Landing a job interview that you’ve been patiently waiting to hear back on is an incredibly exciting feeling. Your stress starts to melt away a little bit, and you suddenly start to feel more confident in your abilities and all of the work experience that’s led you up to this point.
But there’s a process on how to get there, and it does require hard work. Companies see thousands of job applications on a yearly basis. They get pretty good at weeding out certain candidates and finding the people that truly stand out. And typically, only 1 in 3 people actually get an interview.
Those odds are admittedly a little disheartening at first glance. However, if you’re prepared and persistent, your odds of landing an interview dramatically increase. If you’re prepared, it’s must easier to be one of the three candidates to land the big interview.
The team here at Carter Recruiting and Associates sees tons of resumes every single day. Our recruiting agency in Little Rock, Arkansas knows exactly what it takes for a candidate to land a job interview, so we decided to give you a few pointers. Use these tips for your upcoming employment search and let us know if it helps you!
1) Apply, Apply, Apply
It seems like a simple suggestion, but you’ll soon find out that once you start applying, it’s pretty easy to get discouraged about the lack of callbacks and lose interest in continuing to try. The truth is, if you don’t get an interview it does not mean that you are a bad candidate and you don’t have something valuable to offer a company. There are just a ton of qualified candidates you’re going up against, some of which may have a certain piece of experience you don’t have that was really needed for the company.
At some point, your skillset is going to stand out to a place of business. Sometimes it doesn’t take long to land a few job interviews, and then other times it might take awhile. As long as you keep searching and applying and expanding your options, you’re going to land an interview.
2) Write a Unique and Thoughtful Cover Letter
Writing a captivating cover letter is critical when it comes to impressing a company. It’s alright for you to have a template to work off of, especially if you’re applying to tons of different places, but it’s absolutely critical that you modify each one the best that you can, and make it specific to the job and place of business you’re applying for. Companies see so many cover letters when they’re hiring, and they can easily pick out the ones that are copy and pasted and not given a lot of thought. A lack of thought, to them, shows a lack of interest. They’ll read three sentences and throw your cover letter in the garbage if you take that route.
Take the few extra minutes to make your cover letter truly pop. It’s going to make all the difference.
3) Make Your Resume Unique to the Place You’re Applying To
Yes, this requires even more additional work, but you’re really going to stand out to several places if you tailor your resume to the company’s needs. You wouldn’t believe how few people do this. Our Arkansas recruiting company receives dozens of resumes for our jobs on a daily basis, and so many put so little effort into their resume, and in the end it really hurts their chances with the companies who hired us to help them find an employee.
Let’s say for example you’re applying to a marketing agency. Put some previous work on the resume that show you have experience in the field, and explain some prior accomplishments you have in their area. Don’t put a bunch of jobs that have nothing to do with the place you’re applying to. At the end of the day, the company wants to see how YOU can help THEM. Put yourself in their shoes and deliver what they’re expecting. It’s going to make a huge difference for you.
4) Follow Up With Each Application
This seems like a simple tip, but once again you’d be shocked at how many people forget to do this, which is sort of understandable if people are applying to a ton of different places. Following up and being persistent shows great interest. Even if you don’t have the perfect amount of experience, sometimes companies will still want to interview a person that’s persistent and interested because that shows someone who is willing to learn and eager to get to work.
How bad do you want it? Show them.
5) Don’t Get Discouraged
This goes back to a previous point of ours, but it’s crucial. Do not start to feel down on yourself if you’re not getting any calls right out of the gate. This process can take time, and if you’re applying all of the steps above, it’s not your fault. So few people actually get interviews. Just keep applying and chugging along. At some point, it’s going to work out for you.
Once you’ve landed the interview, read our blog on how to crush your interview and land the job you’ve been looking for. There are 10 tips in there that’ll help you feel not only more prepared, but at ease about your upcoming interview.
After that, read our blog on how to make your first day at the new job a success!
If you ever have any questions about how you can land an interview and impress a potential employer, our recruiting firm in Arkansas is more than willing to help you out. Please feel free to contact us and let us know what you’re struggling with. This is why we’re here!
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Carter Recruiting and Associates is one of the largest independent recruiting and outplacement companies in Arkansas. Our headquarters, located in Little Rock and our satellite office in Conway, both service accounts nationwide. We have satisfied clients and references from some of the largest companies in the state. With over 50 collective years of experience in the recruiting business, we have a vast amount of resources and knowledge to ensure a job well done.
Cherie Richardson
President
Cherie is the owner and president of Carter Recruiting and Associates. She holds a BA in psychology from the University of Mississippi and has over 30 years of experience in the recruitment of executive and manufacturing professionals. Cherie’s work has been instrumental for new plant start-ups, as well as building and maintaining relationships throughout the region and state of Arkansas. She is a member of the National Association of Female Executives and the National Association of Women Business Owners.