How Can Jobseekers Better Improve Their Job Applications? Here Are Some Tips to Help

Despite sending off numerous job applications, many of us — even if we have decades of work experience under our belt — sometimes receive few or even no responses.

So how can we get employers to notice our job application? Other than highlighting skills in our resume, there are other ways to draw attention from hiring managers.

1. Highlight your niche skills for specific jobs

It's a mistake many of us do, we know — in our attempt to apply for as many job opportunities as possible, we probably send the same resume and cover letter over and again to multiple parties. However, this method of "indiscriminate flooding" is often ineffective.

Says Alethea Pek, head of human resources at Secura Group, a Singapore-based security services and solutions provider: “It does feel that some of the candidates just mass apply to all the jobs available. Resumes with substantial details about how they are a great fit for the position would definitely attract the hiring manager’s attention.”

So prioritise and choose the jobs we really want, then tailor each application for that role, though it may feel rather tedious. To help you in your search, our national jobs portal, MyCareersFuture, helps you to match skills to jobs. Simply indicate the skills in your personal profile and search for the jobs returned by the tool’s algorithm. Each also job comes with an indicator bar that shows how closely your skills match to the role.

2. Indicate your experience in stakeholder management

In your years of work, however long they've been, you may have worked with numerous clients hailing from various industries, which has allowed you to gain valuable experience in managing internal and external stakeholders. To get your application noticed, it's vital to list these experiences down or describe them in your cover letter.

Here's one example: If you were previously working as a logistics manager in freight forwarding and packaging, you've probably worked with customers across various industries such as F&B, electronics and/or consumer goods manufacturing. Through it, you could have gained some inside knowledge on how their different businesses operate. You may have also played a part in coming up with suitable solutions, costing models and other logistics factors to help your company improve processes and productivity. Highlighting such experiences and achievements shows prospective employers the value you could bring to their business.

3. Tap on your own professional network

Employers value the network of industry contacts we have — a well-established network ranks highly on the list of criteria for a potential hire because it could mean a lead, partnership or vendor.

If you were a sales manager, for instance, your extensive list of contacts will be valuable leads to your next role. Michael Tien, CEO of Atlas Sound & Vision, another Singapore-based firm specialising in audio-visual equipment distribution, shares why this is important to him when hiring someone new: “We would look at the strong wealth of experience they possess, their strong network as well as their passion for the industry."

Highlight this in your resume if this is something you possess. You could also add a link to your profile if you are active on LinkedIn, so hiring managers can see how many connections you have.

Tien adds: “This will help us in assessing their level of transparency, the number of endorsements they have and their professional network.”

4. Include any additional certifications and qualifications

Put these professional qualifications under a separate section on your resume. This shows you've taken the initiative to upskill for a better role match and places you in a good light with recruiters.

If you're looking for more career advice, visit MyCareersFuture for articles to help you on your career journey.

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