Before you write your resume, make sure you read this

Welcome to the fifth issue from Social Job Hunting. We are committed to demystifying the job search process for young adults so they can land jobs that a higher education promised them.

I probably receive 10+ requests a day from people looking for someone to help them improve their resume. In our discovery call, these people often proclaim that their resume isn’t working for them.

I enjoy these conversations because it provides me with an opportunity to create some real, ah-ha moments that have not been well-circulated in the job hunting community.  

You need more than a great resume

Most people have been taught that having a great resume is the first step to getting their foot in the door. Don’t get me wrong, resumes are an important part of the system, but it’s only one element of the process. 

Think about it... If you got dressed in the morning, but only put your shoes and socks on, how far would you get before someone pointed you back to your house, with instructions to ‘put some clothes on’?

Essentially, when you only submit a resume, you are approaching your job searching journey half-naked, which often results in feelings of rejection and confusion. You then end up spending your time and money tweaking your resume and doing the same thing that every other applicant is doing.  

Success Story

In May 2020, we had a student join the SJH workshop. She signed up because she had not been successful in finding a job in over a year. She had been approaching job hunting like most people, which included submitting her resume and hoping a recruiter would read it and see how amazing she is. 

And honestly, she is amazing, but the constant rejection was starting to play tricks on her mind. She began to feel depressed and lost faith in herself. 

A friend of hers told her about the SJH workshop and in May, she committed to giving the workshop a try. After completing it, she changed her approach and began implementing each element of the Social Job Hunting process. 

By early June, she began receiving interviews (she received three interviews on one day) and on June 22, she started working at her amazing new job, earning a salary that she deserved.  

Can you imagine what all those interviews must have felt like after dealing with a year of constant rejection? 

She quickly recognized that job hunting is a system of elements, working together as a whole, and that when all the pieces are aligned, the job hunting process becomes more predictable. 

A.C.D. Method?

There are three elements needed for social job hunting: Attract, Convert and Differentiate (A.C.D. Method?). It was designed to shorten the job hunting process.

We wanted to make sure that our clients did not believe that a well-written resume was the only thing they needed to find a job. It's not! The market is too competitive and you must be proactive at every stage of the process.

Step One: Attract

When I say attract, I’m not talking about lipstick and fancy clothes, you are perfect just the way you are. I’m talking about having a personal, digital brand that consistently attracts recruiters and hiring managers. 

In the Attract Stage, you learn how to identify the exact skills an organization is looking to fulfill so that your resume gets past the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and into the hands of a human being. 

The reason this is important is because, after you click the Apply Here button and submit your online application, your resume isn't typically seen by human eyeballs. Instead, it is scanned by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that qualifies a resume based on specific keywords, phrases and experience. 

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are used by over 98% of Fortune 500 companies  and a growing number of small and mid-sized businesses. An ATS will filter out approximately 75% of applicants.. 

Step Two: Convert

Once your resume is past the ATS, you’ll focus on conversion. Convert means to bring over from one belief, view, or party to another. To land your ideal job, you have to persuade someone to take a chance on you and believe that you can fulfill the role and responsibilities the organization needs. Basically, you are selling yourself. 

I know what you’re thinking, “How can I sell myself if I can’t meet or speak with someone face to face?” 

I recognize that social distancing has definitely changed the way we interact with one another, but I’m going to encourage you not to believe these new rules have the power to prevent you from meeting with the right people. 

You can persuade people, even if you can’t visit them at their office, and it’s probably much easier than you think. 

Step Three: Differentiate

The last part of the A.C.D. Method? is to Differentiate. You have to deliver yourself in a way that differentiates you from other applicants. You want your story to be memorable. 

When it’s time for you to interview, the first question asked will probably sound something like, “So, tell me about yourself.” 

Most people are not prepared to answer this question in a way that makes them stand out, and instead they babble. I’m sure that babble is meaningful information to someone, but if you don’t have a well-rehearsed story that differentiates you, then all of those wonderful skills you can bring to the table will be forgotten as soon as your interview is over. 

Then, when your phone doesn’t ring, you will begin to wonder, again, if you need a better resume or if you need more skills? Should you have sent a cover letter? 

Approaching job searching as a system frees you from thinking about questions that you cannot answer and allows you to track each stage of the journey, knowing with confidence that you are moving in the right direction.

Author: Donna McCurley. My career has transformed from school teacher to sales trainer to working for some of the top Global Sales and Marketing Consulting Firms in the US.  

Over the past fifteen years, I have been working with sales professionals, entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 businesses showing them how they can use the power of LinkedIn to network and grow their business. 

Today, more than ever, social networking is essential, not just for businesses to grow, but for college graduates searching for jobs. My goal is to share these advanced techniques and provide our students with customized LinkedIn Playbooks so they can build online networks that are personalized to their career aspirations.