How to Convey Value in Job Applications

I just finished reviewing 300 job applications. Here's how the top 5% stood out: Let's face it - AI has made it easier than ever to apply for jobs. But because of that, It's harder than ever to stand out. Take cover letters. Because of AI, almost all are now cleaner (fewer typos, more polish). But they're also all starting to blur together. So, we chose not to require a cover letter, and empowered applicants to be creative. The result? 95% still sent in the same generic letter. But 5% made videos, or Canva one-pagers, or cover letters written from the future. And they grabbed our attention. Today, most jobs get hundreds - sometimes thousands - of applicants. If you want to stand out, you need a few sharp tricks: 1. Ditch the formal cover letter Ex: Only write a cover letter when required. Otherwise, a video or Canva one-pager will win. 2. Offer free and unsolicited value Ex: "I reviewed your onboarding emails and found 3 small changes to boost conversion." 3. Follow every instruction exactly Ex: If they ask you to send 2 items to an email address, don't send 4 through the job posting site 4. Less is always more Ex: If asked for example work, your 3 A+ pieces will beat 10 A- pieces. 5. Share 3 tailored ideas Ex: "Here's a quick 30-60-90 plan based on your product roadmap and team structure." 6. Show a sample or mock project Ex: Make a 3-slide deck outlining how you'd approach their current top challenge. 7. Customize for the company Ex: "I've followed your CEO's podcast for months - her episode on trust stuck with me." 8. Show proof, not fluff Ex: "Here's a dashboard showing that my campaigns improved demo-to-close rate by 38%." 9. Build a personal landing page Ex: Make a Notion page titled "Why I'm a Fit for X" with video, resume, and links. 10. Start with a bold first line Ex: If you MUST write a cover letter, make it interesting: "It's 2030 - here's what hiring me led to..." 11. Reverse-engineer their goals Ex: "I saw your Q3 goals include retention - I've led two churn reduction turnarounds." 12. Cut the clichés Ex: Instead of "detail-oriented," say "I caught a $200k billing error in a vendor invoice." 13. Make your resume skimmable Ex: Bold results like "Grew revenue 48% in Q2" so they pop during a quick scan. 14. Send a thank-you video Ex: "Thanks again - I recorded this to share one more idea I didn't get to mention." Most applicants try to look qualified. The best ones show how they'll make a difference. These tricks won't guarantee you the job. But they'll get you noticed, while everyone else is blending in. Any other secrets you're willing to share? --- ♻️ Repost to help a job applicant in your network. And follow me George Stern for more career growth content.

Throughout my recruitment career, I've observed a consistent disconnect between what candidates emphasize and what actually influences hiring decisions.   Elaborate job titles might look impressive on LinkedIn, but they rarely drive hiring decisions.   What Hiring Managers Overlook:   Complex titles like "Senior Vice President of Strategic Digital Transformation" or "Principal Customer Experience Innovation Lead" sound important but provide little insight into actual capabilities or achievements.   What Drives Hiring Decisions:   1. Quantified Impact: Specific metrics that demonstrate business value - revenue generated, costs reduced, efficiency improved, problems solved. 2. Transferable Skills: Core competencies that apply across industries and organizations rather than company-specific role descriptions. 3. Problem-Solving Evidence: Concrete examples of challenges identified and solutions implemented with measurable outcomes. 4. Results-Oriented Communication: The ability to articulate achievements in terms of business impact rather than job responsibilities.   The Strategic Shift: Instead of: "I'm a Marketing Director" Position as: "I help B2B companies generate 3x more qualified leads through data-driven campaigns"   Instead of: "I'm an Operations Manager" Position as: "I streamline processes that reduce costs by 25% while improving quality"   Why This Matters:   Hiring managers evaluate candidates based on potential contribution to their specific business challenges. Titles describe past roles; results predict future value.   When you lead with measurable achievements rather than hierarchical labels, you immediately differentiate yourself from candidates who rely on impressive-sounding titles.   What strategies have you found most effective for communicating your professional value beyond job titles?   Sign up to my newsletter for more corporate insights and truths here: https://lnkd.in/ei_uQjju   #deepalivyas #eliterecruiter #recruiter #recruitment #jobsearch #corporate #valueproposition #resultsdriven #careerstrategist

