I participated in a career fair a few weeks and was fascinated by the different attitudes conveyed by the candidates. By the end of the day I was really able to see the non-verbal communication attitude they emitted, before they even sat down with me to review their resume.
If I can see your attitude as you approach me, so can hiring managers, recruiters and anyone you need to impress with your experience, expertise and attitude. What I noticed was, those that walked up to me, smiled, shook my hand and were genuinely interested and interesting during the resume review, were the ones that came across confident, knowledgeable and dependable. This is the “something special” that gets you noticed and asked back for a second interview or even have offers made to.
Others that came to see me were timid, apologetic, looked away from me and fumbled with papers, folders or purses. They portrayed an unsure, un-confident job seeker with a look of fear instead of confidence. When they asked for help with some or all parts of their job search they seemed desperate, unsure and sometimes even defensive. Have you ever heard a car, insurance, beer or hair color commercial that isn’t completely confident in their product? Never.
You have to realize your strengths, believe in those strengths and make others believe in them and you, if you want to succeed in getting your ideal job. A resume is a selling tool and even the most concise, achievement packed document will only get you into an interview. If you come to the interview less than what your resume portrays, you will get passed by and be wasting everyone’s time.
Non-verbal communications can even play more of a key role than the content of your resume. If you’ve got great experience but have a poor attitude, no confidence or can’t communicate well during the interview you’ll never find the job of your dreams. Preparation, something I stress over and over, is the most important thing you can do to improve your confidence and succeed in interviews.
You have to play the part of manager, marketer, salesperson and the voice in your campaign. If you don’t feel you’ve got the right attitude start making changes today. If you feel intimidated because you don’t have a degree, sign up for a night class. If you need something that shows you are truly interested in the position, join associations, research the industry and company so you’ll feel confident when discussing current industry events and future expectations. If you don’t have enough achievements in your resume; start asking for harder assignments, doing a better job with current assignments, staying later during the day, or what ever it takes to get noticed with what you are doing today. Your improved work habits will be reflected in your next performance review, will improve what your references can say about you, and it will provide outstanding achievements to add to your resume.
You have to really own your strengths, skills, and value have offer, so you can let others know what you have to contribute. Start today, write a list of your 10 best attributes or strengths and see what you can come up with. If you’re having trouble, ask others you work with for their two cents. If you like what you find out, promote it. If you don’t like what you find out, make changes until you do and then get out there and confidently show everyone what you have to offer.
