Ask Matt: Entry-Level Job Searching: Standing Out

Think like an employer, not a job seeker, at your next interview. Employers look for the "extra value" that prospective employees will bring to their department or company.

By Matt Krumrie, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing

Last update: June 25, 2007 - 10:25 AM

How many of you have spent hours mulling over a job you didn't get what you did wrong and why you didn't get it? In many cases it's not that you did anything wrong, it's just that you were ordinary when the company wanted somebody extraordinary.

Employers not only try to determine if the candidate can perform the job, they also look for the extra value that prospective employees will bring to their department or company, says Lissa Weimelt, co-owner of The Hiring Experts (www.thehiringexperts.com), a Minnetonka-based retained search firm. "Employers like to hire people that think in terms of how they can help the company, rather than those that focus on what the company can do for them."

How do you stand out from the crowd ? You think like an employer, not a job seeker, says Peter Vogt, President of Bloomington-based Career Planning Resources (www.careerplanningresources.com).

Any employer you talk to has, really, only one question: "What can you do for me?" Employers want you to want them they know you're probably looking for jobs at other companies too, but if they get the feeling that you're simply throwing hundreds of copies of your resume at the wall and hoping a few of them stick, they'll run away fast. Would you hire the candidate who sort of desperately or casually says, "I'll do anything, anywhere?" Or would you hire the candidate who confidently says, "I know what I want and where I can contribute best and it's with your company?"

Come prepared to share at least one accomplishment from a previous job, says Weimelt.

"Tell the interviewer what your challenge was, the steps you took to meet it, the resources that you used, and what the result back to the company was," she adds.

And when it's all said and done, send a hand-written thank you note.

"A thank-you note after an interview can, quite literally, be the difference between the offer going to you over someone else," says Vogt. "It's a simple, easy way for you to tell an employer, 'I care' and 'I'm professional.' "

Matt Krumrie is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights, and has eight years of experience reporting on the employment industry. The first Sunday of each month this column will answer readers' questions. E-mail questions or subject ideas to askmatt@startribune.com.

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