Are you telling the story that gets you hired? What separates candidates who get interviews from those who get offers? It’s not just your resume It’s the story you tell with it After years of supporting candidates across industries, I keep seeing the same pattern The ones who get hired don’t just list responsibilities They communicate impact Here’s the difference between listing tasks and showing value: • Managed customer accounts • Managed 30 enterprise accounts, identified upsell opportunities, and drove $1M in new annual revenue • Led marketing campaign • Led product launch campaign that generated 1,200 signups in 30 days and shortened the sales cycle by 20% The difference? • Numbers that matter • Outcomes, not activities • Value created, not tasks completed    Before your next application or interview, ask yourself: 1. What problem did I solve? 2. What changed because of my work? 3. What measurable value did I create?     What’s one bullet point you could rewrite today?

Don't ever be the "I should have cared more" person. I can't even begin to tell you how many candidates I have spoken with that not just half-assed a conversation with me, an initial recruiter, but on interviews. They get rejected and then say: "Wow, I really liked that role; I wish I had done some research beforehand." ❇️ The single most important advice for someone looking for a new job is to thoroughly research and understand the company and the position you are applying for. This encompasses several key aspects: 1. **Company Research:**  Learn about the company's mission, values, culture, products or services, and recent developments. ↴ ➡ Deeper than a quick website scan, understanding the company's background and goals will enable you to tailor your application and interview responses to align with what they are looking for in a candidate. 2. **Job Description**  Read the job description carefully to identify the specific skills, qualifications, and responsibilities required for the role.↴ ➡ This will help you tailor your resume to highlight your relevant experiences and abilities. 3. **Customize Applications**  No one wants to keep entering the same application info each time. But you should avoid sending generic applications to multiple companies. ↴  ➡ Instead, customize (within reason) your resume and cover letter for each application to demonstrate your genuine interest in that particular role and how you can contribute to the company's success. 4. **Interview Preparation**  Prepare for interviews by practicing common interview questions and crafting thoughtful responses that showcase your skills and experiences. ↴ ➡ Also, be prepared to ask thoughtful questions about the company and the position during the interview to demonstrate your genuine interest. 5. **Showcase Your Value** Focus on showcasing the value you can bring to the company rather than solely emphasizing what the job offers. ↴  ➡ Employers are interested in candidates who can solve their problems and contribute to their organization's success. 6. **Positive Online Presence**  Ensure your online presence, including social media profiles and professional platforms like LinkedIn, represents you positively. ↴ ➡ Many employers and recruiters research candidates online before making hiring decisions. Yes, we do look at your profile for consistency, not content. 7. **Patience and Persistence**  Job hunting can sometimes be lengthy, so be patient and persistent. ↴ ➡ Stay positive, keep applying, and continue refining your approach based on feedback and experiences. 👉 By diligently researching and understanding the company and position, you increase your chances of making a solid impression on potential employers and finding a job that aligns with your skills and career goals. 🏆 If you require some personal Career Therapy, hit me up, and we can have a quick, free intro chat! #jobsearch #careerdevelopment #jobsearchadvice

Are you still waiting in the long line of applications? Then stop. Do something bold. Here's what I've witnessed firsthand from candidates: ◼️ Share Your Story: One candidate posted their portfolio on LinkedIn, showcasing their experience, personal story, and value to the target company. They tagged the company, and guess what? The hiring team took notice and they landed an interview. ◼️ Rebrand Your Resume: Another candidate revamped their resume to align with their dream company's aesthetics, colors, and vibe - all while demonstrating how their experience aligns with the company *Core Values*. They got an interview. ◼️ Create a Pitch Deck: A candidate designed a pitch deck illustrating how their previous experience could add value to their target company and shared it with peers and hiring managers via LinkedIn and email. You guessed it—they got the job. ◼️ Showcase Transferable Skills: Even without all the core technical skills, a candidate created a brief presentation (just 2 pages) highlighting their transferable skills and branded it with the company colors. They shared it with the hiring team and landed the job. Why am I sharing this? Because traditional methods won't always cut it in today's job market. You have to be bold. Yes, it's uncomfortable and time-consuming. Yes, it requires vulnerability and risks rejection. But being bold in your job search works. I've seen it happen. Your value can be shown in countless ways—just show it! Share your story. Share your brand. Don’t hold back.

