This bit of wisdom also applies to your job search. How do you achieve perfection in a job market? Especially a job market that is as volatile as our current one?
You do the littlest things well. As 2023 came to a close, I noticed a significant rise in tiny little details that may seem insignificant to the job seeker, but are major turnoffs to recruiters.
And I can type this blog confidently because I worked in recruiting for nearly 15 years. I recruited engineers, manufacturing workers, financial professionals, board members, and a host of other positions.
I can also type this blog confidently because I write resumes and provide career coaching for CEOs, Accountants, IT professionals, Sales Leaders, Engineers, Lawyers, Doctors, and a host of other positions.
These little details apply to industry and position. Because they happen with CEOs and they happen with forklift drivers.
Detail #1: Your voicemail greeting isn't set up.
Every time I pick up the phone and call a job seeker and hear, "I'm sorry, but the person at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 0 (123-456-7890) is unavailable. After the tone, please record a message. After you've finished, press pound or hang up," I roll my eyes.
It's a little detail in your job search, but it takes 20 seconds to solve it. Go into your phone's voicemail settings and record a short message. "Hi, you've reached First Last. I'm sorry I'm unavailable, but please leave your name, number, and a message and I'll return your call."If you want, you can even suggest they send you a text message if that's the best way to connect.
When you have a professional greeting on your voicemail, you're confirming to the recruiter who they are calling.
Detail #2: You don't have a LinkedIn profile picture.
While you never want to put a photo on a resume, LinkedIn is a different story.According to this blog from LinkedIn, having a professional photo on LinkedIn results in 21x more profile views and 9x more connection requests.
If you're a job seeker, you want those views and connection requests, because many of them will likely be from recruiters if the rest of your profile is optimized.
You don't necessarily need to hire a professional photographer if you don't want to. Just put your phone on portrait mode, get outside in some good lighting (overcast works best in my experience) and have a friend take your picture.
Detail #3: Your contact information on your resume isn't at the top.
You have six seconds to capture a reader's attention with your resume. On a daily basis I see contact information in all sorts of random places on the resume. I've even seen it at the bottom in some online templates!
If you have six seconds to capture a reader's attention with your resume, you don't want them using that precious time trying to find out how to get in touch with you.Do the little things well when starting your job search and you'll see the results you're looking for.
