***Question From Reader***

Hey landon,
I read your book and it was a very good read, couldnt put it down. One question, what would a person wear for an interview for a trades job? I am applying for a job that Midwest Energy Coop posted for an Apprentice Lineman. I am not a person who likes to dress up much but I will if it means a job.

Thank You for trying to help those who are trying to help themselves.
Dan J.

(Name changed to initials for privacy)

>>>My Comments:

Hey Dan,

I’m glad you enjoyed my book! Thanks for the kind words, it means a lot

To get to your question, here’s what I recommend for your situation: Always dress 1 level above what everyone else wears in the company. In almost all instances I’d suggest wearing a suit & tie. You can never really be too “over dressed” for a job interview unless you’re wearing a tux. Even if you’re applying for a trades job, you need every little advantage to set you apart from your competition. If you’re afraid of looking stupid by being too “over dressed” for your industry – don’t be, because employers KNOW that its hard out there for job seekers and they’ll look favorably on you for putting the extra bit of effort that other tradesmen neglect.

(Take my word on this, I used to work in the construction industry for 3 years and I can tell you it doesn’t make a difference what industry you’re in… Employers appreciate professionalism and effort. Period.)

Keep in mind also that its not just about how you’re dressed but how you’ve demonstrated your value during the interview. And remember to “naked proof” your accomplishments. Dressing nice is only the icing on the cake. If you really want to STAND OUT, “translate your contribution” just like how you learned in my book.

Hope that helps! Let me know how your interview goes

~Landon

Did you like these job interview tips?  Because your future employer will.  There’s plenty more where this came from. Just enter your name and primary email address over on the right and sign up for my FREE “Interview Tips That Work” e-newsletter! Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If you ever decide my e-newsletter is not for you, you can unsubscribe at any time.

What is YOUR job hunting story?

To celebrate my reaching 4,500 followers on Twitter, I’ve decided to have a contest for everyone in our little job seeker community :^)

Here’s what I’m going to do:

I’m going to GIVE AWAY a free copy of my Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired eBook package (worth about $170) – to the person who posts the MOST interesting story about his or her job hunting struggles… in the comments below.

As “Brain Food” I’ll list some questions you might want to answer in your “entry” below…

• How did you get to this point, tell me your story?
• What’s your biggest challenge or frustration right now? (ie resume, cover letter, going on job boards, interviewing, etc.)
• What have you tried so far, but it didn’t work?
• What have you tried so far, and it did work?
• Why should you be chosen?

Now, this fun little contest is going to draw quite a few entries. No question. In order to keep things INTERESTING, I’m going to set a few quick rules…

>Rules:

1) You must write something INTERESTING. No one-liners that say “the economy sucks” or “there are no jobs out there.” I’m not even going to APPROVE comment entries that aren’t thoughtful, interesting, and REAL.

[***Bonus Points: Upload a video to YouTube of 5 minutes or less where you describe how you’ve struggled in your job search and give specific examples. Be sure to tag your video with “imm contest” in quotation marks. Click here to see what it should look like when you are uploading your video. Then leave a comment on this post with a link to your video and a brief description of what hasn't been working for you (no need for more than 1-2 short paragraphs)***]

2) Do all of this no later than 10pm EST next Saturday, February 27th (in other words, start writing NOW).

3) I and a few secret judges will select our top favorites, and then you all will vote for the winner. I’ll also Tweet the name of the winner on Twitter, of course!

So get to it, and post a comment below telling your story about how you’ve struggled on your job search. You just might win $170 bucks worth of my best interview training!

[Follow me free on Twitter here: Twitter.com/Landon_Long]

Your carefully crafted cover letters and resumes are considered worthless if you do not have a clue where to submit them.  In the midst of this recession, you might get yourself lost and lose your path to success and these documents you spent so much time perfecting will do nothing but look pretty in the documents file of your computer.  However, behind the curtains of the economic depression, there lies wide and broad range of job openings that you can imagine are found conveniently online.  So, if you really are tough enough to pursue your dream job, here is a list of top 50 job sites and their descriptions.

Entry Level Job Sites:

• After College – this is specifically created for college students and recent graduate students.  This is both a job and internship site that allows job seekers to post their resume.  This site has a search engine, providing job seekers easy access to numerous job openings across different states.  For more convenience, job seekers can filter their job search by job type, area, industry, and type of career.  The site also offers information and career advice.
• CollegeGrad – currently, the number 1 entry-level job site as it provides job search service for college students and recently graduated students.  It is probably the only entry-level job site that list down the Best in Class Employers, Top Intern Employers and Top Masters Employers.  The site also offers job search advice and virtual career fair.  Furthermore, it allows resume posting, and internships searching.
• College Recruiter – a job site designed for providing entry-level job and career opportunities for college students, recent graduate students and graduates.  It also displays part time and full time job listing.
• Raytheon – offers job listings and descriptions for the current job opportunities.  It has jobs section that gives every job seeker the chance to look for the perfect job according to their field of interest, location and job type choice.  It has profile matching and internships and co-ops features to help college students and recent college students have hands-on experience.  The site also offers recruiting events specifically for North America.
• The Job Box – This job site is open to high school and college job seekers.  It brings job opportunities from seasonal and part time job to entry-level job and internships.  Job seekers can search using keywords, job category and location.  The site includes career news and resources.

International Job Sites:

• BilingualCareer.com – site dedicated to bilingual or multi-lingual job seekers.  For the sake of communication, the job seekers are required to be at least knowledgeable in the English language.  The site also allows job seekers to search by location, industry and keywords.  In addition, job seekers can search by language.  This job site also provides advice on job interviews and resume creation.  Job seekers can post their resume here.
• Indeed.com – it is a meta-search job site that aims to pull thousands of job postings from different places around the world.  It compiles together job postings from major job boards, top newspapers, professional associations and career centers.  Job seekers can browse by title, company, location and keywords.
• jobalot.com – this is one of the mega-meta job sites that use simple job search interface.  From hundreds of job sites and thousands of job listings, job seekers can simplify their job search by searching using keywords and location, and browsing by category.  In this site, job seekers can learn about job hunting process.  The site is also dedicated to providing information about continuing education opportunities.
• Jobs.NET – a job site that accommodates job seekers across the globe, allowing them to browse through thousand of jobs, post confidential online resumes and receive tips and advice about job hunting.  Job seekers can search by criteria, such as keywords, location, recent job postings, salary, job position, industry, company size and so on.
• LatPro – this site is dedicated to provide assistance to Hispanic and bilingual professionals.  It is a leader in online employment all over the world, giving job seekers the opportunity to scan through job listings from employers that are pre-screened.  It also allows job seekers to post multiple resume, create email job agent and access career resources.
• Monster.com – considered one of the oldest career sites online.  It has thousands of job listing across the globe.  The site includes career advice, relocation services and  an auction-style marketplace, perfect for independent professionals.
• Prohire.com – it includes more than 150,000 job postings from all over the world.  It is one of the free job sites with the largest database.  Job seekers can submit and post their online resumes and check out job competition and openings within their location.
• TwitterJobSearch.com – this is Twitter’s job search engine for job seekers twitter users.  Job seekers can search jobs using keywords.  The results are then displayed using tweets.
• Yahoo! HotJobs – considered one of the best resource job sites online.  It offers job search resources for job seeking professionals, free of charge.  Online users can create their own personalized career management page that provides the necessary tools for fast, convenient and safe job search.

