When you’re in the thick of job searching, staying ahead of the crowds is important. For each job you apply to, you’re likely competing against a dozen or more other job seekers. If you don’t set yourself apart from the rest, you might not land the job you want. However, it’s easier to say than it is to do! How do you stand out from the crowd? I’ve got you covered. Here are several things you can do to set yourself apart in your job search.

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Show Your Skills, Don’t Just Tell

You need to be able to show your skills rather than simply saying you have them. Anyone can claim they have this skill or that skill without backing it up. In fact, that’s what most people do!

What can set yourself apart from the rest is showing that you have the skill. This part can be pretty tricky, but I know you can come up with some creative ways to show what you know. Here, I’ll give you some examples to help you get started.

• If you have forklift skills, show them by providing your forklift certifications.
• Going for a welding job? Create a portfolio of pictures of your welding projects.
• Mostly work in an office? Use old presentations or data tables to express how you get things done.

Get Recommendations

Recommendations are, at their core, very similar to references. However, the main purpose for them is a little different.

While references are usually used to confirm employment, you can use a recommendation directly on your resume to boost credibility. If you did great work at a former job, ask those you worked for to give a recommendation. You can use their words (always with permission) on your resume to sing your praises.

There’s nothing better to make you stand out than a previous boss saying you did a great job!

Make an Easy-To-Read Resume

Nothing will reduce your chances at the job faster than an overly complicated or long resume. Six-page resumes, filled with long, detailed descriptions of each job, are more likely to be overlooked. Hiring managers may only look at a resume for a handful of seconds before making their decision to toss or keep.

That may sound harsh, but when they have dozens of resumes to look at, it’s what they have to do to get their job done.

The key to a good resume is keeping it short and simple. Not everything you’ve done should be listed. Your past job experience should hit the important highlights that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. If you can trim your resume down to between one to two pages, you’re on the right track. Even three is fine, as long as you stick with the above tips.

I’m telling you: a simple, clean resume design is your ticket to getting interviews.

Now that you’re armed with this knowledge, it’s time to land that job! Want to make the job search process even simpler? Contact Tempstar today to learn how we can help!