Sell yourself! 10 key job-hunting tips

Is the worst over? Although the unemployment rate climbed to 9.4 percent in May, the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics had some encouraging news for U.S. job seekers. Job loss numbers shifted downward, perhaps serving as an early indicator that the U.S. job market may be headed for stabilization in the latter half of 2009. And while the U.S. job market is not out of the woods yet, CareerBuilder continues to see jobs added in industries such as healthcare, government, education, sales and insurance.

“There’s a common misconception that if you lose your job today, you won’t be able to find another one,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “That’s not true. According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, 41 percent of workers who were laid off from full-time jobs earlier this year found new full-time, permanent positions and another eight percent found part-time work. The key is learning how to repackage your skills to appeal to a broader range of employers.”

So, how do you land a job when there’s still so much competition out there?

Make yourself transferable
Thirty-eight percent of workers who were laid off in the last year and landed new positions said they found work in a different field from where they were previously employed.

Look at a variety of job postings to see how your skills measure up to job requirements. Write different versions of your resume to appeal to different employers. Keep in mind that skills in communications, project management, leadership, etc. are universal across industries.

Stock your resume with keywords
Many employers use electronic scanners to rank the job applications they receive. Make sure to include keywords from the employer’s job posting in your resume and cover letter, so your application is ranked toward the top of the pile.

Jump off the page
Thirty-nine percent of human resource managers report they take 30 seconds or less reviewing a resume at first glance. Grab their attention. Include a career summary at the top that gives a quick snapshot of skills and accomplishments. It’s also important to include quantifiable results whenever possible in your resume, using bullets to highlight them.

Relentlessly use social media
Promote your personal brand, skills and strengths on different social networking sites so you can reach the widest and most diverse audience of networking contacts and potential employers.

Clean up digital dirt
Thirty-eight percent of employers said, if they were interviewing someone for a job, they would look the candidate up on social networking sites. Scrub social networking profiles, blogs and personal Web sites to ensure you convey a professional image to employers.

Don’t dwell on the negative
If you were laid off from a job, don’t focus on the difficulty of the experience during the interview. Focus on what you learned and how it helped you to grow personally and professionally. Talk about things you did to add to your skills such as taking a class, volunteering, reading business books, etc.

Come to the interview prepared and ask good questions
Spend time researching the company’s Web site, look at recent press releases and how they position their products and work experience. Make sure to ask good questions about the company’s growth potential, competitive threats and how they envision your role specifically contributing to the success of the organization.

Stand out with ideas
A great way to stand out is to show the employer you’re already thinking like an employee. If you’re applying for a marketing job, propose three ideas for marketing campaigns the company can run. If you’re applying for an operations job, offer up ideas for increasing efficiencies or cutting costs.

College grads: Give yourself credit
For recent college graduates, you probably have more experience than you’re giving yourself credit for in your resume. Employers consider volunteer work, class work, participation in sports and managing activities for a sorority/fraternity to qualify as relevant experience in addition to internships and part-time jobs. Include all these activities on your resume and relate them to the position at hand.

Consider going back to the classroom
Twenty-one percent of workers are going back to school to make themselves more marketable to employers. Consider whether you would benefit from taking a course or enrolling in a formal program.

For more tips and resources like these, please visit CareerBuilder.com.

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