General/Diverse Job Sites:

• Best Jobs in the USA Today – this is a job site with comprehensive resource.  It is integrated with job databases, corporate profiles, post resume feature and career resources center.
• CareerBuilder – probably it has the largest diversity of job listings.  It posts help wanted ads from the leading newspapers today at the same time provides job listings and openings from leading employers.  As its name implies, the site helps to build a job seeker’s career by providing resources such as job tips and advice.
• Careerjournal.com – allows job seekers to broaden their job search.  It has great resources of articles that guide job seekers on their job hunt.  The site is created by The Wall Street Journal.
• CareerPark.com – Posting a resume on this site is relatively easy.  Also, it brings convenience to job seekers searching for job using the Internet.  In this site, job seekers can find other helpful career and job sites online, increasing and widening their options.
• DiversityWorking.com – This site is perfect for ethnic and sexual orientation groups.  As a diversity job site, job seekers are allowed to search for jobs by posting recency.  In addition, seekers can search by location, job type, industry and keywords.  Furthermore, job seekers are given an option to either sign up or not in the site’s free newsletter.  Also, job hunters can post their resume here.
• FreshJobs.com – a site endeavors to provide the freshest job listing online.  Its database consists only of job postings not older than 7 days.  The job search can be filtered by skills, benefits, location, company and type of job.  For job matching service, job seekers are required to sign up.  Post a resume here and get a confidential mailbox.
• GOJobs.com – considered as a general job board, this site provides help to job seekers searching for job openings.  The job listing can be browsed by state, keyword and job function.  Also, it is a site dedicated to bring information to job seekers.
• Jobfox – utilizes Mutual Suitability System to match job seekers to job opportunities.  This job matching sites has an in-depth profile system to be able to learn the job seeker’s experience, wants and needs.  The job opportunities are rated based on how the job seeker matches the job description.  Also, the employers are matched the same way.  This job site has membership fees.
• JobSimply – a job site providing wide range of job opportunities from part time jobs and summer jobs to professional and executive jobs.  Job seekers can look into retail jobs, hospital jobs, restaurant jobs, teen jobs and cruise ship jobs.  They can search through industries, locations and keywords.  The site also includes resources about career tips and advice.
• Jobzerk – a job site that is socially driven, allowing its members to interact and communicate to each other.  As a community based job site, job seekers can publish and share useful information about their job search and/or hiring process.
• Juju – this is one of the best job sites for finding interesting career resources.  In this site, job seekers can look into 15 different job sites such as CareerCity, CareerMosaic, JobOptions, NationJob and so on.  Searches can be quickened using keywords.
• NationJob Network – a job search service integrated with thousands of latest job listings.  It features company profiles and it is incorporated with email job matching service, based on your qualifications and preferences.
• Net-Temps – one of the top job sites where job seekers can scan thousands of job postings and post their resume.  The job postings include contract, temporary and even permanent jobs.  The site is designed with tools and resources, including career enhancement articles.
• Realmatch.com – a job-matching site that requires job seekers to submit their qualifications and preferences and matches the information provided to the employer’s requirements.  Job seekers can use the job listings to search for job by keyword and location.
• Vault.com – this site has more than 150,000 job postings from up to 27,000 employers.  Due to its popularity, the site branched out into recruitment.  It has insider reports on different companies and it allows job seekers to search through multiple criteria, including job categories, keywords, experience, location and date posted.  The site also has email job matching service.

Local/National/Specific Job Sites:

• Careercast – One of the coolest job portals that feature niche and local jobs from all over the United States and Canada.  It gives job seekers the freedom to choose where they want to live and work.  To search for a job, job seekers can filter the job listing by title, category, and company.  There is also an advanced option to better target the right job openings for the job seekers.  Also, the portal gives job seekers the opportunity to post their resume.
• CareerSurf.com – It accommodates US and Canadian job seekers from different industries and niche.  Job seekers can search for different types of jobs using job category, location and keywords.  It also accepts resume from job seekers and posts them.
• EmploymentGuide.com – This is a good option for searching jobs locally on the United States. Currently, the site developed around 56 metropolitan areas job listings.  As a career site, job seekers can post resume and find helpful career advice on this site.  And with the integration of localized job areas listings, job seekers can now look for job position in a prospective geographic area.
• FindARecruiter.com – This is ideal for job seekers looking for recruiting or hiring professionals such as headhunters, executive search and staffing firms.  The job seekers can browse into the site’s database with more than 10,000 recruiters.  For searching option, job seekers can use the company’s name, location and specialty.
• GetTheJob.com – It is a job portal specifically designed for direct employer jobs only.  It collects different job posts from different corporate career centers of different companies.  When approximated, this site probably has at least 2 million of job openings information.  For email alerts, job seekers are required to register.
• JobCircle.com – It is considered the largest non-newspaper affiliated job board in Mid-Atlantic, operating in 10 states.  The site provides information, discussion and careers.  Job seekers can browse and search for the job they wanted and they can also post their resume.
• Jobcentral – formed by the alliance of two non-profit associations, this site has an extensive network across US.  It provides employment and career opportunities to job seekers in different industries and job category, from entry-level to chief executive job position.  Job seekers can search by company.
• Job Search Shortcuts – providing links to thousands of job listing web pages, job seekers can browse and search jobs in up to 30 metropolitan areas nationwide.  For faster search, job seekers are allowed to search by category and by city.  This site connects job seekers to their prospective employers.
• LocalHelpWanted.net – it is incorporated with numerous features and benefits for job seekers.  The site allows job seekers to view and narrow the job listings by state and major city.  The members can post different kinds of resume, including audio resume, video resume and portfolio once registered.  This site has a membership fee.  However, job seekers can still use the basic services without a cost.
• myCareerSpace – allows job seekers to search by category, region or keywords.  It accepts up to five different online resumes for applying online job openings.  The site is integrated with job hunting resources such as career expos, salary, relocation, insurance and so on.
• SnagAJob.com – it is probably the largest job site for searching part time and full time jobs.  It is built with career resources and advice and job seekers can scan the job listing by job type, and location.  It also has email alert feature upon registration.
• thingamajob.com – a free career site, allowing job searching and online resume posting.  It has job alert feature and career tools for job seekers to utilize.  Job searches can be done by job categories, location, keywords and date posted.

Professional/Niche Job Sites:

• Dice.com – this is designed specially for technology professionals.  It is great job and career site that provides more than a thousand of job openings for professionals.  The job list can be filtered for search convenience by job type, location and employer.  It securely protects confidential profile from job seekers, making job seekers’ resume safe from devious minds.  Here, job seekers can find useful career resources and they can create email job alert.
• USAJOBS – open to job seekers looking for information about jobs and employment in the United States Federal Government.  The job listing can be viewed by keyword, occupation and location.  Job seekers on this site can post their resume and register for job matching service.  The site also has resource and tips for job seekers interested in working at the government.
• VetJobs.com – designed specifically for veterans and transitioning military personnel.  It also accommodates job seekers with relation to a veteran and it allows job seekers to post resume online.  The job openings include all levels and types of jobs.  Job seekers can view job results by type, keyword and location.  The site also includes key resources for veterans.

