There are a lot of job listings out there, and throwing your hat in the ring is convenient these days. Companies now accept online applications, where you can send them an electronic copy of your resume so that they can review your qualifications. It is not like in the olden days where you had to be out there hopping from one building to the next and dropping in your envelope. It is literally like being one of those direct mail marketing companies who drop a catalog of their offerings at the doors of many people. With this ease comes more competition. Pretty much anyone can email their details to any company, but what can you do to get noticed? You need to know how to effectively sell yourself in many ways if you want to make some heads turn.
Business Cards
Now first things first: Going to physical offices to apply for jobs is not dead. In fact, it is still a good way to sell yourself out there because there are things you cannot show in an electronic manner, like how you dress up. That said, you can pretty much see your resume being added to a pile of others’ resumes. It could take a while before someone gets to it. Considering that hiring specialists get to look at them all day, you could imagine them filtering out the most uninteresting ones both content and presentation-wise.
One thing you can do to make your paper stand out, literally and figuratively, is by attaching a business card onto it. For one, it serves as some sort of bookmark. When the hiring person thumbs through the resumes they have to screen, expect yours to easily get picked up as the pages get flipped. This also tells them that you take presenting yourself seriously that you had to go through the extra hoop of creating a card like this.
Resume Ideas
The general idea of having a resume is for you to showcase your qualifications and professional experiences. You should lay this out in a cohesive manner and make use of effective typography techniques. Stick with around two or three types of fonts to maintain a classy look. Highlight key information by making them bold or increasing their size. Imagine directing the reader’s eyes with how you style text on your paper.
The first page is most important, though. Just like going on a date, first impressions count. You want your resume to look pretty even when it is not held by the hand. Oftentimes they are left on top of desks, and you want it to be noticeable even when viewed within a person’s periphery.
Open Your Communication Channels
A hiring specialist will not appreciate it if their calls are missed by an applicant. It will be doubly frustrating if there are no other ways to reach out to them. At this point, you can consider this as a missed opportunity for the latter. Do not make this same mistake. If you need to, work on creating accounts for popular online communications channels, like Skype or WhatsApp. They are being used more these days as more people now spend more hours in the online space. The world is now more connected than it used to, so there is no excuse for you to pass on someone who is trying to reach you.
If you want a job, you have to show to everyone that you are willing to spend time and energy to get it. That is what selling yourself is all about. Companies would not hire those who show a half-baked effort. The application stage is a way to gauge how professional a person can be, and doing it right at this stage will give you better chances at landing the position. This is valuable knowledge that you could apply for yourself or your business in the future.
