Are you doing all that you can to excite potential employers?

As Tracey Parsons, CEO of CredHive (a job-credentialing firm), writes for Careerealism, there are several things that employers seek in candidates:

• Follow instructions — “At my company, we require you to join our database. We only use our own tool to identify talent for our open positions. We don’t take resumes. We don’t believe them. But, that’s our requirement. So, when people do what we’ve asked, we are happy. We look at their work samples and try to find the best hire based on what they’ve done.”

• Use focused communications — “When you focus your communication on solving business problems, I love you for it. I can imagine you doing the job right away, because you get it.”

• Show that you understand the company — “This tells me three things: First, you took the time to read our site and understand our personality. Second, you understand our brand enough that the learning curve when you start isn’t steep. See, I can already see you working here when you write in our voice. And finally, it tells me that you also see alignment.”

• Show examples — “Nothing beats examples! Examples are awesome and help you stand out. If you have a portfolio, Slideshare, CredHive, links to documents, spreadsheets, reports, project plans, ideas, and presentations from Dropbox, send them.”

• Ask intelligent questions — “You should be curious about our company, its trajectory, my management style, and the team. You need to ask good questions to help yourself make a well-informed decision. When you ask good questions, I can tell you are curious and that you are thoughtful.”

• Do a good job of following up— “Nothing seals the deal like a smartly crafted follow-up message. First, there’s the follow up thank you note. I have to admit as digital as I am, I do like a nice hand-written note. But, the E-mail type is also a really nice thing. The net, always send a thank you note.”

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