The Person Who Gets Hired is Doing These Things You Might Not Be Doing

Your resume is better than it’s ever been. For the first time in a long time—hell, maybe for the first time ever—you feel like resumes aren’t that hard to get right. You may even get more responses than you ever have. People are actually setting up interviews with you—in record time. You’re optimistic about this job hunt!

(If you just read that and can’t relate, you probably haven’t used Turn Your Resume into an Opportunity Magnet yet. Check it out, it’s free!

It feels nice applying for roles and being confident that your resume will get a response. It’s nice not following up so frequently just to “see if anyone got your resume”.

This is how it should be. Well, kinda…

Your resume strategy is way better, and it’s getting you more feedback, but it’s still a ton of work to get through all of these applications!

It’s a whole other job just trying to get interviewed for a new job.

And then, as the interviews start rolling in, it’s all starts becoming a bit much. Especially since, with so many more interviews coming your way, you’re realizing your interviewing skills are a little shaky and you’d like some time to brush up on this, too.

You’re not as confident you’ll make it to the next round of interviews as you were about your resume getting you an interview in the first place. In fact, the moment the interviewer says, “So, tell me a little about yourself…” your heart drops into your stomach.

Not good.

It would all be a bit easier if:

1. You didn’t have to spend so much time finding and applying for jobs yourself
2. Interviewers were already warmed up to you and were already looking forward to speaking with you

The person who ultimately gets hired will already have the second one going for them.

So what’s this person doing that you’re not (yet) doing?

Well, for starters, they’re using their career assets to warm up the opportunity. What does that mean? That means they’re using things that help their career to get people excited about helping them get the opportunities they want.

So far, you’re only using your resume.

The more excited you are about a particular job, or other opportunities, the more effort you should give it. But, again, that’s really hard to do when you know you still need to apply for more roles in case this one doesn’t work out—and you still need to go to the job you have and get sleep.

So, let me rewind to what I said before…

It would all be a bit easier if:

1. You didn’t have to spend so much time finding and applying for jobs yourself
2. Interviewers were already warmed up to you and were already looking forward to speaking with you

How do you do that first one? Well, put some of this job search on autopilot.

Finding and applying for opportunities requires:

1. Knowing where to look
2. Knowing what the opportunities are titled so you only spend time on the right ones
3. Sending the appropriate sales documents (your resume, cover letter, portfolio, reel, etc.)
4. Wait or follow up

You can knock out the first two by using your network and your online tools more effectively. But, you can also flip #3 around so that you’re not just sending in your credentials, but having people reach out to you first to ask you for those credentials.

Think it doesn’t happen? It does.

When people hear about someone who can solve the problem they have, they reach out. They say “Hi, I got your contact info from such-and-such who says you’re a great whatever-you’re-great-at and I’d love to see if we can schedule some time to talk/take a look at your work / see what you’re looking for”.

If that were happening, you could skip steps 1 and 2 entirely and just respond to the opportunities that come to you.

It doesn’t just happen magically. You have to build the autopilot machine with the assets in your career toolbox.

Here’s what the people—who actually get the opportunities they want—are doing to build their autopilot machines:

They’re saying the right things about themselves

Does everyone need to know about your five promotions at your last job? Maybe. Probably. Does anyone need to know about your personal blog about all the places you’ve traveled and what your favorite restaurants are in each of those cities when you’re looking for a job in finance? Possibly!

People who get the opportunities they want assess the role and what it needs. Then they share the most relevant parts of their experience with the right people.

They know what people need to hear to paint them in the light that gets them what they want. They also don’t say a bunch of things that don’t need to be said. They know they have a ton of experiences which would make them great at a lot of jobs, but they’re not telling every person who’ll listen about everything they’ve ever done. They keep the experience relevant—even if it’s non-traditional.

Most of us know how to use our traditional experiences to our advantage. But the real winners know when to share, and how to play up, their unconventional experience.

And they stand out because of it.

They’re strategic about who they’re saying the right things to

They learn the names of people they need to connect with—and then they go meet those people. They’re also aware of the people in their existing network who are well connected enough to help and they reach out to those people when they need help. And they get help.

#ClosedMouthsDontGetFed

What’s great about reaching out to the people your network is some of them will actually start planting the seed with potential employers, for you.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to people who’ve spent time networking but never actually using their network. Like, why?

