACTLY as they have them in their job description. Once you have that complete, now you are ready to follow their directions and apply. I like to call this process "Reverse Engineering" your resume, and it WORKS!
Fortune 50 Aviation / Aerospace Company
Author of the book:
"College Students: DO THIS! GET HIRED!"
www.DoThisGetHired.com
Don't follow the directions when you apply online! What are you crazy? That's exactly what they want you to do and exactly the wrong way to do it. Whenever I make that statement, Career Counselors across the nation cringe. But think about it. If you do the same thing everyone else does, how can you possibly get noticed in this challenging job market with the sea of college students applying for the same jobs you are? The truth is, you can't!
Now I am not advocating that you completely ignore the directions. But I am advocating that you delay following them until the right time. When is that time you ask? Well let me tell you.
Most big and small companies alike are using some kind of "key word" or "key phrase" software to sift through the tens, hundreds, and even thousands of candidates that apply to each of their jobs. Whatever their process is, you can bet the vast majority of candidates are counted out simply for the fact that they didn't have the right key word or phrase in their resume.
But what if I could teach you a way to know the key words and phrases a company is looking for, for each job, before you apply to it? Can we agree that not only would that be helpful, but it would give you a significant competitive advantage?
First, never take the resume you have now and just upload it to apply for a particular job. Before you do anything, look at the job you are interested in applying to and write down or highlight all the key words and phrases that they are using to describe the skills and knowledge they want you to have. Then, before you apply, go back to your resume and incorporate all those same key words and phrases into your resume, EXACTLY as they have them in their job description. Once you have that complete, now you are ready to follow their directions and apply. I like to call this process "Reverse Engineering" your resume, and it WORKS!
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