A Killer Tip to Get the Job You Want

I was watching How I Met Your Mother Season 4 Episode 14 (spoilers ahead) and it's mostly about Robin trying to get a job in 7 days or she will be deported out of the country. Robin had been jobless for months during that episode and she had already been to countless auditions to get a job in the news industry.

Every time she auditions, she comes home complaining about how other auditionees got more experience than her or how they come from bigger companies or higher positions in other parts of the country. Even though she was anchor at the local news channel, she found that she couldn’t compete with many others in the same field.

Lesson # 1: There’s always someone better than you. So don’t slack!

Even when you come from the Top 3 universities in the country, even if you’re president of every organization you’ve joined or even if you’re the creamiest of the crop, never ever slack off during job hunting. Don’t underestimate the power of others to be more awesome than you already are. Which brings us to:

Lesson # 2: Stand Out!

Or in Barney’s vocabulary, BE AWESOME! Don’t just be good or excellent, be awesome! You see, I’ve been an A student ever since. I got good grades and all but here’s the thing: nobody really noticed me! My teachers hardly remembered my name; and to be honest, even if I honestly knew that I was at par with the best in the batch, I wasn’t as memorable as them. And simply because… I wasn’t awesome! I didn’t join clubs or became friends with the awesome people. I didn’t like greeting my teachers or spending time with other students in my batch. I didn’t like to get the ball rolling, I watched on the sides, watching the ball roll. Yeah, I was lame. So now you know, don’t be like me - BE AWESOME!

So how exactly does one stand out in the job hunting while hundreds apply for the same job?

Killer Tip: Think out of the Box

While Robin was clearly in deep trouble in job hunting, her friends decided to review her video reel to look for something there that is not making employers hire her. It was a normal reel, started out with her name and a clip from her first reporter job. After they decided it was a bit lame, the ever awesome Barney showed his own video resume:

Of course none of that happened but you get the point: it’s way different and definitely eye-catching than hundreds more video resume put together.

Here’s another video of someone thinking out of the box to get a job in one of the biggest companies in New York:

You can go with the usual stand-out tips like being confident or investing in your soft-skills or a power suit and they’re not at all wrong! I once took a job away because of confidence even though the manager was doubtful of my skills. But thinking out of the box to stand out will definitely get employers to look your way and remember your name.

What is your Think-Out-of-the-Box Plan to Get a Job?

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High Salary but Really Bad Working Conditions: To Quit or Not to Quit

Okay, here's the situation:

• You got loans for an expensive house, you have mountain-high credit card debts and some other loans to pay plus of course, daily expenses including a few luxuries like going out on dates or purchasing new clothes. 
• You got all of these financial woes when suddenly, you got offered a really high-paying job that you don't really like but you know you can tolerate. 
• You decided to accept the job because it would really help your finances and it did! You go to work then receive a lot of pay. You can easily pay for you loans and mortgage (which at your rate will be finished in 10 years) and you can also afford the luxuries that you usually have.
• However, the work load is really causing you some stress + lots of over time work including weekends which means much less time for you family or friends + your boss is like a warden from hell and screams at you and makes you feel like you've just been given the stupid-of-the-year award.
• You thought of quitting but you're already in one of the best companies in the country and it will be really, really hard to get in other companies of its caliber that can offer you the same pay plus awesome benefits.

What will you do? Go.

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The Beginning of Oprah Winfrey

“As you can see from my first day on ‘AM Chicago’ on WLS, I had no publicist… no stylist, there was no hair and makeup team. Just a Jheri curl and a bad fur coat.”

    — OPRAH WINFREY, looking back on the days before she hit it big, during the finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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The Next Part of Resume Writing that Had Me Scratching my Head.

Because I was just getting out of college, I didn’t have any work experience to write. Instead, I had to include my extra-curricular activities and/or seminars attended. And boy, I heard the crickets.

I didn’t have any significant extra-curricular activity. The one org I joined in college was good enough but I must admit that I never became an active member (excuse: conflicting class schedules). I scrambled through my records for any sign of certificate from seminars I have attended. I called my classmates to refresh my mind and add to the list. Truth is, I also didn’t really pay attention to any seminar in school. I only did attend because we were required.

Lucky me because when I was applying for a job, the working industry was still not as competitive as it is today. However, times have changed. Having worked in the job recruitment industry, I have seen so many job ads that require a certain degree of job experience. With that, so many fresh graduates are complaining that they can’t get any job experience because everybody wants someone with previous work.

I agree that this is a disadvantage to many who didn’t have the opportunity to work as interns before graduation. But I cannot disagree with employers who also want to hire good people, save efforts in training and move company sales fast. Here are a few tips from me:

Get active in extra-curricular activities. Clubs and organizations open you more to possibilities, networking and other activities outside the classroom. Some organizations are nationwide and they organize major events that can just open your experiences to anything. Do volunteer for apprenticeship. People say that nothing is free nowadays but don’t be afraid to do volunteer jobs related to your preferred career. Volunteer as server, waiter, be an assistant to anyone you know in the industry. For sure, many will not turn down free assistance. While under apprenticeship, be highly trainable and observant for out-of-school lessons that you can pick up. Do not be shy to ask for advice and future referrals. Get online and home-based jobs. It a new era now. People can get online jobs especially those that are related to IT, programming, software development and you can get a ton of jobs related to SEO, link building and online content writing. If you are interested in these areas, browse the web for online jobs portal like Odesk.com. I have heard so much about them and had a few friends who became quite a success in this. Get your thing off your seats and actually do something! It’s probably one of my biggest mistakes at one point or another.

"As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do."

- Zachary Scott

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Staring at my Resume: Lesson #1

RESUME TIPS Your name and contact details must be prominent. Do not include unnecessary personal details. Resume should only be a page. Max of 2 pages. Dated info (i.e educational background) must be written from most recent down to past records. Glam up on achievements!

The first important thing in one’s career that I learned dawned on me when I was staring at my resume template - it gave me a blank stare while I sit in front of my computer monitor. I thought, “I should have seen what a resume looks like when I was 10 years old!”


I was about to graduate at that time and because I wanted to be ahead of the newly-graduates pack, I decided to look for a job early. Looking for work all starts with a piece of paper: THE RESUME and I must tell you, it will force you to travel back in time, asking yourself, “What have I done?”

The first part of resume writing is easy. You have to fill out your personal information. The name and the contact details are the most important. The resume template I copied from also stated height, weight, birthday and religion. I promptly deleted those details now.

Educational background also came as a breeze. Schools, university and date attended. Well I had to count back the years a few times just to be sure.

Then… what next? I had to state achievements. It wasn’t very difficult because while I didn’t gain much academic achievement in highschool, I had some academic awards when I was in the university including a Cum Laude and an opportunity to be an exchange student in another country while I was senior. But are they enough? Are they enough compared to others from my batch who have joined several competitions and won them?

Many will argue that scholastic achievements are not important and that everyone is leveled in the working industry. This could be one of the biggest myths that any student should never listen to. Yes, everyone begins at the bottom in terms of career but achievements boost your image when employers start reading your resume in less than 30 seconds.

If you cannot achieve something when you were studying, what can you achieve from hereon? Where are your proofs that you are hardworking, can be easily trained and has discipline under pressure?

Children, it’s a competitive world out there.

Next post >>> The Next Part of Resume Writing that Had Me Scratching my Head.

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