New Concept Job Sites:

• The Interview Exchange – a job board that rates job seekers based on how closely they matched on the job position.  The job seekers can receive the job matching results via email.  Also, it permits job seekers to post their resume.
• Jobirn: Insider Referral Network – known for its uniqueness, this site has a job board, online job interview system and employee referral system, connecting job seekers to employees of their prospective companies.  The purpose of the employee referral system is to assist job seekers in getting a referral.
• JobShouts! – a job site that uses the power of social media.  It helps create connections and provides job matching results for job seekers.  As much as possible, it delivers real time job postings at the same time automated one click searching from different social media networks.
• Jobs in Pods – this is a web 2.0 job site.  It gives job seekers the opportunity to listen to their prospective employer’s jobcast.  This includes audio interviews that discuss the company’s culture, benefits and how to and where to apply.  The podcast comes with blog post for information and links about employers and job postings.
• LiveHire – one of the innovative job sites today.  Through this site, job seekers can get online interview via webcam.  However, job seekers need to submit their professional profile first and if employers are interested, they will contact prospective employees via email.  This is highly recommended for long-distance job search.
• Simply Hired – Job seekers can be updated when new jobs are listed via email, social media networks, blogs, homepage and even through mobile phone.  This is a job search engine for searching job listings using keywords.  The results will come from multiple resources.

Featured Sites:

• LinkUp – a job search engine with new and unique features.  The site has the list of more than 20 thousand jobs from company websites.  It is always updated with comprehensive job listing.  Job seekers can search by title, keyword, and by location.  The site is also built up with WorkSearch, a tool to track how long a jobseeker is searching for a job.  It also has Tabs feature where in a job seeker can keep track of his job searches.
• TweetMYJOBS – a job board that provides notification of open positions INSTANTLY via short messaging service. The site tweeted thousands of jobs within a day and at least a million in just a month. This new innovative service brings together recruiters, hiring managers and job seekers. Browse jobs by company or by location.

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of requests from people who want to see a good example of a resume on twitter. And for good reason too… I mean what good is all this advice if you dont even have a sample that’s been proven to work right?

So I decided to share with you an older version of my personal resume that uses about 30% of what I teach in my book The Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired so you can see how all this works for yourself. This resume was originally supposed to be a “pilot” resume to test how employers would respond in today’s job market, and in the end this resume was able to land me over 16 job interviews in 2 weeks!

Seriously.

Oh yeah… and I should mention here that I was applying for jobs that weren’t even in the same industry where most of my experience was.

Crazy, right?

Anyways, I say all this not to brag, but to demonstrate that as long as you TAKE ACTION on what you’ve learned in my book, you WILL start seeing results FAST…

So here’s a screen shot of what it looks like. I blocked out previous employers and changed some of my personal information to prevent stalkers from showing up at my front door, but everything else (ie work experience and accomplishments) is 100% legit:

Enjoy

Lets face it – In today’s economy, you are up against a HUGE uphill battle when it comes to starting your career. Even if you figured out what you want your career to be, chances are you wouldn’t have a fighting chance at securing it because you don’t know how to promote yourself to employers.

It comes down to simply not having a lot of options to choose from in this job market. Sure there might be lots of job openings out there…but if that’s the case, why aren’t you hear anything from employers?

Well what I’m about to tell you might shock you…so put on your tough suit of armor because I’m not going to try to “save your feelings” about this. What I’m about to tell you is the TRUTH and if anyone tells you differently BITCH SLAP THEM AND RUN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!

Ok not really, but seriously…Here’s what most they aren’t telling you…

IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO PROMOTE YOURSELF TO EMPLOYERS…

YOU WONT HAVE A CAREER. PERIOD.

(Yeah I said it…)

I mean think about it… If you want to kick off your career after college you need to know how to PROMOTE yourself to hiring managers. If you want to get a raise and move up the career ladder, you need to know how to PROMOTE yourself to your supervisors.  Even the dude who got a job from one of his daddy’s golf buddies had someone “promoting him” even if he didn’t do it himself. For most of us regular peeps who don’t have all the high-level connections, we rely on our own street smarts and for some it comes easier than it does others.

So why don’t employers just hire us? Why do we have to learn how to promote ourselves to employers?

Well there’s a long list of reasons…and most of them come from the misconceived perception that college grads these days (or “Millenials” as they call us) are:

• Too entitled
• Too lazy or unmotivated
• Too social
• Hard to manage
• Not enough experience
• Not open to feedback
• Not open to self-improvement

(Just check out my Free Report, “The 10 Most Dangerous Mistakes YOU Probably Make With Employers And What To Do About It…” and I’ll break it down for you…)

And all of these reasons are rooted from the same source:

Not knowing how to promote yourself as a candidate who ISN’T one of these types of Millenials.

Are you following me?

And this is the problem that has been plaguing millions of other college grads who are struggling to find something in this crippled job market.

So here’s what I’d do if you want to have a career that others would KILL for:

Learn how to PROMOTE yourself as an A-player.

Not only that but learn how to become an A-player as well. Period.

Why? Because A-player’s have something that many of us unemployed college grads can only dream about.

They have unlimited career OPTIONS.

They are sought-after by companies in EVERY industry. And they are among the top 5% of candidates out there. They can move between industries without any problems because they know how to network, and they ARE highly networked. They know how to MARKET themselves to employers and they know how to make their PERCEIVED value higher than 95% of the population.

Bottom line, if you want a great career, learn how to become an A-Player first! Then you’ll be able to select ANY career you want from a buffet of possibilities. Choose not to become one, and you’ll be forced to “settle” for all the “scraps” that no one else wants.

Don’t let life pass you by for another second. Building yourself to be an A-player is probably one of the most important things you can do for your career and life if you want to have the freedom to experience life instead of being forced into a situation that just “pays the bills”.

If you want to learn more about how to become an A-player, I strongly recommend you check out my Free Newsletter. I’ll send you tips, tricks, and strategies to help you go from being just another “average” candidate to being a “heavily armed jobseeker” in a matter of weeks. You’ll learn about employer psychology, getting around phone interviews, building rapport with body language, negotiating salaries, and everything else that’ll help you get hired in less time.

So what are you waiting for? Go sign up for my Free Newsletter and jumpstart your job search RIGHT NOW.

Happy Hunting!

Imagine what it would be like if you could just sit down and bang out the perfect resume from scratch in no time flat… without ever having to go through the whole “staring at a blank screen for HOURS” phase…

How cool would that be?

You wouldn’t have to procrastinate your job search any more or experience that sinking feeling in your stomach every time you think about working on it.

A lot of times when I’m trying to come up with content for my resume I almost always run into writers block. My mind draws a blank and I never get past a few lines of text. It’s frustrating as hell because I can be sitting in front of my computer for an entire day and have nothing to show for it.

After studying famous copywriters and reading TONS of books on how to become a better resume writer (and writer in general), I’ve stumbled across a little gem of knowledge that’s really helped take my resume writing to the next level.

Here’s one very important concept I learned that I also mention in my book The Unspoken Rues of Getting Hired, and that is:

“Premature criticism destroys creativity”

This concept can best be explained like this… Imagine you’re in a sculpting class and there’s a barrel of clay going around from desk to desk giving each student enough clay to work on sculpting for the day.

