How to Position Yourself as the Top Job Candidate

How to Position Yourself as the Top Job Candidate How to Position Yourself as the Top Job Candidate After spending the time, energy, and money looking and applying for a job, you don’t want your resume and cover letter to get lost in the applicant pool. Naturally, you  want to be the top job candidate. Your application needs to  stand out and shine- and get you a call from the hiring manager for a job interview! Position yourself as the top job candidate with these tips that are bound to impress any potential employer: Do your research. Imagine you’re sitting across from your interviewer and he asks you a general question testing your knowledge of the company- and you’re clueless how to answer it. Ideally, you should do some research before your job interview so that you have an understanding of what the company does, its mission,  some of  its history, and its current standing in the marketplace. But it doesn’t stop there- you should also ask ahead of time who you’ll be interviewing with and know their names and titles, and a bit about what they do for the company, too. Customize your job application. Although it’s easier (and certainly faster) to churn out generic job applications, you might not have much job search success using that method. While it’s more time-consuming, it’s in your best interest to customize your job application for each and every job you apply for. That means making sure that your work experience, skills, and education align with the job description, and then highlighting those in your job application. Then, use your cover letter to show off your research by referencing some facts about the company and why you would be a match for the position. Know the employer’s needs. Every job represents a need within a company. Depending on the job you’re applying for, it might be a marketing need, an accounting need, an HR need, etc. As a top job candidate, show a potential employer that you understand exactly what he needs, and how you can help him achieve his goals via your skills, knowledge, and experience. By expressing to the company what you can do for them (instead of what you want them to do for you), you can make yourself a much more attractive job candidate and increase your chances of getting a job offer. Don’t forget to follow up. Between applying for jobs, doing research, and interviewing with companies, it can be easy to forget to follow up with employers. So take the time to send a thank-you note to each person you interview with. By offering thanks for meeting with you, it gives you the opportunity to reiterate how much you want the position and also to keep you in a potential employer’s mental forefront, particularly when he’s making his decision on who to hire. Be gracious. You might get turned down for a job that you really wanted. Even if your initial reaction is to be upset, send a thank-you email- even if you don’t get the job. Why? For one thing, it shows a level of graciousness that other job applicants might not express. Plus, you never know if the applicant who initially got hired for the position will work out or not, or if another job might open up in the future that the hiring manager could recommend you for.