“Network, make connections, and book coffee chats with people!” were all words that I used to hear when I was job hunting. While these things are invaluable and should be done, I think you can get a job without it. In fact, I’ve gone through and done all these things and they didn’t help me get a job offer. Rather, I was able to land internships and full-time jobs by applying online and I’m here to tell you all of my secrets so you can too.
1. Volunteer
The best way to get experience to build up your resume is through volunteering. If you’re in school, join a club that you’re interested in and take a leadership position to develop job skills. If you’re interested in marketing, become a marketing executive in a club to learn social media management. Learning and practicing these skills in a volunteer position gives you the opportunity to try it out and there’s less risk if you make a mistake (which we all do!). These skills and experiences will be what should be writing about on your resume.
2. Further Develop Your Skills
Many people are (most likely) graduating school with the same degree as you, so you must stand out from the crowd. Look at job descriptions of roles that you’re interested in and find specific skills that are common amongst them. Then search up an online certificate, course or tutorial to learn that skill. With technology, there’s a way to learn so many skills from the comfort of your home. These are the skills that won’t be taught in school and will show recruiters that you have the initiative to go above and beyond everyone else.
For example, if many jobs that you’re interested in list “Knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud, specifically Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign” as a required skill, do a free trial of the Adobe Creative Cloud and watch Youtube tutorials about how to use the programs. If possible, create a “product” or “result” from you using this new skill, so if it’s to learn Adobe Creative Cloud, create a social media graphic for a product you admire.
3. Tailor Your Resume & Cover Letter to the Specific Job Posting
People tell us to do this all the time, so that your resume passes through the applicant tracking software (ATS) and you’re able to get an interview with a company! It doesn’t have to be difficult either. Create a “base” resume and cover letter that is catered to the type of role you’re looking for. When you come across a job posting you’re interested in, adjust some of your keywords in your skills and experience section of your resume to match the ones found in the posting. Don’t lie on your resume, though! Take the skills and experiences that you have already, and word them the same way it’s written on the job posting. This will help the ATS systems view your resume as a good match for the posting.
Tailoring my resume has made the biggest difference in my previous job hunts! I saw an increase in interviews for jobs that I actually wanted because I wasn’t applying for every “marketing” job. This may not land you the job but it will definitely increase your chances of landing one!
4. Write an Impactful Resume
Have you ever read a resume that left you asking “so what?” That’s the response you want to avoid getting from recruiters reading your resume. All the bullet points under each experience on your resume should convey the context, action taken and result. This way, recruiters will know how you benefited the organization and how you can do something similar at this potential new company.
An example of a non-impactful statement is this: “Acted as the primary contact for all media during our flagship event, Night It Up! Night Market and created relationships with multiple sponsors.” This tells the recruiter what I did, but not the impact of my actions on the overall organization and event. I would change it to: “Acted as the primary media contact during the flagship event, Night It Up! Night Market to secure prominent coverage for the event on TV, online and social media, resulting in a 8% increase in event attendees.”
5. Craft Your Story
Once you land an interview, it’s time to put all that work you did with your resume into conversation format! Look through your experiences and create multiple stories from each one that can be used to answer common interview questions. Think about conflicts, successes, roadblocks and frame them to demonstrate your strengths and skills that are applicable for the job. People remember stories, more than short basic answers. If you have something unique about your experience, craft stories about these so your interviewers will remember you. It could be that you studied a unique subject or volunteered somewhere!
For example, I studied nutrition in university before I decided to switch programs into business, and that’s something a little more unique than the average person who completed a business degree. When I was interviewing at places, I brought up this story when I was asked why I wanted to work in marketing. This made me stand out from all the other business graduates since it was unique.
Conclusion
Those were my 5 tips to landing a job without connections! Obviously, connections and networking ultimately will help you get jobs and there’s no harm in doing those things. But it’s not the end all be all to landing a job. Try out some of these tips and let me know how it goes in the comments. Best of luck and feel free to contact me here or on Instagram if you want more advice!
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