How to Present Yourself as the Perfect Candidate

We Take You Beyond the Resume

If you read our last article you know where to go to find job openings that have fewer people applying. But before you apply for that perfect job opening you found, there are a couple of things you should do so you make a great first impression.  You already know that your resume should be top notch and your LinkedIn profile should shine.  That way you stand out from everyone else.  If you do a little research on the company beforehand, you'll make yourself look even better.

Related:  Job Listings With Less Competition

Because they can be more selective than ever, companies look for people who are genuinely excited about working for them.  They want people who are interested in their company, fit in with their culture and align with their values.  But first, you have to find out what that means to them.  Then, you can present yourself as their perfect candidate.  Here's how you do it.


1.  Find the company on LinkedIn.  Most companies have a business page that gives a lot of useful information about them.  Generally they list how many employees they have, whether it's a publicly or privately held company and their official website.  But the best part is that off to the right of the screen it will show how you're connected to their employees and which of them are on LinkedIn.  Which takes us to...


2.  Take a look at the profiles of the employees at the company you want to work for.  First look to see if any are in your network or are connected to anyone in your network.  If you're directly connected to someone at the company, send them a message explaining that you'd like to apply to their company but you'd like to ask them a few questions about working there.  If you aren't directly connected see if someone in your network will introduce you to someone at the company. This is a great way to show your interest and start building a relationship with someone on the inside.  And the best way to get into a company is with help from the inside.


3.  Go to the company's official website and start learning about them.  You'll find information on current projects or achievements and learn what they find important.  This information will help you know what to focus on in your cover letter.  You'll also usually find links to their Facebook page or Twitter account, if they have one.

Related:  How to Write a Great Cover Letter

4.  Follow the company on Twitter and like them on Facebook.  These two places are where they'll make announcements, give updates and share information.  By learning what they share, you'll learn what they find important.  This kind of information can be used to tweak your resume and LinkedIn profile to focus on topics they'll likely be looking for.  For example, if they Tweet updates about their charity work you can make sure you add some volunteer work to your LinkedIn profile.  Facebook and Twitter also give you a chance to engage and interact with the company.  You can join the conversation and start to become a familiar name. This can also help you get to know someone on the inside.  You can also reference a Facebook post or tweet that you found interesting in your cover letter.  It helps get you their attention.


The point is to learn about, engage and interact with the company even before you apply.  Sometimes though, you need to apply right away and don't have time for all the engaging and interacting but do it after the fact, anyway.  Even if you don't get the first job you applied for they'll start to notice you.  Which is great, that increases the chance they'll want to interview you.  You'll show yourself to be the interested, excited candidate that they've been looking for.  Unless you go overboard.  Don't answer every Tweet or comment on every Facebook post.  That gets creepy.  Don't be a stalker.  Just be interested.