Employers Archives - The Voice of Job Seekers

How To Know What Employers Want From Candidates

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Recently, the resume-writing service TopResume revealed what turns employers on — and off — about job candidates.

In a nutshell, when presented with a list of 21 traits and asked which personality traits impress hiring managers the most, the following five characteristics were considered the most attractive: (1) Adaptability, (2) Reliability, (3) Authenticity, (4) Confidence, and (5) Honesty.

Do you know how to demonstrate these positive traits on your resume and during an interview? Or how can you work towards building these traits if they don’t come naturally?

TopResume’s career expert, Amanda Augustine, CPCC, CPRW, will join me to discuss what this survey will mean for job seekers.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

Is Impressing Employers a Priority in Your Job Search?

Is Impressing Employers a Priority in Your Job Search? by Mark Anthony Dyson

You want career fulfillment, but with minimum effort. That’s the message I get when there’s nothing in your resume, social profiles, or interview answers that clearly demonstrates your value to employers.

Where there’s no differentiation between you and the competition, someone else who does stand out will get the job.

Click To Tweet

A young client once told me a story about his first job at Walmart. He was fired after three months. As parting words, his manager said to him, “You do nice work — when you come on time. You’re constantly late.”

Reflecting on the situation, my client said to me, “I refused at that time to understand what they valued. It wasn’t too much to ask: Be on time and do good work. Instead, I didn’t value their time.”

Listen to How Job Seekers Can Get Noticed by Employers Online

To quote from an article on America’s Job Exchange, “A good employee gets the job done. A great employee gets the job done in spite of everything.” When you’re trying to land a job, you need to show employers you are one of those great employees, not merely a good one.

This is the essence of impressing an employer: It means showing how you embody the difference between good and great. Here are a few concrete ways to do that:

1. Use Your Social Profiles to Intrigue Employers

Most job seekers undervalue their social media profiles. We can argue about whether or not to have a presence on certain sites, but you must use the profiles you do have to show off your value. Your social profiles should answer the question of how, specifically, you will contribute to employers that hire you. This bit of information will intrigue hiring managers, encouraging them to learn more about you.

2. Prepare a Perfect Combo of Personality and Portfolio

In order to demonstrate your value, you must show proof of that value. Interviewers ask questions because they want evidence that you can deliver results. Potential referrers are Googling you to find proof of what you claim to have done.

While a winning personality can go a long way, you need to back it up with a portfolio of proof.

Click To Tweet

For example, you can record presentations you’ve given and upload them to YouTube. You can share your PowerPoint decks on Slideshare. There are many options out there for building a shareable portfolio of your prior work.

Read Do you impress potential employers?

3. Share Your Career Story

How did you arrive where you are now in your career? Employers want to know — and they want you to deliver a compelling story about it.

Provide context for the depth and breadth of your career. Let employers see how you persevered and persisted when challenges threatened your goals. Don’t undervalue the significance of your experience, learning, and breakthroughs, even when they come from tribulations.

4. Share the Numbers

Quantifiable proof of your previous results is the clearest gauge employers can use to evaluate you. It takes much of the guesswork out of the equation, giving a more concrete value to your skill set. If you’ve saved previous employers money, increased ad traffic, or can put a number to any of your other work, highlight that number.

Read Good Grief, Charlie Brown! Listen to the Employer and Learn What They Value!

5. Share Your Plans to Develop

We all are impressed by athletes who are at the peak of their performance, but we’re even more impressed when those high achievers find ways to further refine their seemingly perfect skills. Similarly, employers are impressed when you share not only your previous results but also your efforts to further increase your value.

Take it a step further by showcasing how your personal plans for professional development align with the company’s own goals. If you understand the employer’s needs and merge their desires with your own experience, you can present yourself as the ideal candidate. Remember, you want to prove you would be a great employee, not just a good one.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

2014 Global Career Brainstorming Day Report with Marie Zimenoff

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

For the last five years, the Career Thought Leaders Consortium (CTL) has published a “Global Career Brainstorming Day” through hosting a worldwide brain dump of career trends current and anticipated. MarieZimenoff (@workwithpurpose), the new President of CTL, and I discuss a small part of the whitepaper produced as a result of the meeting. The whitepaper is a useful tool for job seekers and career professionals. The report is free and downloadable for anyone to access as well as other material produced by CTL members.

Marie is a former president of the National Resume Writing Association as well as a career practitioner. She hosts the podcast and radio show through Voice of America, the “Career Confidante (Note that I erroneously announced during the show as ‘Career Confidential’).”

I would love to hear your thoughts about today’s topice in one of the following ways:

Call and leave a message at either 708.365.9822 or go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press “Send Voicemail.”
Email me at [email protected]
Leave a comment on the blog

Here are some of the highlights of our conversation:

1. Marie said she pulled out three words that highlighted the resume section: branded, brief, and visual. Branded: If your resume is not telling your story, you’re at a disadvantage. Brief: Pieces of the resume needs to be in bits and bites so that they are little snapshots. Visual: Not only pertaining to presenting an infographic, but also must be visually appealing as a marketing piece

2. Content is still king. Success stories, skills, and keywords are a must

3. Marie says that the challenge for job seekers is that there are no rules other than the best practices that presented before them. When it comes down to it, the writer must know the industry, the audience and what type of marketing material that is going to appeal to them

4.Job seekers need to be careful with emailing directly to hiring managers. Some companies create a blacklist of people who send unsolicited emails. It is important for them seek out the right person through referrals, other employees, or through social channels (Linkedin, Twitter, etc.)

5. Linkedin is an opportunity to tell more of the story, written in the first person, and easy to read through as well as showing more of your personality

6. Recruiters are more proactive than ever and with the social profile so accessible, and they are actively contacting potential candidates

7. Social media where you should expand your story and leverage successes to add value versus advertising. It is an opportunity to make achievements more real and bigger

8. The pain point letter from a job seeker is a growing trend where the individual sends the hiring manager in a company a letter of why he or she has solutions to specific problems without the job being posted. Marie has seen a high rate of success when the person has conducted extensive research

9. To become more of a “branded product (I love this part)” you have to understand what your value is, your core value proposal, and adjust your message to your audience needs

10. Marie says that the confidence in your brand is important because it is likely that you will tell an employer what you want to make

If you are a career professional in any capacity you’re invited to leave advice, or expand on a point made during the show, or disagree. If you leave permission to read your reply or replay your message on the show, I will include a link to your blog or website.

Have you subscribed to this show on iTunes? If you haven’t, please do so. This is also a great place to write an honest review. Enjoy listening to the show. Let us know what you think.

Do you need help with resume writing or career direction? Do you need coaching or instruction? Then start here and can help.