I have been doing candidate reviews, interviews, hiring, and firing for over 15 years, through great economies where jobs are a dime a dozen and others, like today, where there is an ever growing base of unemployed people and a lack of jobs. During both times, one thing remains the same- You are your own best marketer, so ensuring what you put out is high quality and it will return results.

I will write from 2 perspectives: the employee looking for the job as well as the employer reviewing the candidates. Doing this allows those looking who have never been in a position to hire employees to understand what is being looked for.

·         Know what you applied for

This week I will be touching on the all important job search and narrowing down to the right jobs. Nothing is worse than calling a potential candidate for an interview and having the person who picks up the phone ask what this position is and to explain to them exactly what is was.

A deeper clarification of job expectations is a great follow up question, but when you have a candidate on the other end of the line who has no idea what position this is for, it makes the excitement of calling them a little less than stellar.

·         Attack job hunting with as much planning as keeping track of finances, or other organized activities

Create a spreadsheet, or just a sheet of paper with columns, and record the title of the job, the company it was for, and the information (if available) of the hiring contact. Going one step further to print or save the link to the job description will also prove to be handy as you can quickly scan the description as a brief reminder of the requirements and daily activities. Don’t be afraid to ask the employer to hold while you locate the job information. As a hiring manager, I hope you were excited to apply with us, but I don’t expect you to have hung the description on the wall with candles and flowers around it, visible all the time. If you need to locate your organized information, we are happy to hold. If you are locating it, do so in an organized manner… putting the phone down to yell to someone to get you something or yelling obscenities at the dog who is barking is not likely to be a great idea either. Being unseen does not always mean being unheard.

·         Always follow up interaction with a thank you

I cannot stress the importance of making a great second or third impression after the interview. Hopefully you took notes during the phone or face to face interview- you can use them to your advantage. Take into account that you may have an amazing resume, and you just did great in the interview, the best way to out the extra reminder in the hiring manager’s head to think of you is by closing the interaction.

Think about this in a dating scenario. You saw a photo of someone perhaps your friends knew, or who happens to be local to where you frequent and you decide to engage them in conversation. The first interaction, even if just over the phone was amazing- the two of you had great things to talk about so you decided to go on a date. The date was just a continuation of your great phone conversation; there was great rapport, the two of you have similar goals and it seems like there is a connection between the two of you that could be long lasting. The date is over and you go home… never calling them again because you assumed if they really wanted to see you again they would just call you. Now what if this person had 4 other great dates this week, but instead of leaving the date and never contacting the person again, 2 of those dates sent an email, or a text, or a handwritten note expressing how wonderful their time together was. Guess who got to go on a second date?

You might have been a great date, but quite frankly you were forgotten because others sent a renewed impression that stuck above everyone else. Take your notes and find one thing that really clicked in the interview and send a note of thank you to the hiring manager (try to grab a card if a face-to-face) or work email if the interview was a phone call, and thank them for taking the time to meet with you as well as mention (remind) them of that one great topic the two of you discussed- it could be the companies mission statement, or your previous volunteering that matches the philanthropic  goals of the company, or even  something about the company you found insightful that the hiring manager mentioned. This not only lets the hiring manager your intentions are serious of joining their company, but also you really took the time to listen and learn about a place you can see yourself working at.. no one wants to go on a second date with someone who can’t remember your last name.