What if you looked at your employer as a girlfriend? Wouldn’t you do everything you could to score? Or at least round first base?
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Shawn Graham, author of Courting Your Career and Randy Bitting, co-founder of InterviewStream, offer 10 ways to can romance your dream job:
1. Know your type. Self-awareness is critical to an effective job search because it enables you to determine what you want from your next opportunity. When you know what you’re looking for, you can target careers or organizations that fit your wants and needs.
2. Play the field. Reaching out to family, friends, alumni from your college or university, or others will allow you to gather information about a company of interest. Then you can reference them during the interview, in addition to sending a signal to the company that you’re ‘into them’.
3. Always get their number. When you hit it off with someone you’d like to ask out, you ask for his or her number. When you hit it off with someone you’re networking with, requesting a business card is just like asking for his or her number.
4. Leverage the Law of Attraction. When it comes to the job search, attraction can be just as important as it is in the dating world. From a professional-looking résumé to wearing a sharp suit and looking your best during an interview, if you look the part, you’ll often get the part.
5. Break the ice. Come ready to concisely highlight your background and clearly articulate how your choices led you to the interviewer’s doorstep. Avoid using canned or overly-rehearsed answers—the dating equivalent of using lame pick-up lines.
6. Give the right signals to heat things up. If you’re saying one thing but your body language is saying something different, employers notice. Non-verbal communication is critical.
7. I mean, like, be smooth with your, umm… pick up lines, you know. Using filler words or sounding like you’re overly nervous will make you seem distracted and unprepared. However, when your confident about scoring a job, it will help you loosen up.
8. Don’t bash your ‘Ex’…employer. Recruiters don’t want to hear about how bad your ex-boss or company was and why they are the reason you’re back out playing the field. Stay positive.
9. Be honest. When you explain your skill level or the gap in your employment or dating history keep in mind that employers and significant others might notice. Whatever your story is you should be prepared to explain it and move on.
10. Don’t be a run-away bride or groom. Don’t commit too early. Give the job offer some thought. Then, make sure you know what it is you are committing to in order to avoid backing out or leaving three months into the job. Word travels fast and employers (potential spouses included) will ask tough questions about your willingness to commit in the future.
The list is provided by InterviewStream, a Website that acts as a screening and interviewing tool for job seekers, career counselors, and employers. The site lets you present a video resume to employers and practice before a face-to-face interview. A unique URL to your video is generated for you to share with employers.
It’s no secret that Jobacle is not a fan of video resumes, but it is clear that the company understands that the majority of employers are not interested in poorly produced long-form video resumes.
We’ll give this site’s service a closer look and report back.
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