Ready to stand out from the job seeker crowd? Demonstrate your drive, skill set, strategic thinking, and more. Here are 5 powerful ways to stand out in your job search and interviews.
1 – As part of your interview prep, do a SWOT Analysis.
SWOT is a strategic planning tool that’s an acronym for:
- Strengths (internal traits that are helpful to achieving the objective)
- Weaknesses (internal traits that are obstacles to achieving the objective)
- Opportunities (external conditions that will be helpful to achieving the objective)
- Threats (external conditions that may harm the process of achieving the objective)
Conducting a SWOT analysis will give you a strategic overview of the company that will inform and improve your interview answers as well as your 30-60-90-Day Plan. If you share it with your future boss, you could get into a great discussion of the company and demonstrate your drive, commitment, and strategic thinking.
2 – Bring a 30-60-90-Day Plan to the interview.
Where a SWOT analysis is a bigger view of the company, a 30-60-90-day plan is a look at what you will do in your first 3 months on that job.
Organized into 30-day sections, your plan should be an outline of what your biggest action steps will be. For instance, in your first month you might spend time training or getting to know everyone in your area. In the second month, you might start evaluating problems and planning solutions. In your third month, you might be implementing your solutions or going after new business.
It takes some time to research and prepare a 90-day plan, but the results will be phenomenal. Your conversation will transform from a typical interview to an in-depth conversation about what you’ll do on the job. You’ll get priceless input from your future boss and vividly demonstrate what you can bring to this role.
Interviewers are so impressed with these plans that I’ve seen them make offers on the spot, or within minutes of concluding the interview. I’ve seen job seekers receive offers for roles at higher levels and salaries than what they interviewed for.
Read more about the benefits of 30-60-90-day plans here.
Find out how to write a 30-60-90-Day Plan of your own.
Get a proven 30-60-90-day plan template from Career Confidential. (See customer reviews here.)
3 – Bring a brag book to your interview.
Where a 30-60-90-day plan is a forward-looking document, a brag book is a historical look at what you’ve done in the past. Also known as a kudos folder or portfolio, your brag book can include samples of your work, letters of recommendation, awards, congratulatory notes from bosses or clients, staff rankings, annual reviews, and much more.
Showing your brag book during an interview is extremely powerful. You can illustrate a point or provide examples to back up a story that make it even more compelling. One candidate brought a brag book that was an inch thick but only showed 4-5 items in the book during her interview. The sheer size of her brag book was pretty impressive to them.
Find out more about brag books and start creating yours today.
4 – After the interview, send a thank you email.
Thank you notes are very important to this interview process and it’s incredible to me that some candidates don’t send them. This is a ridiculously easy way to make yourself stand out.
Thank you notes give you a fantastic opportunity to further this conversation. You could comment on whatever you discussed in the interview with a new thought or something you forgot to say. You get another chance to show that you’re the best person for the job.
And, they’re polite. Don’t miss a chance to generate some warm feelings about you in that hiring manager.
This is important: Don’t send a handwritten note—send a thank you email that gets to their inbox within 24 hours of the interview. Sometimes, hiring decisions (or second interview decisions) are made quickly, so a timely thank you can be critical.
See a great sample thank you note here.
5 – If you’re having trouble getting the interview at all, send an audio or video clip.
What if the hiring manager is on the fence about your resume? Something with a personal touch, like an audio or video, could be the nudge they need. Even a super-busy hiring manager can listen to a voice message or watch a 1-minute video.
They key? Keep it short and sweet, like an elevator pitch. What do you do and why should they talk to you? Make sure you know your sound quality is good (if you send a video, check lighting and background). For video help, check out this article on Skype interviews.
Stand out in your job search and interviews
Remember: standing out from other job seekers doesn’t always take a Herculean effort. Sometimes it just takes you doing a little bit more than the other person would do. Make the effort. Make the call. You have nothing to lose, but a lot to gain.
Everything on this list has been used by my own clients and candidates with great success. I know they will make you stand out in a powerful way, too. Best of luck!