Standing out from the crowd

Standing apart from the crowd during a job search requires more than just a natty suit and a firm handshake.

Hudson manager (sales, marketing and communication) Scott Horton said that learning to differentiate yourself in a highly competitive market was a fine art.
Mr Horton said the significant investment in Queensland infrastructure, deregulation and private equity activity that was dominating the market had muddied the waters for candidates who were trying to make their next career move.

"This evolving environment has also seen a mass inflow of migrants into Queensland from both interstate and international markets, which makes the job market highly competitive for sales, marketing and communication candidates,'' Mr Horton said.

"Faced with a highly competitive marketplace, candidates wanting to develop their sales, marketing and communication careers need to clearly identify their objectives and target industry sectors, focus on continual professional development and stay abreast of trends and developments in an ever-changing landscape,'' he said.
Professional development was another tactic.

"Certainly, candidates try and differentiate themselves from the competition; whether that would be courses they are undertaking, professional associations that they are members of or networking,'' Mr Horton said.

"What we are finding more and more is candidates are employing business coaches or external mentors and then there is the given of tertiary qualifications or MBAs,'' he said.
While dressing appropriately and double-checking spelling on the resume were basic tips for even the most inexperienced job seekers, Mr Horton said it was important to get the basic details correct.

"It is also critical that candidates differentiate themselves from the competition by ensuring their resume is exceptional and that they can back up their experience by providing concrete evidence and facts about their current career achievements,'' he said. "They must also ensure that their current experience is relevant to the roles that they are applying for otherwise it is unlikely they would even secure a first interview.''

While on-line job applications have streamlined the job search process, Mr Horton said people still had to follow the standard protocols. "With online applications accounting for a large volume of responses to job advertisements, it's critical that candidates take the time to truly understand the jobs being advertised,'' he said.

"Ideally, this means directly speaking with the person advertising the role in order to gain a better understanding of the position. "This will allow candidates to assess whether there is an opportunity to transfer their existing skills into a different role or sector.''

The time-worn saying that "honesty is the best policy'' also applies. Mr Horton said people needed to be completely honest when it came to their resume.

"They need to maintain their personal integrity in terms of what they are putting down on paper because there is nothing worse than saying they have achieved something if its not the case,'' Mr Horton said.

"Having that personal integrity and that real honesty in terms of what they are putting down is much more beneficial than thinking this is what I should be putting down. "If you think that they are going through an interview process with a recruitment consultant and then probably at least two interviews with the client, if they've made something up, they will get found out,'' he said.

The Courier-Mail