I would like to introduce you to Jeremy Johnson who will start writing guest blog posts here on Kansas City Job Seekers off and on. We want to thank Jeremy for taking time to write about the job search process. I hope you enjoy his posts.
Jeremy is a recruiter in Kansas City for EHD Technologies, a recruiting, staffing and managed services company serving the IT, Engineering and Automotive industries. Prior to joining EHD Tech, Jeremy served six years as a technical recruiter with Aerotek. Currently, he recruits for EHD Tech’s IT division, placing for positions across the entire IT enterprise. He has reviewed countless resumes and interviewed hundreds of people and regularly provides tips and advice for candidate he works with. As both a current recruiter and past job-seeker himself, Jeremy believes that experience provides him a good understanding of both sides in the job search process.
He lives in Olathe, KS, with his wife and three children and wishes he could play tennis more often.
The Proper Focus in your Job Hunt:
I would say, in my experience as a technical recruiter, the single major mistake I see over and over in people’s job hunting process is where they place their focus.
When I say focus, I’m not talking about level of concentration or attention to detail or anything like that. The problem, more specifically, is who they’re focusing on. And a lot of job seekers, especially those earlier in their careers, tend to focus on themselves, when their focus should be outward – on their target audience.
When it comes to the job hunt, it’s not about you! Those making hiring decisions care only about how you can help them. That’s where your focus should be – on them. What counts is how you can solve their problem, meet their need or take away their pain. It’s that simple.
How many times have you looked at a job posting, though, and said to yourself, “Hey, I could do that job!” then sent your standard resume only to wait for a response that never comes? Or, in an interview have you ever been asked, “So, tell us a little bit about yourself” and then just recited your life’s story without really thinking about it? These two examples share the same problem: self-focus. You have the benefit of knowing your collective experience, but your target audience doesn’t have that luxury. They can only interpret things from THEIR point of view. They aren’t you! And from their point of view, they have a need to be filled, and they’re asking themselves if you’re the remedy. You have to show them why you’re the right solution for their need.
So, what do you do? Here are four things that will help maintain the proper focus.
1) Make a conscious effort to focus on the perspective of your audience: The first step is just to make the mental shift. And this isn’t as easy as it sounds. As a technical recruiter, I’ve worked with a lot of smart people who are really good at telling me what they’ve done but really bad about convincing me why I should care. And in the job hunt, it’s all about why your audience
should care – how they see you as the right fit in their world. But to do that, you have to first put
yourself in their shoes.
2) Customize your resume: When it comes to resume content, you have to showcase the
experience and accomplishments that are most relevant. And relevance depends on your
audience, not you. That may require swapping out bullet points in a qualifications summary
or rewriting some of your job descriptions to better emphasize aspects related to your target
job. And, don’t write that you’re interested in a Technical Writer position when the job you’re
applying for is a Graphic Designer. It looks careless and lazy and is a sure-fire way to get your
resume thrown in the discard pile. Be purposeful, targeted, thorough, and relevant.
3) Speak in your audience’s terms and language: For example, let’s say you work for a retail
company and your official title is Community Services Executive. If all equivalent jobs in your
industry are called Retail Regional Manager, and those are the jobs you’re targeting, you’ve got
to include that more common title in your resume. Sure, you want to be accurate. I get that. But
if Community Services Executive only means something to your present employer and means
nothing to your target audience, you’ll probably be unnecessarily overlooked. Also, keep in mind
that when folks like me are searching for resumes, we’re using keywords. We basically have to make an educated guess as to what’s on the resumes of our target candidates. If your resume is full of unusual terms and titles, we may not even find you in the first place. You absolutely must describe yourself in terms that make sense to your audience.
4) Connect the dots so they don’t have to: It’s easy to describe your experience in a resume or interview and recall all the underlying context and memories that go with it. Your audience
hears what you say or sees what you write — and nothing else. Don’t expect you audience to
necessarily see what you see. Your experience only matters if they’re convinced it can directly
help with their unique issues (and the issues may not really be unique, but it sure feels like
it to them!). Be bold and show them the connection. And, it’s okay to spoon-feed it to them.
Actually, folks like me prefer it. Don’t make us guess; just give us the bottom line about why
we should care. On my side of the job hunting fence, we don’t have a lot of time to make those
decisions, to decide if a resume goes in the discard pile. If we don’t see what’s important to
us pretty quickly, you’re going to lose our interest. Does that stink? Sure. Is it an unfortunate
reality? Yes. So, learn to show your audience why you’re a fit. Demonstrate how your specific
experience can help your audience in their world. Show how problems you’ve solved in the past translate to problems you can solve for them in the future.
I’ll be the first to admit there’s no full-proof formula for finding a job. What works wonders for some people will bear no fruit for others, and a successful search may seem due as much to luck as effort. You can do it smarter, though, and help swing the odds more in your favor. But, the first thing to do is resist the urge to be selfish and start focusing on other people – especially those who can offer you a job.