Ten Tips to Landing That Dream Job

I’ve been buried under a mountain of resumes lately. We have a job opening in our San Francisco office that we advertised via LinkedIn and the resumes have been streaming in. Well, pouring in, really. It’s an entry-level position and within about two weeks of the job being posted we received over 300 resumes. The majority of them from very enthusiastic soon-to-be grads, ready to start exploring the wonderful world of PR.

Filled with equal enthusiasm I started digging through the resumes. I soon realized that a great candidate might be tougher to find than I had expected. Everyone has seen the tips and tricks on how to make your resume stand out and there are countless online resources and classes that give advice on how to write that killer resume and cover letter.

Yet finding a suitable candidate was like searching for that needle in the haystack. And that digging reminded me of some advice for interested candidates. So, here goes, some friendly advice from me. Next time you apply for a job, keep these tips in mind.

1. Do your homework. Know the company you are sending your resume to, do some research on the people you are meeting with – follow them on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn, read their blog posts – and be able to explain why you want to join (“because you’re small” or “because you’re in SF” is not good enough).
2. Based on all that knowledge, personalize your application. Do not address me with “dear sir”, do make a reference or two that shows me you know a little bit about us and do make sure your personality shines through.
3. That means you should not ever apply with your LinkedIn profile only. That is just lazy. And who wants to hire a lazy person?
4. This is a no brainer, but spell check and proof read. Too many resumes had too many typos.
5. If you include links in your resume to your portfolio, companies you’ve worked for, your website even, make sure those links work.
6. No buzzwords please. They’re nothing but buzzkill.
7. Show your creativity. Why should we select you? What makes you stand out from the crowd?
8. If you have a non-traditional background, that’s okay, but in that case it’s especially important that you explain why you want to join us.
9. Be confident, not cocky. We want to hire capable people but we especially want to hire people we like.
10. And follow up. This is your opportunity to show us that you’re still interested and demonstrate what you could contribute to InkHouse.

Good luck!