How to Stand Out Among Other Job Applicants
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Your Money Matters from The Wall Street Journal. Welcome to Your Money Matters. I'm J.R. Whalen in New York. Tis the season for holding on to those New Year's resolutions, losing weight, cleaning out the closet, and for many people, finding a new job. The current labor market favors job seekers, but Account Temp's Senior Regional Vice President Rich Deosing is here with us with key tips for standing out among other applicants.
How long should my resume be for staff vs. senior roles?
So Rich, an account temp survey says about 30% of professionals plan to look for a new job this year. Let's start with the length of your resume. It depends on what kind of job you're seeking.
46% of managers that we surveyed recommends keeping it to one page, especially in your staff and support roles. While 50% of senior level execs prefers a two pager for individuals at the senior level. Because they would have held more jobs over time. They would have held more jobs over time. They would have more diverse experiences. Correct. But I would say rule of thumb, JR, don't have it be more than two pages.
So keep the descriptions tight and a lot of the other details about a job could come out in the interview.
Correct. One page is certainly recommended, but rule of thumb, no more than two pages.
And it's really not just your resume that a hiring manager is going to use to build a picture of a candidate.
Correct. Your resume is a device to get you in for that, whether it's a phone screen or whether it's an in-person interview.
What resume details should I highlight to show measurable impact?
On the resume, you should highlight your professional experience. You should highlight instances where you have saved the organization dollars, whether that's streamlining a process or literally saving them dollars and dropping more profits to the bottom line without question. But during the interview is where an individual needs to bring it home, where an employee needs to not only articulate what they've done throughout their professional career, but ask very useful questions to position them to...
So ask questions of the person doing the interview. Correct. Now, I want you to flesh out a bit on what questions a candidate should ask in just a moment. But a hiring manager would also use the social media profile of a candidate to build a picture.
Without question. I mean, you think about in today's technology age, your digital footprint, J.R., is tremendous. That represents your brand. That represents professional and personal how you interact, how you build, how you conduct yourself. So I think candidates, employees more specifically, should be mindful of that and do their best where they're not negatively represented.
Okay. And when you have a resume, it's important to have a few of them on hand and use... one that's tailored to a particular job that you might be applying for?
You should have a few resumes, not only on hand. You should have a few of the same resumes on hand when you're interviewing in the event that you need to meet multiple people.
How can I tailor my resume for different job opportunities?
That being said, you shouldn't have a resume with the assumption that it's going to fit all opportunities. I think employees... needs to take ownership in tailoring their resume, tailoring their skill set, tailoring their experience based on what the job entails. That is unique. It gets you in the door. It puts your resume on top. I think if you go under the mindset of, hey, I have a really good resume. I'm going to use it for 10 different jobs, 10 different companies. I think you would need to pause and you would need to revisit that. So yes, without question, it needs to be tailored.
So the days of the straight chronological resume are over. You need to kind of reshuffle things and put the most important, most pertinent jobs at the top.
Chronological is still a go-to, but tailoring maybe some of the functions instead of bullet point, you may want to expand on a few based on the important aspects of the opportunity. But, you know, JR, that's interesting because that only comes with research. I think if an individual is looking to change jobs or an individual is looking to, you know, find employment, they need to understand that that is in and of itself a full-time job.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:30
2
How long should my resume be for staff vs. senior roles?
0:30–1:36
3
What resume details should I highlight to show measurable impact?
1:36–3:11
4
How can I tailor my resume for different job opportunities?
3:11–4:34
5
Why is research and networking essential in a job search?
4:34–5:27
6
What are strong interview questions that demonstrate interest?
5:27–7:04
7
How should I prepare to discuss salary and know my market value?
7:04–8:04
8
Why should I work with a recruiter or staffing firm for accounting roles?
8:04–9:39
Speakers
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