Interviews are your ultimate chance to show how and why you’re the best candidate for a certain role. There are two ways to ensure your success—ace the job application or the interview itself. To lessen your burden, here’s an effective job application game plan on how to highlight your strengths in two ways.
Highlight Your Strengths in Resume
With the rise of applicant tracking systems and the surge of job openings on the internet, job application has been a bit tough for candidates who want to land a job right away. For starters, it is given that writing a winning resume is the first thing you must focus on. So to do this, make sure you allot time and not rush the process. Below is an in-depth guide you should note:
Tailor your skills.
Remember to align your resume skills to the job you’re targeting. Omit unnecessary details to keep it as focused as it can be.
List industry-specific skills.
To do this, you should have at least one to two years of working experience. Listing hard skills is proven effective for companies seeking tenured and seasoned applicants. Pro tip: this will also boost your chances of landing the relevant job you want.
No hard skills? Go for sought-after soft skills.
With a multitude of applications sent to them day by day, companies would opt to hire people with defined abilities than those without. To prevent yourself from submitting a generic resume, write your soft skills, and specifically explain why these aptitudes have helped you over the years.
Talk about yourself.
It’s time to highlight your abilities and experiences. Start by defining how each skill you have listed in your resume, whether hard or soft skills, has played an integral role in your former jobs. Write modestly, but don’t forget the conviction. If you want to prove your credibility, this is the best way to go.
Highlight Your Strengths During Interview
Interviews are tricky in many ways. You can stir up an interesting conversation with the interviewer, but still not get the job. As a smart candidate, know that a lively conversation alone won’t suffice. You have to do your best in marketing yourself. Here are some ways on how to do it:
Start strongly by talking about your experiences.
Strengths are your experiences and skills. You cannot show off your innate talents without discussing your former job responsibilities first. Begin by explaining the scope of your work and how big the role you had was. This will serve as an initial topic that will eventually allow you to discuss your skills.
Back your claimed strengths with your skills.
Conversing with the recruiter will help you talk freely about what you can offer to the company. Use the strengths and experiences you talked about earlier and highlight the skills you developed because of it. See it like this: unlike your resume, in interviews, you are free to discuss everything you want to highlight. Maximize this to your advantage.
There are lots to remember, but this one is highly important: not all hiring managers are fond of applicants with strengths alone. If your interviewer asks about your weaknesses, you can talk about it without fear. Of course, keep it to a minimum and perceive what weaknesses can be developed over time.
Landing a job is not an overnight task. It takes time to prepare, review, and gather materials and strategies you will utilize. Accept the process genuinely. Wishing for the best is not enough—you also have to do everything you can to succeed.
