This time of year offers special opportunities for job seekers. Holiday networking events, for example, can be great chances to meet professionals you might not encounter otherwise. Additionally, some employers are still eager to fill positions before budgets reset or headcount is finalized in the new year, making it a prime time to stand out with a strategic approach.
Here are five ways you can stand out from the competition this holiday season and find a job before the end of the year.
1. Showcase The Right Skills On Your Resume
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When updating your resume, focus on aligning your experience with the specific demands of the industry. Go beyond just listing responsibilities; dig into job descriptions to identify the core skills that consistently appear for your target roles. By tailoring your resume with these keywords, you not only capture the attention of hiring managers but also boost your chances of passing applicant tracking systems (ATS), which are often programmed to scan for these key terms. It's all about keywords!
During the holiday season, hiring managers are often managing tight timelines and high demands, making it crucial for candidates to demonstrate that they’re ready to hit the ground running. Highlighting industry-relevant skills shows you're not only familiar with the landscape but also equipped to make an immediate impact. Be sure to include examples of how you've leveraged these core strengths in previous roles to support team goals or tackle challenges (aka quantify your work experience). The holidays are hectic, so share with the potential employer how you'll be a positive addition to the team by leveraging your strengths and emphasizing your value as a business-of-one.
2. Dress The Part
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Don't underestimate the power of a great first impression. Dress for the interview in professional attire. Even if the job description mentions a casual dress code, such as jeans and a sweatshirt, it’s essential to show respect for the employer by dressing in a way that demonstrates your commitment to making a positive impression. Wearing attire that reflects your professionalism shows you care about how you're perceived and the impression you leave on others.
Not sure what to wear? We recommend dressing conservatively in clothing one level above what the current employees at the company are wearing. You want to look professional, but not like you don't fit in with the workplace culture.
3. Show Your Connection To The Company
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Employers like to hire candidates who have a passion for what they do. Why? Because when people are passionate about their work, that enthusiasm often translates into a higher level of commitment, creativity, and productivity. This intrinsic motivation can lead to consistently strong performance and a positive impact on the team and company as a whole.
In your disruptive cover letter (and during your job interview), demonstrate how and why you admire the company. Highlight what you love most about their products and services. Give examples of how you have personally used them in your own life with success. The more you can show them you understand and respect the business, the more likely you'll impress the hiring manager and move forward in the interview process.
4. Demonstrate Your Value
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It's important to remember that you're a business-of-one, and you're trying to sell the service you provide as a business-of-one to employers (the customers who will be paying you for the service).
To find a job during the holidays, you must adequately demonstrate your value as a business-of-one and highlight your strengths and the specific benefits you bring as a potential employee throughout the hiring process. How do you do this? Well, make sure to quantify your work experience on your resume. Use numbers to showcase your accomplishments. Clearly state how you'll make or save the company money with your employment. Do this, and you'll easily become one of the top candidates for the position.
5. Express Gratitude
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The holidays are busy for everyone. When you're applying for jobs during the holiday season, keep gratitude in mind. This positive mindset not only helps you stay resilient but also shines through in your applications and interviews, leaving a memorable impression on potential employers.
After every job interview, always send a thank-you note. It's just the polite thing to do, and you'll score more points with the hiring manager. Even if you get rejected, or never hear back about a position, make sure you send an email thanking the employer for the opportunity and wish them the best of luck with finding the right job candidate.
Don't be bitter. Be gracious. You never know what will happen in the future. You might want to apply for another job at the company down the line. So, don't let your frustration get the best of you. Remember: If you get rejected, they didn't say, "No, not ever." They just said, "No, not today."
A successful holiday job search depends on a solid strategy. Follow the guidelines above and land a job this holiday season!
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By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Rob Taub Success is not always something you necessarily find when you arrive. It may be the journey that gets you there. It seems as though people make career management more difficult than it has to be. When something threatens to make it simple, they almost invariably find a way to make it more complicated. For example, in recent years there's been much more activity in the small- to mid-size companies, yet the majority of people looking into a job change or career move continues to scour the newspapers, all the while complaining there are so few meaningful opportunities. If they had the resources to scan the 300 leading newspapers and publications in the U.S. daily, they'd still find relatively few meaningful opportunities.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, historically, most of the better positions are never advertised. 60 to 80 percent of the meaningful jobs go unadvertised. If the same people would only get out into the market and make some new friends' (contacts), they'd see new opportunities, perhaps just around the corner.
Easier said than done? Unfortunately, yes. Most of us have never been trained in this sort of work. Even the most senior managers may be novice in a job change or career search and can become discouraged. Still, there are a couple of basic concepts that, understood, can make job searching less complicated.
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One is to begin replacing the hours you spend scanning the classifieds with meaningful, face-to-face discussion. In discussion with others, like yourself, you will likely find access to the activity created by movement and happenings in the small to mid-size market. Keep this in mind: Within everyone you meet, you are likely to discover a far more helpful, energetic and interesting person you may have thought him or her to be. Just give them a chance. All it takes is a little bit of encouragement and direction, which is another key concept. That is, most people like to help others; it's human nature to help others. We just don't always know how. Tell them how and they will help.
Here are some practical suggestions when connecting:
- Don't begin by asking for advice: Offer suggestions first; provide ideas before asking for any.
- Get to know others before you ask them to know you.
- Don't ask others to be creative or perceptive for you; it's too much work. Be intuitive, recognizing of course, that given the chance, they'll manage to complicate this thing as well.
- Be clear about your own ideas - be focused.
- Get ready. The question, 'what are you looking to do' can befuddle the unsuspecting person forcing a response that is weak, irrelevant or even fatal.
- Move people towards embracing your ideas by listening carefully to theirs. Look people in the eye and reflect on what you are hearing.
- Don't judge.
- Ask yourself, "Is the message getting across; is the content clear?"
- Don't use jargon. If someone understands it, they won't be impressed; if they don't, they'll take out a book and read.
- Take your ideas, and those you accumulate, to the next contact, and so, and so on and so on.
- Keep this maxim in mind at all times: You must first build a relationship before you can do business.
Like most career professionals, you have a vision for moving onward and upward. Unfolding a career is like charting a new frontier and sometimes equally as difficult to predict and control. What are your ideas? What do you want to do with them? How do you want to go about it; when?
Before you spend hundreds of hours hunting for success, spend a few defining it. Consider some of history's greatest athletes: gold medal Olympians. Early on in their lives they set goals. From then on they squashed everything in their lives that didn't pertain to those goals, and went on to win the gold!
Did you enjoy this article? Read more articles by this expert here.![CAREEREALISM Badge [Articles]](https://www.workitdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/CAREEREALISM-Badge-Articles.PNG "CAREEREALISM Badge [Articles]"){kind=icon}
Rob Taub, MBA, CCM (Credentialed Career Master) and CAREEREALISM Approved-Expert, is a 25-year veteran in the job searching and career marketing field, helping recent grads, young on-the-rise professionals, and mid- to senior-level managers and executives with individual job searches and career transitions. Rob is Principal at Job Search Corner [www.JobSearchCorner.com] and creator of the blog Job Searching with Rob.The photo for this article is provided by Shutterstock.