The opportunity winners aren’t barking up the wrong trees, talking the ears off of people who don’t have anything to do with the department they want to work in (and don’t have the clout to help). That’s a waste of everyone’s time. Instead, they’re mindful of everyone’s time and they make sure to add value to the conversations they’re a part of.

Otherwise, why would people keep talking to you?

#Wayment

Let’s pause for a second. This might sound like a lot of work. It’s really not. Some of these things are as simple as a few text messages and maybe a lunch or two.

Yes, those (and the next few pointers) may take longer than searching Linkedin for job openings, but these actions can take you further than having your resume sit in a box with a bunch of other resumes (because even if your resume is an opportunity magnet, you still have to wait for the gatekeeper to get around to reading the resumes before they respond to you). These actions humanize you and make you more than a name in a folder. These things show people you’re an actual person who is proactive about their career. It might be worth it to you to take the step.

Ok. Moving on…

They make a plan to meet the key players who can help them get what they need

Do you want to work somewhere? You’re going to need to know people’s names. You’re going to need to know the departments people work in. These might become your coworkers, right? So start learning who they are now.

Even if you’re not after a job, you’ll need to know the people who have an effect on the work you’re doing. And, if it’s a tight-knit industry, someone who has influence over one place today may later have influence over different areas you need access to.

Connections don’t change just because someone’s moved around a bit.

Once you’re in, you’re going to need to know the key players anyway, because they’re probably going to have an impact on your work and/or your life in this place. So, the winners know to make an effort to know those folks early.

They also know not to do it in a way that’s creepy or a force people to use their personal time to connect with a candidate who may never land that opportunity.

They’re making great first impressions and even better-lasting impressions

Networking is one long interview—until you’ve made a connection. Then you have a relationship.

A great first impression is a start. You need it to get someone’s attention. Then you need something that sticks. Something that makes people want to keep talking to you.

And it’s got to be more than just how great you are at something.

That’s what can make someone realize no other candidate is going to match up to you—even if those other candidates have more experience than you. Your impression lasted.

Now you’re the person they’re excited to work with and have on their team.

They perfect the skills they need in the new role

This last one is the gem people really need to hear.

We overlook how much power we have over what we know and what experience we get. It is not up to your job or employer to teach you everything you need to know to get what you want in your career. If you don’t get enough exposure at your job, it’s up to you to take building your experience and continuing your education into your own hands.

Yes, you can and will learn on the job. But, if you already know you’re missing the skills you need to make you a strong contender for the things you want, go learn them now. Read a book. Get a tutor. Study. Or follow the steps in my Career Brand Audit.

When you walk into your interview or—my favorite—when you’re invited to come in for a “chat”, be ready to answer questions about your experience with “yes, I know that software” or “yes, I’ve actually spent some time working on that”—because you’ve actually spent some time sharpening the skills your job didn’t even give you.

They take one step at a time

Every step of getting a new job, or opportunity you want, is only about getting to the next step. A resume gets you an interview, a first interview gets you a second interview, negotiating gets you a better salary and perks, etc. But, you can have other things brewing in the background that make each of those steps easier because you’ve been warming up the opportunity all along.

You can walk into an interview and, instead of starting from 0%, could be starting from 45% because everyone in the room has already heard great things about you from their network, or because you put other career assets to work for you.

Now the interview is less about seeing if you can do the job and more about seeing if this is the right fit for you and them.

Most of us don’t even know what career assets are, so we don’t know we have them. And we, for damn sure, don’t know how to use them. Now that you know they exist, not using them is an intentional mistake.

I built an audit workbook that reveals your career assets and shows you how to put them to use immediately. You should use it each time you pursue a new opportunity—whether that’s a new job, a spot on a podcast, a role in a professional organization, a partnership, a potential sponsorship, etc. It’s a speedy assessment of what your career brand has going for it, and against it, as it relates to you getting a particular opportunity.

If you’ve already completed my free guide, Turn Your Resume into an Opportunity Magnet, then you can get the Career Brand Audit there!

Otherwise, you can learn about the guide here.

Career Brand Audit

Get into this audit if you want to:

• Identify the skills you have that will help you get the job you want
• Discover what’s in the way of you getting the job you want—and fix it
• Gather the resources to build the skills you need
• Identify key members of your network who can help you get the roles you want
• Strategize building connections with people who can enhance your network and open up career opportunities for you
• Identify additional ways to raise your brand’s profile so that your career brand gets opportunities for you on autopilot

Get the Career Brand Audit now