ClearanceJobs recently asked recruiters to send in their top tips for cleared job seekers. From resumes and interviews to career networking, here was their best advice:
Mind your resume
You need a flawless resume. It’s hard to believe in this day and age of technology that I still see resumes with misspellings, formatting issues, and punctuation issues. A sloppy resume indicates a sloppy and careless performance. Take the extra time or spend the extra money to have your resume free of any errors. Otherwise, you’ll never get an interview. -James Zenyuh – E.K. Fox & Associates Ltd.
2. Do your homework
The best advice that I can give to a candidate going on an interview is to research the company that you are meeting with. You don’t have to memorize the webpage but you should go in with a general idea of what the company does. You should also come to the interview with some thoughtful questions about the company, its structure, its culture, etc. Lastly, be yourself, in the end both you and the person conducting the interview will have a better experience if you are honest and upfront with what you can and cannot do. Best of luck! -Sandi Molettieri, Goodrich Corporation
3. First impressions are key – so is putting your phone on vibrate during an interview
Ringback tones are popular but sometimes they can be inappropriate. The song you pick may leave a bad first impression. – Andrea Pineda – Delta Resources, Inc.
4. Don’t overstate your skills
Don’t misrepresent yourself on your resume. If you can’t speak intelligently about something, don’t list it. I had a candidate once, who had a particular technology listed on his resume. I wasn’t familiar with it, so I googled it and pulled up the definition on Wikipedia. When I asked the candidate about said technology, he proceeded to read the EXACT Wikipedia definition to me. He didn’t get the job! -Tracy Green – Integrity Management Consulting
Never inflate your resume; a recruiter can usually tell when something isn’t right. Being up front and honest from the beginning will lead to better rapport and unforeseen opportunities down the road. Integrity is everything. -David Braun – Intecon
5. Focus on them, so they’ll want to focus on you
During the interview, focus on the customer, what they want, what they are trying to accomplish. Keep the focus on them, not on you. Once you have established yourself as someone who can help them achieve their goals, your negotiating position becomes much stronger. -Al Lerberg – Management Recruiters of Elk River (MRI)
6. Make it personal
Write a cover letter for each job. Obtain a contact within the organization and send them a thank you note via US Mail, once they have reviewed your resume. – John Jones – Westech International, Inc.
7. Act like you want the job
Share your enthusiasm when interviewing! Having a “can do” or positive attitude is one of the soft skills that employers desire most. – Maria Morrone – COMSO
During the interview you must convince the interviewer that you can do the job, love the job, and fit the culture of the company. – Jeff Carson – Wiser Company LLC
8. Your clearance is a valuable career asset – use it
If you have a clearance, it is always good to know when it was granted and when it expires. Do your homework and avoid answering “I don’t know” to the clearance question. Be proud that you possess a clearance and learn all there is to know about the clearance you currently have. – Anne-Marie Moschera – Pragmatics, Inc.
9. Share your skills
Share your knowledge and mentor your replacement – this liberates you for upward mobility by training your replacement and increasing your value to your employer. – Scott Hays – EpiQ, Inc.
10. Highlight your best skills up-front.
No recruiter wants to read a four-page resume, so find a way to keep it short. Remember that your resume should highlight your most important achievements and job functions, not detail every project you’ve ever worked on. If you include too much information, you risk your most important achievements getting lost amid the minor details. – Marianne Brennan, i_SW Corp
