Career Readiness Counselor Brandon Simmons. (William Thomas)
By William Thomas
Landing a job has become tougher in recent years, but career advisers say applicants can improve their chances by tailoring their materials, practicing interviews and building connections. Here are key strategies from 4Cs career readiness counselor, Brandon Simmons, who has inside knowledge on how to get a job:
1. Make your résumé stand out.
“… Your résumé needs to stand out… [Don’t use] the same résumé for all the jobs you apply to. Your résumé should be specific to each job you apply to.”
2. Study the job description.
“… Look over the job description and see, what do I need to change in my resume to fit this job description? Where do I need to adjust things so that it fits down that job description?”
3. Build connections.
“… Go out and network… meet new people… get involved with the community.”
4. Volunteer.
“Another way of getting your foot in the door would be to volunteer with an organization that you’re interested in.”
5. Seek professional guidance.
“Meeting with a professional and seeking professional guidance is something else that could help…”
6. Practice interviewing.
“Practice the interview process by sitting with a friend or one of your professors or even us in career services and going through the interview process.”
7. Review potential interview questions.
“Just practicing those questions that you might get … With the convenience of AI, we can now say… ‘Hey, what kind of interview questions might I get for a cashier’s position at this company?’ … It’ll give you a bunch of questions … you may not be asked those exact questions, but it still gives you the preparation to … be set and ready when those questions come up.”
8. Identify keywords.
“You can take a job description and throw it into AI and ask, ‘Give me 10 keywords.’ … It will give you … things you could put in your resume that would strengthen [it] and then it’ll show up on … the applicant tracking system that we all send our resumes to…”
9. Update and tailor your résumé continually.
“We might not hear anything from [employers] because we didn’t use the right keywords or our resume wasn’t optimized for the job description… You just need to make sure that your resume is geared and tailored towards each job that you are trying for.”
