The job search can be intimidating, even miserable.
And in the age of AI, where it seems like even sending out hundreds of applications doesn’t guarantee your resume will ever be reviewed by a hiring manager, it’s easy to get discouraged.
Career coach Shari Santoriello, who has been in the industry for 25 years, knows this; she sees it all the time. So when her clients come to her asking how to streamline their job search and make the process easier while optimizing it to attract the most attention, she is a wealth of knowledge.
Here are three tips she gives her clients to simplify their job search.
Create a CV vault
Sometimes we think a resume is set in stone, but Santoriello says it’s a dynamic document for a job seeker: it should be flexible and adaptable to each job you apply for . She pointed out that no one likes to hear this, but you can make it easier by creating what some call a master resume or resume.
Your resume vault is a living document listing all of your past jobs and accomplishments for you to choose from. So when you create a resume for a particular position, instead of creating a new resume from scratch, simply make a copy of your resume vault and delete anything that is not relevant based on the description From post.
“When you ask yourself: What are you leaving? What are you cutting? Highlight the things that set you apart from what the job description calls for,” Santoriello told Business Insider. “You might have something really cool in your background, but if it’s not relevant to this position, you don’t want to take up your valuable real estate on your resume with something that won’t be relevant to the manager of recruitment.
On average, Santoriello estimates, job seekers have about five seconds when a hiring manager looks at their resume. So you want to make sure they can see the impact, the value and the contribution you make to the team in those five seconds.
One of the best ways to do this when talking about what to keep and what to lose is to keep the things that get results. Keep words like increased, decreased, generated revenue, successfully, efficiently and streamlined.
“Any of those action language words that allow the reader to immediately see that you did something,” Santoriello said. “And put them at the beginning of the sentence, we don’t want to bury it on the far right of a sentence.”
Learn the language of hiring managers in your industry
Santoriello says this is especially helpful when you’re considering a career change and trying to outline your transferable skills in a new industry.
“When you’re writing your resume for a new industry, you want to use industry-specific language,” Santoriello said. “It’s about showing them – not telling them, showing them – that you understand how your skills are transmitted and that you use this language to support that. That doesn’t mean that the 15 years you spent in technology are no longer relevant now that you I want to go into medical research There are probably many relevant skills there We just need to formulate them and express them in a language that the new industry understands.
She noted that this is where a career coach can really help, but when it comes to describing the language of your chosen industry, it’s time to “play with your best friend Google “.
“And when I say play, I mean play, have fun. Go down rabbit holes, do research, spend your time getting lost reading articles on LinkedIn,” Santoriello said. “Join groups specific to where you want to go – both digital and face-to-face if that’s your thing. Check out professional associations. There is so much information available today. When I work with my members, I tell them this: ‘It’s time for the treasure hunt.’ Let’s find the elements and then compare them to what you already have in place in order to present your best solution here.
Bring your network to a simmer
“Twenty years ago, if you wanted a forest you had to plant a tree, but today that would be just as good,” Santoriello told BI.
The truth is, she says, there’s no bad time to reach out to past, present or potential friends and colleagues to set up informational interviews or networking lunches.
“As human beings, as professionals, we tend not to realize the importance of making connections at all times — it’s not an area where you want to stagnate,” Santoriello said. “You want to build your connection base regularly.
Santoriello swears by the importance of staying connected with someone you played football with in fourth grade. Not every person will be a valuable connection every day — and, let’s face it, you won’t stay in touch with the one person you don’t really care about — but maintaining cordial relationships will prove helpful. when you least expect it, and sometimes when you need it the most.
“I’m not saying be the person who has a Rolodex of 97,000 people but doesn’t have a real relationship with anyone,” Santoriello said. “I’m talking about the value of building real relationships over time, without always having an ulterior motive, just for the sake of building those relationships over time. And ideally, you’re doing it now. The best time is really anytime. It’s comfortable for you to do that.”
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