I was invited to participate in 31 days of organizing for a better 2010 by Mandi, the blogger at Organizing Your Way ^[2]. She asked me to write a about “Finding A Job” – a topic that’s on the minds of a lot of people these days. Check out her post on this same subject — she has some GREAT insights.

With unemployment reaching levels not seen for almost 30 years, times are tough. Despite the promises of politicians, no one is going to get that job for you. You know which one – the job you really want.

Focus on these four areas

• Polishing your resume ^[3]
• Pumping up your applications
• Understanding how to interview ^[4]
• Following up properly

Polishing your resume

The difference between a regular resume and one that gets THE job is the same thing as the difference between an instruction manual and a sales ad. I bought a coffee maker a few months ago based on an ad and on a recommendation of a friend. The ad was slick, bulleted, catchy and told me what I needed to know in just a few sentences. The instruction manual was boring, technical, and while arguably truthful, it would never cause me to buy that coffee maker.

Your resume is the same way – it should be a sales brochure for YOU, not a technical sheet specifying what you can do.

Pumping up your applications

I’m not talking about the shear number of applications, I’m talking about applying for the right jobs, jobs that you’ve filtered yourself for the right fit. The shotgun approach isn’t what you’re looking for, rather a targeted line of attack.

If your teenager announced that she was applying at 100 different colleges, you’d tell her to focus on five or ten at most. Applying at 100 different colleges will spread her too thin and prevent her from adequately following up.

Apply to targeted jobs that you really want, not to the  hundreds you run across on the big Internet job sites.

Understanding how to interview

The interview ^[4] isn’t a place to try and make friends ^[5] with the interviewer, it’s your chance to sell yourself and your abilities to meet the company’s needs. Focus on your personal features and benefits, just like salespeople do:

Features

“Features” are what you CAN do, what you’re capable of. They are the tech sheets specs of what you know.

Benefits

“Benefits” are how your potential employer will gain by hiring you. They are the sales brochure that gets the interviewer to buy into hiring you and only you for the position.

In your next interview ^[4], ask your interviewer, “What three things do you want this position to accomplish?” Then focus on how you can meet those three needs, staying on this message.

Following up properly

Remember the three P’s of job interview ^[4] follow up:

• Polite
• Persistent
• Personable

Be polite, but never demand an answer or threaten that you’ll take another job. Just let them know you’re still interested, but no more than once per week. Anything much more than that makes you come across as a stalker. Be sure and give them something to remember you by when you do follow up – a little nugget about the industry, a trend you heard about, or a newspaper clipping about the industry or company, something once again that connects you and your interest in the position with the interviewer and the company.

You have to stand out

Standing out will better your chances of getting the job you want. Stand out by:

• Polishing your resume ^[3]
• Pumping up your applications
• Understanding how to interview ^[4]
• Following up properly

About the author

Ron has written 1082 articles on The Wisdom Journal.

The founder and editor of The Wisdom Journal ^[21] in 2007, Ron has worked in banking, distribution, retail, and upper management for companies ranging in size from small startups to multi-billion dollar corporations. He graduated Suma Cum Laude from a top MBA program and currently is a partner in a national building materials company.

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