Finding a job is more challenging now than it ever has been. From impersonal online application systems to the myriad avenues you can pursue, it’s no longer a straightforward pursuit. To make sure you cover all of your bases next time you’re looking for a job, make absolutely certain you check off all of the boxes before you apply. We can’t guarantee you’ll get the job, but we can at least guarantee you won’t get rejected right from the start.
1. Turn Off Your Phone
Nothing will make you seem less interested in the job than poking away at your phone at the office where you’re interviewing. Don’t even give yourself the opportunity to screw up here; simply turn off your phone the moment before you walk in and don’t turn it back on again until you leave.
2. Fill Out Every Field
When you’re filling out job applications, you might see some fields in there that are marked as optional. Do not treat them as such. The people looking over dozens to hundreds of applications will be looking for anything to separate candidates from the field of applicants, so arm yourself with as much ammunition as possible by being thorough.
3. Have A Work-Safe Email Address
Before firing off your resume, make sure the address it’s coming from isn’t profane or otherwise obscene. It’s a simple step to make sure you convey professionalism from start to finish. Using your personal email is likely fine, but if you’re concerned, create a separate email address for job applications, ideally based on your name, and without a long string of numbers. That extra account will make it easier to keep track of everything, and it will take the worry out of the equation.
4. Think Of Things From Their Perspective
A lot of us tend to get in the habit of seeing things from our own perspective. We know deep down all the things we have to offer and what we are capable of, but the people hiring you don’t. Try putting yourself in their shoes, and think of the things about yourself that would make you a unique and competent option for the position they have to offer. If they give you the opportunity during the interview, those are the things you should be highlighting. And if they don’t, you should be trying to casually drop them in, without seeming too forced.
5. Sanitise Your Online Identity
A lot of us tend to think of our Facebook or other social media accounts as a private place between us and our social circles. I hate to break it to you, but they rarely are. Assume that whatever you have out there can and will be found, and plan accordingly. Before you even apply for the job, make sure to check your social media profiles for anything that might be incriminating or make you look bad. Because what worse way would there be to miss out on a job opportunity than those party photos you were tagged in on Facebook?.
6. Dress The Part
Some pieces of timeless advice are timeless for a reason. Workplaces might be changing, and some may be skewing more informal, but never make that assumption about the place you’re applying. It’s still very important to make sure you dress your best. You only get one chance at a first impression, and erring on the side of professionalism is the right move nearly every time.
7. Outsource Your Resume
If you’re not the best writer in the world (or even if you are), a great strategy to use is to get a professional resume writer to write your resume for you. Don’t think of this as a show of weakness, use it as an opportunity to find out how your resume should be formatted, and what things job recruiters will be looking for.
8. Bring Multiple Copies Of Your Resume
When companies are seeing tens or hundreds of potential new hires, the small details start to matter a lot more. One way you can make sure things go your way is to bring multiple copies of your resume. When you walk into the interview, there might be more than one person interviewing you at the same time, and making sure everyone has a copy on hand will make the process go that much smoother for everyone involved.
9. Do Your Homework On The Company
This seems like an obvious suggestion, but the most common complaint from hiring managers is still that the applicants didn’t seem knowledgeable about the place they were applying to. Don’t half-arse it when you apply for a job. Make sure you do your homework on not only the company, but also the finer details of what they expect from the position. This way, you can walk in confident that you know what they want, and then tell them how you can fit in with their existing culture.
10. Know The Keywords
When you apply online, you’re probably using something called an Applicant Tracking System. These systems do a lot of the legwork for the people responsible for hiring at larger corporations, and knowing how they work is critical to your success when applying for a job. The most important early factor in determining if someone even sees your application in the first place is to make sure you match all the keywords that the application system uses to sort potential applicants.