Now the rules are simple: When the barrel comes to your desk, you have 10 seconds to grab as much clay out of the barrel as possible. As soon as your time is up, the barrel moves on to another desk and you are only allowed to work with what you were able to get in the 10 seconds you were given.

Now, what would you do?

The smart thing to do, would be to do nothing else but shovel clay out of the barrel for the 10 seconds that you have! Because if you don’t, chances are you won’t be able to make much progress on your masterpiece.

But that’s exactly what most college students (and experienced professionals) forget to do when it comes to writing content for their resumes. What they do instead is they grab a little clay and start editing, write a sentence or two, and edit some more… and they don’t get very far.

So gather clay first à then sculpt later or rather, write first –> edit later.

Turns out, the human brain can only focus on ONE thing at a time. We really do have a one track mind in that sense. I mean think about it… Can you ever really have 2 totally different thoughts at the same time? I’m not talking about being able to pat your head and rub your stomach…or watching TV while you’re doing homework… those activities don’t require THOUGHT.

What I’m talking about is being able to do your Math homework while simultaneously writing a paper… You cant!

Its impossible.

Our brains just aren’t wired that way.

The next time you sit down to work on creating new content for your resume, pay attention to what’s going on. What you’ll notice is that you’ll look at what you’re writing on the screen and you’ll go back and fix all the little typos as they happen.

STOP!

This is what’s screwing you over…

What just happened was your brain went from being in a creative state to analytical / editing state. Instead of maintaining momentum in creating and getting into the “flow” state, you slammed on the brakes and robbed yourself of gaining any real ground… this is what causes most beginning writers to  take up an entire day to come up with material.

But its not YOUR FAULT that this happens! Its just how our brain is wired. This is all going on subconsciously and AUTOMATICALLY and almost no one knows its going on as its happening!

So in terms of writing our resumes, what I’ve discovered is that our brains can only be in 1) creation mode or 2) editing mode in any given moment. What most of us tend to do is we write a little bit in our resume then analyze the hell out of it and we write a little more then analyze it again and it turns into this orgy of writing and editing that never really gets us anywhere.

Eventually we give up, and say things like, ”Fuck this… I’ll just wait till spring quarter and then worry about sending out resumes.” Which if you’ve read my Opportunity Cost of Senioritis Article, you’d know that’s not the best idea when it comes to finding success in life after college.

What we need to do is focus ONLY on creation for a period of time and ONLY on editing for a period of time. That’s the secret to eliminating Resume writer’s block and being able write MORE content in LESS time.

And here’s are my resume tips for how to do that…

STEP 1) Open MS Word so that you have a blank screen

STEP 2) Close all other programs on your PC or MAC so that no “pop ups” will come up

STEP 3) Turn down the brightness of your screen till its BLACK (or turn off your monitor so that you don’t see ANYTHING on your screen). By doing this, you’re making the creation state INEVITABLE by eliminating ALL chances of distraction or impulses to edit.

STEP 4) Setup a digital timer or Google an online countdown timer and set it for ONE HOUR

STEP 5) Write and DON’T STOP WRITING UNTIL THE TIMER GOES OFF!

Keep in mind, as you’re writing you WILL make mistakes. Its bound to happen and its OK. Just go back and edit what you’ve written later. That way you’ll at least be able to have some content to sculpt instead of staring at a blank screen for hours and getting distracted by facebook or email, etc.

So now that you know how to get over your writer’s block, I want you to sit down and pick 1 previous work experience and write for one hour using this method. Then in the comments area below, let everyone know how you did. If you know of any other tricks, go ahead and leave them on here as well and maybe we can all create a nice collection to share.

Happy hunting!

Have you ever wondered how to apply for jobs that are related to your major but don’t have anything to do with your previous work experience?

If so, you’re not alone. I’m going to teach you a concept that’ll not only help you gain more control and popularity in your job interviews, but it will also help you avoid looking like every other clueless candidate that walks in through their door.

I call this concept, “Experience Alignment”.

So first things first, what is Alignment anyway? If you visit Wikipedia.org, it’ll define Alignment as the adjustment of an object in relation with other objects. So in other words Alignment means to “line up”.

Well in the context of interviewing and getting hired, “Experience Alignment” means to align your previous work experience with the kind of relevant experience that your prospective employer is looking for.

For example, if you want to work for a marketing firm, and your studying sales and marketing in college, but the only kind of experience you have is a part-time job being an insurance intern for 2 years, what do you think would be going on in the head of the hiring manager who’s interviewing you?

Do you think they’re going to see you as being very aligned with wanting to be in the marketing industry? What do you think you’d ideally like to see from a candidate?

Maybe someone who’s had some work experience in the field of marketing perhaps? Even if the position was an unpaid volunteer position for a non-profit marketing organization, wouldn’t you think that would look better than having work experience in a totally unrelated field? Or even worse, no experience at all?

“So how can I get my experience Aligned?

STEP 1: Take a look at your past experience and ask yourself, “Is there anything I can salvage from my already existing work experience?”

So if we take the example above, and lets say you happened to help your insurance employer hand out some flyers to unsuspecting people at a busy intersection to build a little local brand awareness. On your resume, you may want to consider putting an emphasis on the ”marketing” experience you gained instead of talking about answering phones or pushing insurance papers…

Are you following me?

You want to stay in alignment. Once you’ve broken down all of your existing previous work experience, and sucked all of your relevant experience dry, you’ll want to move on to the next step…

STEP 2: Focus on GETTING MORE EXPERIENCE… in your field of study.

I know. Painfully obvious isn’t it? But why don’t people ever do anything about this? Well for one, people will always gravitate towards the path of least resistance. Its just human nature. On one hand it might SEEM like it requires a lot of effort. But in reality its not all that difficult. It just requires a little WILL POWER and MOTIVATION.

I remember a few years ago, I had a friend in college who I gave this advice to and he was like, “Yeah, but that sounds like a lot of work… Maybe I’ll get to it someday in the future…” And low and behold, a few house parties later, he had completely drank away any memory about this advice and never did anything different. He just continued on with his life, totally unaware that his experience wasn’t aligned, and he dug himself deeper and deeper until one day he found out he’d have to move back in with his parents and give up his freedom for an entire year all because he didn’t have any relevant experience regardless of his major.

So if you don’t want that kind of future for yourself, ask yourself this, “What can I do to start getting more relevant experience?”

If you’re drawing a blank, how about switching part-time jobs if you’re currently employed? There’s some food for thought… Other things you might want to try are volunteering at industry-held charities or attending an event held by industry associations.

Think for a moment and try to come up with a list of some of your own ideas.

Once you’ve made your list, you can move onto the final step…

STEP 3: Get off your butt and TAKE ACTION.

Depending on how bad you want the job…  this can be a walk in the park, or it can be like pulling teeth with pliers if you’re not 100% committed to getting a job RIGHT NOW.  My advice? Get outside of your comfort zone and implement at least 1 item from your list TODAY! If you start CHANGING YOUR BEHAVIORS by actually doing something different than what you’ve been doing in the past, I guarantee you’ll start seeing result IMMEDIATELY.