Unfortunately, many job seekers aren’t comfortable with self-promotion because they equate it with bragging. Or they don’t do it because they lack confidence or certainty in their value as a candidate. I’ve spoken to thousands of job seekers who underestimate their skills and accomplishments. The problem is that we are passed over for great opportunities and higher earnings when we don't share them. Employers can't guess or assume your abilities; you must make them clear and compelling. Self-promotion is a powerful tool for career advancement when done authentically and effectively. Here are 5 ways to draw attention to your qualifications and skills without sounding arrogant. 1. Quantify Achievements: Show the impact of your leadership by quantifying your achievements. Did you increase revenue or reduce costs? By how much? Did you lead a team? How big was it and what were the results of your team's work? Use concrete numbers where possible to illustrate your effectiveness. 2. Highlight Leadership and Strategic Skills: As an executive, it's important to demonstrate not only your ability to manage, but also to lead and strategize. Highlight experiences where you've set strategy, guided teams through change, or demonstrated thought leadership. 3. Tailor Your Resume: Customize your resume for each application, highlighting the most relevant experiences and accomplishments. 4. Use Action Verbs and Power Words: Start each bullet point with a strong action verb like "led," "spearheaded," "orchestrated," etc. This helps create a powerful image of you as a proactive leader. 5. Showcase Your Executive Presence: Executive presence is a blend of temperament, competencies, and skills that send all the right signals. Show instances where you've had to make tough decisions, guide a team, or navigate a company through challenging times. If you found these tips helpful save this post and reshare with your network to help others. #LinkedInTopVoices #Careers #PersonalBranding

Searching for a job or new opportunity in today’s market can be a full time job, but it shouldn’t be that way. When I was job searching, I got job offers from some of the top companies in the world, and I want to help you. Here’s a plan to accelerate your process: Let’s start with your resume. One of the top formulas I’ve seen for resumes is the X-Y-Z method - quantifying the impact you had on each of your experiences in an impact-oriented way: “Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].” Here’s an example on how this can work - provided by an article on Inc[.]com: “Grew revenue for 15 small and medium business clients by 10% QoQ by mapping new software features as solutions to their business goals” This formula works great especially if you don’t know how to add metrics to your resume. For your resume - quantify your experiences and use projects you worked on to show the value you bring to the table. Interview: Here’s how to impress the hiring manager on your next interview My interview answering process goes like this: 1. Show knowledge regarding the role itself, the industry, and the product 2. Articulate clearly your main points, add details when necessary, but don’t lose the focus on the main idea 3. Answer the question 4. Show how passionate you are. Let them see you’re genuinely interested about what they do and what you would possibly be doing 5. Leverage your past experiences as the built-in foundation Whenever possible, direct the narrative of your answers to the role itself. Lastly, show confidence. Understand what gives you confidence (and people often say is preparation, but it depends on the person). Use that to show your full potential Let’s get those opportunities. We got this. #StephSynergy

One of the things that brings me so much satisfaction in my work with SheFi is helping candidates connect the dots about how to be more effective in their job search and interview processes. Our recent #interview skills workshop was a big hit, with some key takeaways worth sharing more broadly. → Practice your elevator pitch: Be prepared to spend no more than 2-3 minutes sharing a clear picture of your career history, what you’re seeking next, and why you are a fit for the role you’re seeking. No, really. Practice! Clearly articulating your value, experience and career goals at the outset can set the tone for the rest of the interview. → Throughout the interview, be mindful of time. This one commonly trips people up – it’s better to answer a question with a high level overview, pause and say something like “happy to expand on this”, then to ramble with no awareness of time, which flies quickly, especially in a 30-minute interview. It’s natural to be nervous, but rambling can kill an interview. Again, practicing ahead of time can make all the difference! → Have a few STAR stories ready to share. That stands for Situation-Task-Action-Result. This helps your interviewer understand your real experiences about how you’ve solved problems and created impact. These questions usually start with “Tell me about a time when…” or “Share an example of how…”. Include concrete examples and measurable results. These can be challenging to answer on the fly, so spend time preparing. → Be ready to discuss your strengths & weaknesses. Most of us have some idea of our strengths, but it can feel uncomfortable to shine a light on weaknesses. A great way to approach this is to think of your areas of growth. We all have them, and usually the interviewer is seeking to learn more about your self awareness than your weaknesses. → Lastly, have a few thoughtful questions ready, showing your interest in the role and the company. Don’t ask anything that you could easily find on the internet. If you’ve been selected for an interview, CONGRATS! You’re already rising above others in a competitive market. Hoping these tips will help you move to the next round, and eventually, the offer!

