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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.

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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.

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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

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.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

4 Audacious Job Search Strategies From 2018 Will Work in 2023

Many of us have felt desperation at our feet at one time or another in our adult careers. Whether we needed a job yesterday or wanted to accomplish a goal before a certain age, we’ve been there. We took a bold measure or two because, in our mind, choices were dwindling, and fear had set in.

I felt the pressure once when I was fired, and bad luck was piling on because I was laid off. I was desperate enough to call the company that laid me off (the same day I was fired) to let him know I was available for any work.

6 Bold Job Hunt Strategies to Try

They told me to come in the next day because someone had just quit. I was out of work for three hours.

Everyone knows private school is expensive. I was grateful beyond measure. It was bold, yet it paid off.

I wrote an article for Payscale several years ago that still applies to today’s job search.

Here are my points summarized but updated:

Connect and forge other connections and conversations

When people rushed to LinkedIn at the beginning of February, people were on the verge of a career crash. The world was on the brink of a health and professional crisis. Many, however, embraced their networks and created community and career-altering conversations. It’s still happening. Great networking breeds great networking, and you dictate its quality.

Have an entry and exit strategy for jobs

Professionals embrace job, and career changes more now than ever, but few are strategic about quitting. It’s wise to consider your standards for exiting to benefit your career choices for the long term. Entrepreneurs have exit strategies for their businesses, and you should do so for future jobs. You’re planning and constant career engagement will keep steady streams of opportunities more often than not.

The Audacious Follow Up Call After Your Interview

Social proof matters

In the article, I said, “Since your competition is global, you need to impress employers more quickly. Your competitors are posting their training trips, Toastmasters speeches, and writing clips to showcase their expertise. Declining to demonstrate value through social proof diminishes your career story. It’s also a missed opportunity to show your network why they should refer you.” More importantly, credibility matters to your network, employers, and recruiters. Social proof makes viewing your online presence as a quality connection easy.

Get salary intel from your network.

Since 2018, there has been a growing number of cities and states in the U.S. mandating salary transparency from employers. In July 2022, Indeed.com, a job board and employment site stated they would only post positions with salaries posted. We can only hope other job boards will follow and more states with salary transparency laws. Social networks provide opportunities to ask people we know about their knowledge of salary and negotiation. The news is an excellent prompt to start and continue discussions to help make informed career decisions.

If you’re currently conducting a job search for the first time in years, passive efforts have little value and only elongate navigating a tough job market. However, there’s much value in taking bold steps like meeting decision-makers and asking your network to help you discover vital information about employers and salary information.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

7 Job Search Strategies to Use In 2023

7 Job Search Strategies to Use In 2023 by Mark Anthony Dyson

If you’re not strategic and intentional about achieving success in your job search in 2023, then you depend on luck. This year will look different than past years (I know, it’s said every year). As a job seeker, a job you hate can feel like a mouse with its tail in a trap. I understand why people who see the need for job change can forget all they learned about finding jobs. It takes time, some rigor, resilience, and more. I’m here to help prepare you for this journey.

If you haven’t looked for a job since the beginning of the pandemic, you’ll be surprised how much has changed:

Video interview software used by employers is more prevalent than ever.
Tik Toc is a real resource for recruiters and job seekers with areer advice and job announcements.
Job scams include scammers masquerading as real companies.
The broken relationship between employees vs. employers is a bureaucratic civil war of a different kind.
The notable rise in layoffs while maintaining a low unemployment rate (an anomaly worth following).
“The Great Resignation” is a normalization of job-hopping for career advancement and more pay.
The noticeable but slow elimination of the college degree required for entry-level positions.
The ease of finding 100% remote or hybrid jobs has significantly increased.
Laws in California, New York, and Colorado require employers to post salary requirements on job postings.

The successful mindset and shift

It’s hard to overlook how much has changed in three years when finding work, not just for now but anticipating the next steps. Many job seekers who don’t have a linear job path will find it harder to navigate. It’s easier to say, “I can do any job,” but it’s the path with the most resistance.

The job seekers who perpetually find a stream of opportunities have many things in common.

Here are a few of them:

Clarity of their skills (essential and hard), value, career path, and compensation.
They are tied into networking channels and industry organizations and become helpful to others.
Perpetual learners participate in professional development at “scale.”
They have created a personal ecosystem that propels and thrives in any economy or job market.
They know the scope of their skills and their value across several industries.