So in the comments area below, let everyone know what YOUR experience has been, and maybe we can all help each other get some Alignment on our job search.

Happy hunting!

Scene 1:

Hiring Manager: “Why should I hire you?”

You: “Why shouldn’t you hire me? Pssh… cause I’m better than all the other idiots out there…duh!”

Ok.. maybe you shouldn’t use that kind of approach on your next job interview… but really lets take a closer look at this interview question and see what’s REALLY going on behind the curtain… Have you ever asked yourself why employers ask this interview question in the first place? Could it be that that they’re really just trying to get under your skin? To see if you’ll crack? Or do you think its to see what you’d come up with on the spot? See how you do under pressure?

You know what? It could be all of the above in my opinion.

But if there’s one key takeaway you should learn from this post, if nothing else, it would be no matter what your answer is, it should ALWAYS be in employer’s best interest…. In other words, “WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM”… And it really helps when you actually put some forethought in this ahead of time instead of spouting out a bunch of “overdone” responses like, “I’m a hard worker, I’m good with people, I’ll do a good job for you…blah, blah, blah”

You think this is the first time they’ve heard anyone say that before? Yeah right! You’re probably the 1034^th person to walk in through that door with the EXACT same rehashed bologna and employers can see right through it! Don’t settle for the lazy way out… Put some effort into it… some passion… REALLY.

Here’s a clue for what I would do…

[WARNING: This approach is definitely not for everyone. But with enough practice, I can guarantee you one thing: They’ll remember you long after the interview is over]

Step 1: Study their job posting and figure out exactly what they want

Step 2: Cater your answer to the “Why should I hire you?” question to match every single one of the requirements on the job posting.

For example:

Let’s say a job posting is for an administrative position and says, “Must be organized and be able to multi-task.”

Ok… so what could you say as a response to “Why should I hire you?”

How about… “You should hire me because I’ve proven time and time again for my previous employers that I have an exceptional ability to keep my projects organized and efficient. And as I’ve mentioned in my resume, I was able to keep our office and project files organized while simultaneously being able to help my direct supervisor establish a filing system, distribute press kits, [insert task], [insert task], etc (you get the idea). So if you’re still looking to hire someone who can be exceptional at multi-tasking while being able to keep your office organized… you just need to ask yourself one question… and that is: “Would hiring anyone else OTHER THAN me be a good business decision? [pause for effect]

Like I said, this approach might be a bit more “aggressive” for most people out there who are currently stuck in their “I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing even though it’s not working” mentality… but if you don’t want to continue to be broke and unemployed… you just gotta ask yourself one thing…

How bad do YOU want this job?

Hope this entry helps. Now do me a favor and leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

Happy hunting!

Everyone knows that our economy is in shambles. Jobs are scarce and everyone is worried about money. As a college student it can be even scarier because not only do you face all the same challenges as everyone else, but you also have to deal with not having any real world experience which can really be a major pain in the ass when it comes down to figuring out how to write a resume.

After years of studying the hiring process and learning how to become successful with interviewing and landing jobs consistently, I’ve discovered that the first step in getting hired ultimately comes down to being able to GET THE INTERVIEW IN THE FIRST PLACE. And this can be done by learning how to write a resume.

But not just any resume… A resume that will AUTOMATICALLY attract employers and hiring managers and literally force them to want to interview you. So what can you do to start learning how to write a resume?

Here are my 5 “Hidden Secrets” on how to write a resume:

1) Learn How Hiring Managers Think – How will you persuade employers to interview you? How can you make yourself look good enough on paper so that hiring managers will be convinced that you are worthy enough to bring in for a job interview? That is probably the most challenging assignment there is when it comes to creating a resume. Take Sun Tzu’s advice from The Art of War,  “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Study hiring psychology. Study the hiring process. Figure out what employers are REALLY looking for.

2) Write With Their Needs In Mind – If you give employers what they want, they’ll listen to you. What does every employer want in your resume? That’s hard to say, because  every employer has a different job that needs to be filled. Its your job to figure out what they want and deliver on those needs in your resume. Hiring managers generally ask themselves a few questions when they pick a resume to read. Here they are:

1. “Who cares?”
2. “So what?”
3. “What’s in it for me?”

When you think about it, hiring managers are looking over your resume for their reasons, not yours. They don’t care what you want. They care about what they want. Every employer, every hiring manager, is the same. Can you provide the answers? If you cant, your employers—well, you wont have any employers. Consider this step part of your research phase. Its an essential step in creating a resume that will nail your future employer’s eyes to the page.

That’s what you want, isn’t it?

3) Select The Format That Gets RESULTS – I get this question a lot from my clients, “How should I format my resume?” And do you know what I tell them? Use whatever format that does the job and gets you the interview. Period.

Now it turns out, there have been some formats that have been statistically proven to drive the best results and some formats that have been proven to drive the worst results. Based on my research, I’d recommend using the accomplishment based resume format and I would never EVER use the skills based (or functional) resume format.

4) Learn How To “Word-Smith” Your Accomplishments – This is where most of us “non-writers” get stuck in the resume writing process. “How do can I make my responsibilities sound really good?” The answer: Learn how to write hypnotic text. Learn how to build desire. Emotion. Learn how to let your words paint a picture and tell the story of your previous successes. Reel them in with benefits and curiosity. And give them reasons or logic for why they should interview you. Think about the hiring manager’s emotional concerns, and talk to them in a way they cant ignore. If you do, you’ll create a resume that is both persuasive and hypnotic. For example:

Before

“Typed, performed data entry, answered phones, receptionist duties”

After

“Performed data entry for 16 regional hearing officers as member of eight person office team. Assisted with email responses, distribution, report generation, and payroll input. Helped purge backlog of 1,000 obsolete files.”

Are you beginning to see why its important to learn how to MARKET yourself to employers?

5) Learn Resume Design Principles – Did you know studies of resume screeners have shown that “pretty” resumes are more likely to get into the interview pile than an “average” looking resume? Its true. This fact has been proven countless times. Having a resume design that is both simple and professional is crucial if you want to be able to stand out among the masses. The key is to make your resume look inviting and easy to read. You have to ask yourself, “If I were forced to read through thousands of resumes as my job, which ones would I naturally be biased towards before ever reading a single word?”

Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and wide margins. If you pick up a resume and  it’s a solid block of text, would you want to read it? Probably not. It’s not inviting. It looks like work. Instead make your resume attractive. How you lay out your resume can make people like it before they even read it.

As you can imagine, how you use those secrets is up to you. Go through your resume—go through the entire document—with these pointers in mind. Look for places to rewrite, reformat, or in any other way grab and hold your reader’s attention. And as you absorb this information, you’ll see that a resume is not merely a piece of paper used to convey your work experience. Its actually a marketing tool used to PROMOTE you as someone worthy of a job interview.

See the difference?

So in the comments below, let me know which one of these 5 secrets interests you the most…If I get a lot of good feedback, I might just post more detailed tips on “How To Write A Resume”. Trust me, there’s a lot more funk where this came from!

If you want to stop feeling powerless during your interviews, and start having more control over the outcomes of your job search, one of the most important things you can do is start learning powerful, tested, GUARANTEED methods to influencing your prospective employers.