Ever heard the term "transferable skills" but not quite sure what it means or how to leverage them? Being able to identify these skills is critical when navigating career changes from breaking into new industries, job/role families, seeking leadership positions and more. Here's the breakdown: 1)What are Transferable Skills? Transferable skills are abilities and talents that can be applied across different roles, industries, and even job functions. They're the core strengths you've developed through your experiences, whether it's from previous jobs/internships, volunteering, class projects, and even hobbies. Examples include communication, problem-solving, leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking. 2) Identifying YOUR Transferable Skills: The first step is recognizing your own set of transferable skills. Here are some tips to identify them: - Think about specific situations where you excelled. What actions did you take? What were the positive outcomes? Did you lead a team to success? Did you resolve a complex issue? Did you effectively communicate a challenging idea? - Use online resources: Many websites and career platforms offer skills assessments and inventories to help you identify your transferable skills. Check out Google's new #CareerDreamer tool. [grow.google/careerdreamer] 3) Assessing Skills Required for Target Roles: Aligning Your Skills with Employer Needs - Once you have a clear understanding of your own transferable skills, the next step is to research and analyze the skills required for the roles you are targeting. This involves a combination of research, networking, and careful analysis of job descriptions. 4) Strategic Integration of Skills into a Resume: Showcasing Your Value Proposition - The final and crucial step is to effectively communicate your transferable skills on your resume in a way that resonates with potential employers. This involves more than simply listing your skills; it requires showcasing them through concrete examples and quantifiable achievements. Throughout my career pivots (public relations, sales, scrum master, program management) across various companies, each solving different customer problems since graduating college, I've had to complete these steps listed multiple times and will continue to do so in the future to help elevate my resume content. I don't see this as a one-time assessment, but something you may do quarterly, annually, or whatever cadence works for your goals. #transferableskills #careersuccess #jobsearch #resume #skilldevelopment #careertips #careergoals #professionaldevelopment #noceilings #blackintech

I’ve looked at 100+ resumes and interviewed dozens of candidates over the last 3 months. Meeting candidates is one of my favorite parts of what I do. Yet so many people show up for an interview without having prepared to stand out and be relevant to the opportunity. So I want to share my process, in the hopes that it helps those going through interviews right now. And share what candidates who stand out do. First, before every interview I do a few things. I know candidates are taking their time to apply and then show up for several interviews. Interviews are a two-way street, and as a hiring manager I do my part too. Here are a few ways hiring managers can prepare, with a social media lens as that’s what I hire: 1. Read the resume, cover note if there’s one. 2. Visit their LinkedIn profile, posts and conversations. And the rest of their social footprint. 3. Explore the social media feeds of their current/past companies. 4. Experience their past company cultures on social media. 5. Research accomplishments and accolades highlighted in the resume. Now it’s your turn. Want to stand out and get the offer? Here are six things I look for: 1. Learn about the company you’re interviewing with so you can integrate relevant points for the role into the conversation. Example, if you’re applying for a social media role, look at the company’s social channels and come prepared to demonstrate your skills, highlight something that resonates, ask questions, etc. 2. Slow down, it’s not about answering questions the fastest. It’s about demonstrating that you’re a direct fit for the role through your answers. If you’ve not done it before that’s ok. Show your interviewer that you’re prepared to do it. 3. Share why you want this role at this company. Shared values? Connection to colleague culture? Speak to how it connects into your career goals, etc. 4. Lead with your skills and how they equip you to deliver results and impact for what the job description outlines. You may not have direct experience but skills are transferable, put that front and center. 5. Demonstrate that you understand the strategy behind your work, IE the ‘why.’ By doing this you show how your goals align to your team’s goals which align to your company’s goals. It speaks to your growth mindset, and that separates you from the pack. 6. Focus your resume to emphasize your skills and relevant experiences in relation to the job accountabilities. No relevant experience? That’s ok, lead with headlines that put your transferable skills front and center. Applying for job opportunities and the interview process can be can be stressful and intimidating. But when you get that interview it’s your time to shine! What tip can you add to help candidates land their next career experience? Please share in comments. #career #futureofwork #interviewtips #jobsearch