How to be the job candidate that employers want to hire

Recruitment can be a fickle game, and one of the largest gripes from job candidates is the fact they get overlooked for a job, even though they are suitability qualified.

The reality about job-hunting is that it is often not the best qualified person that gets the job.  The person that gets the job is the one that can successfully demonstrate that they meet the employer’s requirements.

Take this example:  Frances was a qualified lawyer with extensive experience in business development and marketing obtained from a leading law firm in London.  Upon returning to Australia, Frances applied for several positions at law firms, requiring a business development and marketing expert.  She failed to secure an interview – even though she met the employer’s exact requirements (if anything, her international experience made her more qualified than other job candidates). 

On closure examination, it was evident that she was missing out on interviews, for one simple reason.  Her resume did not sufficiently make clear to employers that the firm she worked for was (a) a law firm and (b) one of the leading law firms in the world (apart from the Pacific/Asia region, which is why recruiters did not recognise the name of the firm).  By failing to demonstrate that her experience was a perfect match, she missed out on a number of lucrative opportunities.

So in this article, I outline how you can ensure that you become the job candidate that employers want to hire.

Be selective with the jobs you apply for

The job market is competitive, (even in the good times), so the first step to ensuring that you become the job candidate that employers want to hire, is to only apply for jobs that you are qualified for, and ensuring that you do in fact meet their selection requirements.  Take these examples:

The employer in the job advertisement is asking for a ‘mature’ applicant.  This is simply a coded way of saying that this employer doesn’t want to employ anyone too young, so if your only 21, then it is unlikely you will be picked for the job, even if you are quite mature for a 21 year old.

If the job advertises for someone that has the ability to ‘lead a team’, then they are after a manger with prior experience in leading a team.  While you might feel that you are capable of leading people, unless you have this experience, it is unlikely you will be picked.  (I mean, who would you select if you were an employer?  Someone that has demonstrable experience and success in leading a team, or someone, that states they would like to have a go at leading a team?).

Your resume and application

Your campaign to land a job starts with your resume, cover letter, or selection criteria (if applying for a government job).  Your application is your key to secure an interview, so that you can meet employers in person and convince them that you are the best person for the job.

In order to become the job candidate that employers want to hire, you must improve your resume.  Without even looking at your resume, I know that your current document needs to be improved upon, because everyone’s resume needs to be adjusted and improved for each and every job they apply for.

The key is to make sure that your resume and cover letter ‘mirrors’ the employers requirements.

So to do this, draw a line down the middle of a page and one side list the employer’s needs, and on the other side of the line, list all your hard and soft skills and contributions that prove you can do the job.  This exercise will help you to pin point your assets that are relevant to the employer requirements and will help shape your resume and job application.

Once you have this list, the next step is to demonstrate these within your document.  So for example:

If the job you’re applying for has specified someone with a friendly personality, then you could demonstrate this, by noting it as a personality characteristic on your profile, or emphasising a customer  service role, in which your warm personality won over the difficult clients.

The interview

There are usually no big surprises at interviews as basically most interviews will focus on how you precisely meet the requirements, which are usually outlined in the job advertisement.

So take these clues and use them as the basis on which to prepare for an interview, including preparation of examples of your past experiences that illustrates how you meet their exact requirements.  So for example:

In the job advertisement, the employer was asking for exceptional presentation skills.  So in order to demonstrate this face-to-face at interview, makes sure you present yourself in a professional manner and talk about your experiences in the delivery of presentations at both the micro and macro level.

Final word

In order to be the job candidate that employers want to hire, showcase how you meet their exact requirements, as this will be pivotal to your success.