Knowing these trends helps you navigate the job market.

To find the right job, one strategy won’t be enough. Just as you want to diversify investments to optimize your financial potential, you’ll want to diversify your job search strategy to optimize your choices of opportunities. Marshall Goldsmith’s book title, “What got you here won’t get you there,” is true regarding a job search done some time ago. Every industry experiences a logistical and technological disruption, while others create new pathways.

I list a few to choose one or more from below. There are sage strategies for all time, but here are a few to consider and implement in 2023:

1. Volunteering

The many layers of leveraging volunteer work are effective at every stage of career advancement, including career transitions, future-proofing, and career cushioning. Not only it’s a career enhancer for many, but also it creates a referral and connection engine, unlike other strategies. The social nucleus often crosses ethnic, career, and purpose lines to advance a cause and share a natural connection not felt in a workplace. It appears people who found work through volunteering focused on helping people, delivered on promises and welcomed feedback.

2. Personal SEO

I’ve written articles and created podcasts about “personal SEO” and its importance in being found online. There are two small but useful strategies to try:

If you’re active on LinkedIn and Twitter, search your name on those platforms with and without hashtags. It’s possible to find your name with “#” and not always the “@.” You might have a job requiring you to make public content for your job. Even if you’re not active on social networks, it’s good to check your name and reputation for misinformation, misrepresentation, or unwanted exposure.
Make it a habit to check Google and other major search engines (DuckDuckGo, Bing, Brave, Yahoo) every two or three months (more often if you’re active), as your comments from social networks yield search results. If you’re helpful and informative, it could work in your favor in how your reputation is viewed.

I used Bing for this search on my name using “Mark Anthony Dyson,” including quotes. My posts showed results on page six of the search after creating a LinkedIn post.

3. Prime your “perfessional” narrative

Through the years, LinkedIn has evolved from the sole workplace, career, job search, and human resources information-sharing hub to an all-encompassing “perfessional” network. Users are sharing their professional and personal stories with sprinkles of confessionals. While this change has pros and cons, some find it the one place where their authenticity and transparency shine. It seems as if the user who practices “perfessionalism” benefits from the increased visibility (After all, that’s the name of the game, right?).

4. Always interview

I repeatedly say, “job search is a lifestyle,” but I can’t omit how important you interview in all seasons of your career. Most people ramp up their interviews after a job separation or need to change jobs because of a bad boss. Interviewing when you are not in a middle of a transition at least once a year helps you identify industry trends to follow or training to stay marketable. If there are company layoff announcements, or you’re entertaining a change, you’ve already had some traction creating a shorter transition if needed. It’s also good to utilize informational interviews to prime your path, whether working or not.

5. Feverishly follow up during every phase

Follow-up calls are the fuel to profit in business and career building. This is a skill where there’s no room for passivity, and it’s everything aggressive. Doing it with tact and respect creates space for growth, results, and accomplishments. For job seekers, it’s about being memorable and marketable. Every stage of today’s job search requires follow-up calls and action. It’s one of the few things you can control within your ability to obtain and maintain streams of opportunities.

6. How flexible and adaptable are you?

This question is a double-edged sword, and the clearer you know what it looks like, it can favor your candidacy. Saying “yes” can make you a more palatable candidate. One question job seekers should find out: Will the employer freak out if I tell them about my second full-time job, freelance gig, or contract? You can talk to other employees in the company, but chances are they are over-employed or moonlighting on the down low.

Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to work a swing shift.

7. Address and impress by showing impact through storytelling

If you need one piece of resume advice this year, I recommend reading Donna Svei‘s article on Fast Company. Her suggestions are not just “tips and tricks.” It will inspire you to think more like an executive in your interview presentation than an expert to show capability. Although delivery and potential matter (the way most people write a resume and tell stories), they want to see the impact of what you do on your team, company, and leaders. While accomplishments matter, your results must yield a significant return for the company, team, or client instead of filling in the blank.

These are seven trends that impact how we consider and search for opportunities. I hope jobs and opportunities come to you without the pain of going through a rigorous process. But you must start somewhere; again, the idea of an ecosystem paying off takes time.