And I’m going to give you a simple, 3-step formula for learning how to do this. If you do these three things, you WILL get more job offers, period.

Use these steps to get more interviews and land the kind of job offers you want.

1) Start with the inner game FIRST

In this new economy, experience and technical skills alone will not get you hired. Success with getting hired starts with what’s inside of YOU… and the single most important thing you will ever do is to learn how to build a “rock-solid” foundation of confidence and power inside of you.

When you develop this unshakable feeling of self-confidence you’ll notice some very interesting things happen in your job search…

Hiring managers that you meet will all of a sudden become VERY interested in getting to know you… even to the point of pursuing you… just to find out what you’re all about.

Unfortunately, this isn’t something you can just “decide” to have.

It takes a lot of hard work…

Fortunately through my own struggles I’ve developed some almost “magical” techniques for overcoming fear and boosting your self-confidence FAST, but I won’t have time to go over all of them with you right now. Just trust me, when you get your inner game handled, you’ll be AMAZED at how everything else just seems to fall into place.

And best of all, you’ll never have to worry about not having income or being unemployed ever again.

2) Learn lots of tested techniques that WORK

Ever get frustrated with not knowing who to address your cover letter to because almost every job posting you come across wont include a contact name?

Or have you ever been confused with not knowing which way is the best way to format your resume… but you didn’t have any CREDIBLE professionals to ask for advice?

These situations happen all the time… and all too often college grads end up missing out on opportunities because they don’t know “what to do”.

I’ve found that the key to avoiding missed opportunities is to have at least one “default” thing to do in every situation… whether it is finding the contact info for who you should be addressing your cover letter to, how to format your resume, or knowing what to say on your first phone interview… and everything else up to “negotiating salaries” and beyond…

Do you see where I’m going here?

When you have an arsenal of powerful, tested techniques that work, you can take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself… and never worry about things not ending up “your way”.

And after you spend a day or two learning them, you’ll spend the rest of your life using them to get any job that you want.

3) Build and participate in a “MasterMind”

Possibly the most important action you can take right now to create success in your job search is to build and participate in a “MasterMind”.

What is a MasterMind, you ask?

A MasterMind is a group of people who have common interests and goals, who get together on a regular basis to support each other in growth and development toward actualizing those interests and goals. Traditionally, masterminds were used by high-level business owners and wealthy people to get support and feedback in their ventures. It was and still is used by people who understand that the power of the “group mind” is exponentially more powerful than the sum of the individual minds from which the group is composed.

For the sake of your job search, lets just say your MasterMind should be a dedicated group of people who are actively searching for jobs in the same industry if possible.

If you want to learn more about this, I’d recommend Napolean Hill’s book “Think And Grow Rich”.

Hill said that no individual can achieve great power with out a MasterMind. My experience (and the experience of every powerful person I’ve ever researched) confirms this idea.

Now do me a favor and tell me what you’ve learned in the comment area below. Enjoy!

I am going to give you one of the BEST Resume strategies that I have ever learned… and I actually picked it up from a book written by a psychologist by the name of Robert Cialdini called Influence which is a NY Times, USA Today, & Wall Street Journal Best Seller.

And what I am going to deliver to you is what I believe to be the STRONGEST resume strategy that I’ve ever used…

Now before I do, I’d like to talk about how I came across this little secret of mine…

The resume actually has multiple purposes but for this training video, we’ll talk about its primary purpose aside from making YOU stand out… and that is to convert JOB POSTINGS into INTERVIEWS.

I used to have friends and teachers who would tell me getting hired is just a numbers game… just keep on going on interviews and eventually someone will hire you…

So for about a month, I went home, sat down in front of my computer and applied to probably 50-60 jobs and I would maybe get 1 or 2 call backs at best. Which really frustrated the hell out of me! I always said to myself, "There’s gotta be a better way to do this! How can I go on more interviews if no one ever calls me back??"

So I made it my goal to get really good at using my resume as a vehicle to convert job postings into interviews by using a whole new approach that I learned from Robert Cialdini’s book Influence…

In his book, he talks about a concept called Social proof.

If you’ve never heard of this concept before, Social Proof is basically the idea that whenever we’re in situations where we don’t know what to do, our brains will default to relying on the behaviors of others to determine what course of action to take…

In our everyday life, we see this in the form of word of mouth and friend referrals.

I mean think about it… When you want to buy a book on Amazon or rent a DVD on Netflix what is one of the biggest factors that would influence your decision on which book or dvd you want to take home?

It’s the feedback or testimonials that were written based on the experience of real people.

If you see a book or dvd that has zero ratings on it, you’re less likely to take the leap and get it when compared to a book or dvd that has 5 stars or even 1 star on it.

Now then, how can we use social proof on our resumes and get more job interviews faster?

Include testimonials on your resume!

You see we can use the same strategy on our own resumes. After all if it works for multi-multi-million dollar companies like Amazon and Netflix, then it can work for us as well.

Most employers, when they look at your resume they see only what YOU say about yourself, so its hard for them to trust you since most of the time people embellish what they have on their resumes anyway.

This isn’t new for most Employers… (and is also the reason why all the GOOD companies make you go through the really intense interviews to see if your for real or not)

And another thing: There’s allot of psychology that goes on behind the scenes as well. Thanks to businesses like Amazon and Netflix who’ve already trained their customers to respond positively to testimonials, people AUTOMATICALLY feel more trust when they see it. Sure there might be some skeptics out there who say testimonials are fake or they never trust testimonials or whatever, but if you’re really in the market to make a big purchase… choosing a product that has already been proven to work by others could only to be your advantage when compared to the alternative of taking a gamble on something that no one has ever heard about.

Are you starting to see how powerful it can be to have social proof in the form of testimonials on your resume?

OK, good…

So piggyback off of people’s pre-programmed behavior and use this technique to your advantage!

Now leave me a comment below and tell me your thoughts…

-Landon

So how do employers go about selecting who they want to interview?

I want to introduce you to a concept I’ve learned from a BRILLIANT entrepreneur by the name of Eben Pagan. And that is the idea that most people can be categorized as Givers and Takers.

In life, the "Givers" tend to give more than they "Take" and the "Takers" tend to take more than they "Give"… now this is obviously a gross generalization but there is some truth to this concept.

One of the biggest challenges employers face when they get hundreds of resumes and applications is that it’s hard to decipher the "givers" from the "takers". Let me give you some examples.

Givers

• Give as much value as possible no matter where they go.

• They put in extra hours to get the job done or meet a deadline

• They don’t have "expectations" or feel entitled in anyway

• They’re aware of the needs of employers and their supervisors and they do everything in their power to find a way to have those needs met

• They motivate team members and are optimistic and they help others create as much value as possible as well

• Basically they are value producers instead of value consumers.

Takers

• Take as much value as possible wherever they go

• They clock in at exactly 8 and clock out at exactly 5…they’re just "there" to collect a paycheck

• They feel entitled to get paid allot of money with all the benefits while putting in as little effort as possible

• They don’t care about the needs of employers and their supervisors and they don’t take responsibility for driving the project to completion

• In team environments, they act as an emotional drain by being cynical or pessimistic. They find more joy in gossiping and playing office politics than they do in looking out for what’s best for the team.

