How to Win a Job?

How to stand-out among the other applicants? You are fresh graduate, you don't have enough experience and the job you ever wanted to get needs a year of experience. How can you compete with the experienced ones?

Winning a job is like winning a lottery or like passing a million worth business proposal. Applying for a job is a gamble, you can never sure of the outcome. At the same time, a good selling strategies will help increase your chances to get a job. How to sell yourself?

If you're a fresh graduate and no work experience, you need a very good resume. Your resume is your ticket to get the job and therefore you should come up with an impressive resume.Trying to impress the hiring officer with "erroneous information" is big no-no. Make sure that your resume is error free, readable, well-organized and your skills that are needed for the job you applied for are present.

Things had been different, an employer just don't hire you because you got high GPA. When starting to write a resume, evaluate yourself. Know your strengths, skills (technical and non-technical) and talents, everything that will make you a valuable employee.

Example: Skills:

- can type 40 wpm. ("With good typing skills" can't suffice. Remember you need to stand-

out and so you will give the hiring officer an idea how good you are.

-Can make a layout for a website using software like Corel for 30 mins. ( Statement like proficient in adobe photoshop, corel draw, etc. won't knock the socks off.

-Can work with a team under pressure (Instead of putting, "A teamplayer" which is a buzzword, it is best to make it appear more interesting. In any work, employees skills are tested when they are in a very difficult situation. One of the things that employers see when they are hiring someone is how resilient, emotionally mature, can still function effectively with a team even in the midst of oddities.

Do not forget to include in your resume the seminar/s you've attended specially if it is related or the output can be applied and helpful to the job you are eyeing for. Adding the organizations you belonged is a big plus. When choosing who would be your references, it is based that you are going to choose your thesis adviser, or any professors who can vouch you for being a good and responsible student.

It pays if you know the company very well ranging from its history, mission and vision, products and services that it offered since it will show that you have the diligence and of course, the interest to join the team.

Wearing the right attire (must be formal, neat and not ill-fitted) can increase your chance of being hired. Be sure that you checked first your attire a night before going to an interview to avoid wardrobe malfunction.

Be on time. Do not make the one who will interview you wait. When entering into the office of the interviewer, make sure that you knock the door first. Crack a smile. Smiling gives a positive

impression to the interview and that is, "being confident."

During the interview, be cautious in answering "tricky questions" like, What are your weaknesses?

What are the things that you need to improve? How do you handle stress? What makes you stand out from the other applicants? How did you see yourself five years from now.

You can answer the first two questions by recognizing what you lack but you are persistent to change it. Say, you lack in confidence but you're working on it. For the third one, you may give an answer like, "I go out with my friends and have a cup of coffee." This answer will also show how optimistic you are that whenever your stressed, you let it out and still find life enjoyable instead of hibernating and crying. The thing is, to stand out means that you will share unique and positive characteristics to the employer. You may use words like very and unparalled to your answers like saying, you have unparalled dedication to any task/s given to you, very much trainable, etc.

The last question will determine how long are you going to stay in the company. This is also to determine your goals that you wanted to achieve and the career path that you are going to take.

There are still more difficult interview questions that I failed to mention. However, it is most important to answer the questions truthfully as possible.