Marketing your skills and experience to land a better job faster

Whether its in your nature or not to “market yourself,” applying simple practices to make yourself more marketable can increase your chance of landing interviews and getting hired.

If you’re particularly skilled in a knowledge skill or technical trade, the biggest difference between skilled career search and applying for non tech or non skilled jobs is the first and foremost requirement is the technical experience and know how. Whereas other skill sets are subjective (such as personality and soft skills), the key to getting your foot in the door is highlighting your skills…

Connect the Dots

• Highlight your skills to match the job you are applying to.

• Use dual acronyms and names.

Example; sometimes the internal screener or even the screening software is only looking for a particular key word or acronym so if you were to list Surface Mount Technology instead of SMT, if the reviewer was looking for SMT they might pass on your resume. (They might not even know that Surface Mount Technology means SMT). Another example is if the job requires SAP or Business Objects, list SAP, BO AND Business Objects. Even better, if you have expert level skills in a certain area note BO (expert level) and list the versions of the programs or hardware you have experience with.

• Don’t assume the resume reviewer (human or a machine) knows what it means when you list a project you’ve worked on. Be specific! Often, the first screener for your resume is a modestly trained screener or a computer program which only knows key words. Consequently, connect the dots in the resume and cover letter so its very clear.

• Don't make the hiring manager/recruiter guess what position you’re applying to. On all correspondence your cover letter, the subject line on an email, be sure to indicate the title of the job you are applying to and where you saw it advertised or who referred you to the position. This reduces the chance you'll be disqualified because someone can't figure out which job you are applying to.

• Include a short cover note. If emailing the resume just a short note in the body of the email outlining the position you're applying to, the qualifications you have that match the job you're applying to. Note: Saying "I meet all the qualifications" is not a cover letter! If you have the qualifications a simple clear statement or two such as, “Your advertisement lists requirements Unix, Linux Red Hat and 5 years C++, I have X years Unix, Linux RedHat and 8 years of C++ coupled with XYZ.”

There is no magic wand to wave to land that next position but applying these techniques will increase the likelihood of landing a new or better job.