How to Stand Out
So, you’ve finally decided to take the plunge and apply to the position you’ve been dreaming of for months. It’s hasn’t been easy though, you’ve been hard at work keeping your head down, grinding every day, staying at work late, depriving yourself of sleep and sacrificing lots of your free time to look the best for this new potential employer. But where will you stand in comparison to your competition? How will your skills fair next to Stan who graduated from Harvard or Jessica who has 5 years’ experience at a large tech firm? All of these anxieties are completely natural, but truthfully speaking they are minimalistic at best in comparison to what really matters. Whether it’s a promotion or a professional level up at a new company or firm, the main roadblock is you, and only YOU!
Don’t worry about what color tie looks best or which skirt and blazer color looks the most fetching. The main area of focus is being the most organized candidate in the room, and reflecting this in your relevant documents, like your resume. Many candidates applying for promotions become complacent and use their original application resume without updating all their relevant skills and experience. HUGE mistake. Hiring managers are not just looking for a one trick pony, they want up-to-date candidates who are serious about their roles. Realistically, how serious can you appear if you don’t even update your own resume? Even worse is using a tired old generic cover letter with no depth or personality. Think about it like this, you can’t clean someone else’s house and judge them for keeping it dirty without first cleaning your own house. STAND OUT and invest in yourself, you’ve made it this far, why stop and be mediocre now?
Get your documents formatted, use your relevant experience and paint the picture that makes you look like the next senior partner or associate. Resumes today are filled with unnecessary “filler” to make one’s documents appear “filled to the brim” with skills and experience, but sadly this trick doesn’t work anymore (usually). A.I. (artifical Intelligence) scanners are put in place to weed out irrelevant resumes and lacking ones to find the best qualified candidates, usually eliminating the “people element”. Software like Workday utilize application portals to fetch only the most qualified candidates by affixing choice words that correspond to a candidates resume/cover letter. Sorry to tell you this, but that summer gig working as a camp counselor most likely won’t get you an interview at Morgan Stanley. However, if you were to word that position such as, “Leadership team member at (insert name) for four years, participated in annual event planning and execution”, this now takes a dull irrelevant position and adds to your self-portrait.
Key in point, applying to any new position is a stressful endeavor with many unknowns. But if you want it badly enough, give yourself the edge you need. Organize, strategize and execute your process in the most effective way possible and take laziness and ego out of the equation. Professional resume and cover letter writing services exist because the right people want the best edge in a competitive market. Be as competitive as the position you are seeking, and you’ll find yourself at your new position in no time.