• Essentially they are always consuming value and looking out for #1 instead of contributing value and making life easier for others.

So what’s the lesson here? Be a Giver not a Taker when you sell yourself in your next job interview.

Now do me a favor and leave a comment below to let me know your thoughts…

I’ve been getting allot of e-mails from frustrated college students who don’t know what went wrong during their job interviews and would like to know why. So, I thought I’d share with you one of my best techniques for doing this.

But first, I’d like to talk a little about WHY figuring out what went wrong or well during your job interview should be considered a high priority…

And it can really be summed up into one sentence: Getting feedback from your interviews is very important because it allows you to actually learn from your mistakes. PERIOD.

Think about it…

What if you went to school every quarter (or semester) and you didn’t have to do any of the homework assignments…

Wouldn’t that be awesome?

But here’s the catch- In order to pass the class, you’re required to pass an incredibly difficult final at the end of the quarter… What do you think would happen if this were reality?

Now, unless your one of those brainiac geniuses who are capable of acing tests without studying for them… I’m pretty sure you’d do pretty poorly on it. Either that or you’d have to get pretty good at not procrastinating, right?

It’s not a very hard concept to understand-If you don’t get any feedback from your professors on whether or not you’ve learned the material correctly throughout the quarter… you will fail the final. Game over.

The same thing is true with our job search and job interviews. If you are able to figure out what you’re doing wrong in your interviews, you will become more confident as a result of the success you’ll be able to achieve from the feedback you gather.

You’ll feel empowered because your answers will be so impactful that employers will begin to sell their companies to you since they won’t want to lose you to another competitor… not to mention it could very well tip the scale in your favor when it comes time to making the final decision for who the employer would like to hire.

On the other hand…

If you are NOT able to learn from your initial mistakes and you continue to make them over and over again, you will continue to have no impact on employers.

Just like passing your class at the end of the quarter would be left purely up to chance, achieving success in getting a job would be left to chance as well and soon you’ll find yourself living back home with your parents wondering why no companies want to hire you…

…and you’ll slowly creep into a feeling of hopelessness and into a "feel sorry for yourself" kind of depression, while all your other friends are out pursuing their dreams…

So if you want to avoid this kind of future, listen up because I’m about to share with you a VERY powerful technique for figuring out what went wrong during your interview…

I call it "Self-Injected Feedback"

It involves taking responsibility for capturing the interview and taking the initiative yourself in getting someone who’s CREDIBLE to give you feedback.

And here are the action steps for you:

1. Pick up or borrow some sort of voice recorder or Tunetalk & iPod (many cell phones have a recorder function that could work as well…)

2. Bring it with you to your next job interview and secretly hide it inside one of your suit jacket pockets before you enter into the office building where the interview is going to take place.

3. Right before you’re about to be called in for your interview, secretly go to the bathroom or covertly turn on your voice recorder to START recording…

4. During your interview, act normal and try to focus on the needs of the employer instead of focusing on the microphone that’s in your pocket. (Be careful not to obstruct the microphone piece or to move around too much while you’re answering questions because you will get allot of static noise when you play it back).

5. After the interview, STOP the recording and save the audio file in a safe place. (Tip: Other than checking to make sure it recorded, do not listen to your recording right away. Go home and take a load off)

6. The next day, listen to your interview and make some notes on your performance.

7. Take your recording to a CREDIBLE professional who you trust (preferably someone who is pretty high up in the corporate ladder or even better is a CREDIBLE interview expert/guru) and get feedback from them on how you could’ve done better and TAKE NOTES! (Tip: Make sure you create a list of things TO DO and things TO AVOID)

8. Lastly-Before your next job interview, review your notes carefully and focus on incorporating what you’ve learned proactively putting into ACTION the recommendations that were given to you. (Note: The amount of success you get from using this technique will be directly proportional to the QUALITY of feedback you get from the professional you asked)

In the long run, you will end up with more awareness regarding the mistakes that you’re currently making, and it will significantly increase your chances of being able to consistently get a job offer with every interview that you go on.

This is just the beginning.

If you want more techniques like this, subscribe to my "Interview Tips" newsletter by visiting http://www.interviewmastermind.com/ or download a FREE trial of my new compelling eBook called The Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired: Recession-Proof Secrets That Employers DO NOT Want You To Know…

Go wild in the comments – I appreciate it!

I used to have no idea if I was doing well in a job interview as a college student.

I could be sitting there while the hiring manager was wrapping up the interview and I’d be thinking to myself "Hmm-I wonder if I did well during this interview or not…" but I didn’t know what signs to look for. This would often leave me worried and anxious for DAYS, and many times WEEKS, as I didn’t want to over step my boundaries and flat out ask them what they thought of me.

Here’s what I recommend for my clients to do now:

When the hiring manager asks if I have any questions at the end of the interview, I’ll go through my normal routine of questions while saving the best for last…

"So what steps should we take to continue this conversation?"

(Tip: Don’t worry so much about WHAT the interviewer says as much as HOW they say it…)

So, after I ask them this question I’ll make sure to laser in on their eyes and lips for any signs of interest or disinterest. If a person’s eyes dart from side to side, it might appear as though they’re looking to see what else is going on in the room. (PAY ATTENTION HERE…because this is where you can use a "Cool Psychology Trick" to tell if the hiring manager likes you…)

…But if you do some research behind what’s really driving this kind of behavior, you’ll discover the reality is that the human brain is actually searching for an escape route.

Think about it…

When you’re with someone who can literally bore you to tears, your natural urge is to look away for an escape route. But because most of us have learned by now that looking away while another person is talking is rude, what we end up doing instead is looking even more at the boring individual and we unconsciously use a tight-lipped smile (as opposed to a sincere smile) to pretend that we’re interested.

So, the first place to check to see if the hiring manager is interested in you is the area around the eyes. Natural, sincere smiles are generated automatically by a person’s unconscious brain and as a result, they produce wrinkle lines beside the eyes that reveal the true feelings of a person, whereas, insincere people smile only with their mouths.

By using "The Wrinkle Test," I now have a SUBTLE way of knowing if the hiring manager is interested in me that NEVER puts me at risk of over-stepping my boundaries-and I know within 5 seconds what it used to take me days or weeks to figure out… (That is, only if the employer decides to contact me… which as we all know, rarely ever happens)

I’m sure you’ve heard the same tired-old "cover letter tips" as I have…

"Send a customized cover letter, Target your cover letter, Write simply and clearly,

Personalize your letter, etc."

And if you’re like me, you’ve already tried all of these "tips" and they really didn’t help you all that much in landing that interview you really wanted. Well what I’m about to share with you is probably one of the MOST important lessons I’ve learned when writing a cover letter to prospective employers.

This lesson has taken me several YEARS to figure out, and I want you to have it because I know what it’s like to put yourself in the line of fire-feeling incredibly depressed, completely demoralized, and de-motivated because no employers will call you back for an interview.

So, do me a favor…

I want you to imagine for a moment that you’re looking to buy a flat screen TV. You see a good-looking 52″ TV ad in the store window and you walk in to check it out. The most important questions in your mind are:

• Will the picture hurt your eyes?

• Can you mount it yourself?

• And of course, How much does it cost?

