8 Smart tricks to get hired in an overcrowded job market

You all must be scoffing at what a title for an article. How can there be just eight tricks for getting hired for everybody. Is it not different for positions, age groups, qualifications, experience or even cultures? Having spent most of my professional life looking at interesting pattern of hiring and interviews, I am quite sure that most of the points written here work universally.

1.         Build a network and then learn how to leverage it: It is not about how many people you are connected but is about relevance to your role and job that you are looking for. It is also about how much you have harvested it. It certainly is not something that happens to you when you attend a conference and exchange visiting cards. Leveraging your network is an art; master it.

2.         Be visible: How can one create a visibility which is subtle yet not over the top. It is advised not to be your own mouthpiece. However own up the responsibility of being visible for “something“. It can be about a publication or attending a conference. It can also be about reaching out to a mentor for advice. Check around in your circles who is visible and perhaps a take leaf out of their book.

3.         Harness your uniqueness: The question here “what is your professional uniqueness”. Let me go a step further and define it. It is that one project, that one knowledge, that one skill or the one language which you know, which in your belief system no one in your peer groups knows. What if you knew “German” and “SAP”? What about digital branding project that made a difference. The essential element here is to prepare and when someone is hiring you, let them know about it.

4.         Learn to tell your story: Is it possible to tell your life or your education or work history in a captivating anecdotal way? It often is but we underestimate the amount of preparation that it takes to get there. As an example of this, the way we describe the choice of college or university that we went to can be an interesting story and it is also about the project for which you burnt midnight oil.

5.         Be authentic about failures and weaknesses: I have often sat in discussions and heard in so much cliched way people describe their weaknesses so that they sound like their strengths. In fact most of the days it is mentally exhausting task to listen to someone saying “I am perfectionist “or“I am too passionate “...guys get real. I know I am talking to someone who is not perfect but more importantly is authentic. The authenticity with which someone talks of their shortcomings is very endearing.

6.         Don’t underestimate technical excellence: I just think even for leadership role we need more and more people to be excellent in their domain. What might help is to think of two examples that demonstrate that. Whether it is engineering graduate, project manager or marketing professional - technical depth and demonstration of it always helps.

7.         Be snoopy and then think through two things that make you suitable: It is important to research the organization. When I say research the organization I don’t just mean go to the website. That is the beginning; go study the balance sheet, glass door, social media presence, LinkedIn profiles of key people there. It is also important you familiarize yourself with operations and culture of the organization. Having done all this, it is important to find out your top two attributes that make you favorable.

8.         Predict questions that will be asked: I always think that depending on the role, the organization and your resume, you should be able to predict and make a list of ten questions that might come your way. It is about doing your research on role and the expectations. These that you prepare well will often go a long way in deciding your success. I recommend repeatedly video graphing your answers and having a look at them.

 It is all about putting these common sense tricks into practice. As you walk down this path you will also realize that it is less of luck and more of a process.

Bringing it all together : you will speedily land that dream job.  :)

#hiring #recruitment #interview #selection #network