For most, the typical job search goes like this…
Find a resume template, fill it in, and apply for a bunch of job postings, which usually requires taking assessments and answering a bunch of knock-out questions.*
Next day do it all over again, and the next day, and the next.
Maybe an invitation for an initial screening conversation comes, but mostly it’s a lot of automatically generated email responses ranging from the noncommittal “Thank you for applying. We’ll get back to you.” to the outright rejection notification.
Want better, faster results? Then, it’s time to get bold and creative and disrupt the status quo.
Here are two ways to do it…
Disrupt the Status Quo Resume
That resume template you found is fine for when you’re first getting started. You can use it as a sort of guide to help you gather the facts and take inventory of the skills you want to emphasize. But disrupting the status quo resume requires you to go beyond the standard template. You need to target it to appeal to the hiring manager (Read: Targeting Your Resume), bring attention to your unique value proposition (Read: Catch Their Attention With Your Positioning Statement), and provide real examples of your unique value proposition from your career (Read: How To Make An Average Resume More Memorable).
Bonus Tip to disrupt the status quo resume: Go beyond the resume and even beyond LinkedIn to stand out. Create a video profile, set up an online portfolio with samples of your work, and include those links on your resume and/or job application, as well as other links to projects you’ve worked on or the software code you’ve contributed.
Disrupt the Status Quo Search Methodology
By all means, continue to apply for jobs online. Go through the usual motions. Even though statistically speaking, only about 10 out of 100 people (at best) actually have success through online job postings, it still makes sense to try. A 10% chance is still a 10% chance. But if you want to increase your success rate, you need to disrupt the job search methodology itself. According to research conducted by Jobvite, which was based on data from 10 million applications and 50 million job seekers, internal sources, such as hiring managers and referrals, are more effective at driving hires in companies. What this means to you is that you’ll have better results when you find and talk to someone inside the company, and, of course, it’s even more effective if the person you reach is the person with the power to hire you – the hiring manager over the team you’d like to join.
Bonus tip to disrupt the status quo search methodology: Go beyond what’s advertised. Make a list of organizations where you’d most like to work. Then create a plan for how you’re going to reach out to the managers who have the power to hire you in those orgs – whether they have openings posted or not. For a brief but insightful overview of this approach, check out Dan Miller’s article, You’re Fired No Hired.
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*”Knockout questions are typically asked early in the job application process to eliminate applicants who are unable or unwilling to perform key job functions, lack required qualifications, or exhibit other red flags. They are designed to keep hiring managers from wasting their time vetting and interviewing applicants that are unlikely to be among their top candidates.” (Source: https://www.jobscan.co/blog/knockout-questions-answer-application)