Now lets say a sales clerk approaches you and says, "The TV was designed by John Baird…Its DT Certified…I feel like it would look real nice in your living room…Would you like to buy it?" Wouldn’t you think there was something wrong with this dude?

After all, you want to know what the quality of the picture is, if it’s easy to mount on a wall, and how much it costs. Why would you care to learn about the history of the Television? And don’t you think it would be a little presumptuous for the clerk to assume it would look nice in your living room? Shouldn’t this guy at least acknowledge what YOUR interests are before making all these claims?

Yet this is the same approach we take when we write our cover letters. And it happens-ALL THE TIME.

And what happens as a result of this?

We create BORING cover letters.

We talk about how, "During my college career, I attained a strong academic background in [insert degree]." We say things like, "I feel that I could apply my education and experience to your company." And finally, we finish our letter with something like, "I look forward to your reply to this application."

…And we wonder why employers barely skim over our "masterpieces" before they toss them aside. I swear I’ve seen hundreds of cover letters that literally was a variation of what you just read. Hell, when I was in college, my cover letter read the same way so I’m right there with you.

So How Do We Fix This So You can Start Landing More Interviews?

Glad you asked…

(To be continued…)

I used to have no idea if I was asking the right questions after a job interview.

I could be sitting there while the interviewer asked me if I had any questions, and I’d be thinking to myself "What should I ask, that’ll really make me look smart and prepared?" But I didn’t know what to do, so I’d always depend on my Google supplied ‘interview questions to ask employers’ list as a crutch. This would often leave me sounding stilted-like every other college student, and many times I’d be at home wondering why I didn’t get the job, as I didn’t get a second chance.

Here’s what I do now:

When the interviewer asks if I have any questions at the end of the interview, I’ll ask…

"Who would you point to as a top performer in this position?"

(After they’ve given me the person’s name, I’d hit them with my next question…)

"What traits make him or her stand out?"

(I’d make sure to listen very carefully and take detailed notes on the specific traits that this interviewer values. Lastly, I’d ask my final question…)

"What specific actions or behaviors make him or her so successful?

(This one is CRITICAL. I’d be sure to capture ALL of the interviewer’s thoughts on what THEY think makes this top performer so successful in my notes…)

When the interview is over, I would go home IMMEDIATELY and write a killer follow up letter to each of the interviewers I met with. But not just any "generic" follow up letter that anyone could find online… Instead, I’d come up with a personal or professional success story that displayed the same attributes as the top performer based on the notes I had taken during the interview. Then I’d simply weave it into my follow up letter and send it out.

By using "The Maverick Follow Up Technique" I sound genuinely curious about the interviewer’s top performers, but by being very SUBTLE about it, I haven’t given them any hint at what I’m really after. I now have a way of knowing what the interviewer is really looking for in a candidate without asking them directly-and I know within 5 minutes what used to take me hours or days to try to figure out…

So what is YOUR dirty little secret question you like to ask employers?

Leave your best question ideas in the comments below, and let’s create a great collection to share!

Lets face it. Its pretty much common knowledge that if you screw up your first impression before the interview, it’ll be an uphill battle for you in closing any position. That’s why many so called "interview experts" hammer in the importance of putting your best foot forward and making a fantastic first impression. Well in my opinion, aside from getting dressed and looking all fancy for your interviews, the hands down best way to make an unforgettable first impression is knowing more about the company and its VALUES than your competition does. Knowledge is power after all.

So what’s the best way to increase your knowledge about the company you’re about to go on an interview with? Why not get it straight from the source? …by calling the employees of the company and ASKING.

"But what if I mess up?" "What if I make a bad first impression?" "I dont want to RISK screwing up my chances with them."

These are all valid questions and worries that most college students have. Which is all the more reason why you’ll be able to stand out… because you’ll know something that they don’t. Most college students don’t get the juicy information that they need to succeed because the majority of the population prefers to follow the same antiquated strategies that our parents used when they were our age. Think about it, if you use the same strategies as everyone else? How is it possible to even have a chance at standing out and getting the job that you want? I say we need a different approach. One that has never been used by anyone in the past and is fit for the high demands of today’s high paced society.

If you follow my "Secret", Jedi Mind Trick technique I can promise you that you will feel like you’re in more control during your interviews instead of the other way around when you’re asked a tough question. Instead of tongue-tied or regretting that you should’ve spent more time researching the company, you’ll be confident, collected, and in control of your thoughts and emotions.

You’ll be able to walk away from the interview knowing that you gave one of the best responses out of all your competition because of the information you collected and organized from this technique. But if you choose to ignore this technique and fail to implement it, you’ll lose your one shot at making a good impression.

So how do we get around looking stupid?

Good question.

I’d like to introduce you to a concept I like to call Suicide Calling. Suicide Calling is where you partner up with one of your friends, preferably someone you know and trust who is known for being very charming over the phone, and you have them 3-way call (with you on the other line) one of your prospective employers as a potential candidate expressing interest in the position that you’re applying for.

Give your friend a list of questions to probe for in which you can use for your interview (company health in current economy, names of hiring managers, dept. heads, associations or charities that the company supports, etc.). There will need to be some preparation and coordinating done on the front end before making the call, and you success will be directly correlated with the quality of your questions.

What I love about this technique is that your friend (the suicide caller) does not have to lie about his name or where he goes to school or any of his background. In other words, he doesn’t have to get into "character" or be deceiving or any of that junk. Your friend can totally be the charismatic person he/she naturally is (which is what you want them to be because the technique works better that way).

The biggest benefit to this technique is that your friend literally has the license to crash and burn and everything would be cool because its not you that’s making the call. No risk. Plenty of reward.

Often times I’ll encounter a friend who is skeptical and hesitant about volunteering their services for this tactic. What I recommend you do is be the suicide caller for them FIRST and let them see for themselves how the process works. Sometimes people just need to understand the process before they’ll want to commit to it… and that’s O.K. Once you’ve succeeded in finding some valuable information for your friend to use in their job search, you’ll be surprised at how willing they’ll be in returning the favor to you.

Once you are able to retrieve the juicy information that you need, you’ll be able to connect with your interviewers at an entirely new level. You’ll start noticing everyone from across the table all of a sudden hanging onto your every word. The hiring managers will be eager to hire you because you’ll be able to demonstrate that you already know more about their company than any other candidate whose sat across from them, which means less training time in getting you familiar with the company and more time and money saved. On the other hand if you dont get the inside information you need, your interviewers will be bored with you because you won’t be any different from any of your competitors. They will end the interview earlier and send you on your way so they can go back to interviewing REAL prospects, and stop wasting their time with you.

Its important to remember that not all suicide callers are going to be as charming as you’d like them to be and not all "gate keepers" will be willing to spoon feed you valuable information. Persistence is key. If you can get just one gold nugget of a piece of information to use in your resume or interview, it’ll be well worth the effort.

So there you have it. Now do everyone a favor, and leave your best ideas for getting a leg up on the competition in the comments below. Please don’t just write "good post" or "I like that"… instead, add some value and contribute to this conversation with an insight, a practice, or a resource that we can all use to have a better shot at getting hired in this economy. Thank you!

Take a minute and explain your biggest challenge when it comes to interviewing as a college student. I want to make sure I’ve covered every question and every aspect of getting a job in my new program.

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