How Candidates Can Stand Out From The Crowd

By Tony Restell

I recently had the opportunity to interview Greg Benadiba of bilingualsource.com. Greg kindly shared a wealth of ideas for candidates on how to invest their time, what candidates should focus on and some recommendations of what candidates can do to stand out from the crowd.

An essential watch for anyone eager to secure a new job (or thinking that may be a situation you find yourself in over the coming months).

Watch the full interview

Here's the full video, a transcript of which follows underneath

Interview Transcript - How Candidates Can Stand Out From The Crowd

Hi, everyone thanks ever so much for tuning in for today's video.

Really excited because Greg is joining us today. Greg Benadiba, President at Bilingual Source.

And he's going to be sharing with us some fantastic ideas for candidates who are looking to get hired in today's jobs market.

So Greg, thanks for joining us.

Do you want to just tell everyone a little bit about your business?

Of course. Thank you very much for having me, Tony.

Bilingual Source. We've been in business for about 36 years, and we represent the bilingual market here in Canada.

So in Canada, a lot of the positions that are required to be filled need both French and English.

And this is where my firm comes into play where we come up with talent for organizations.

So we're bilingual recruiters for the Canadian market.

Fantastic, obviously lots of candidates in the market and people worrying about making a career move and having to find a new position.

If you were advising a candidate right now on how they should invest their time, let's say we're looking at the next week.

What should they spend their time doing?

What would be some of the things you would suggest they focus on?

You know, if I were to start a job search today, the first thing that I would do is begin planning and begin ensuring that I've got all of my ducks in a row before I start blindly applying to positions I think that a lot of people are doing that these days.

They're just clicking on whatever shows up on their feed.

And, I don't think that's the right approach.

I think a more targeted and specific approach is something that'll yield you a better result and a lot less frustration.

So I think the first thing that I would do is probably take the time to identify what it is that I want to do, what my next step in my career might be.

What are some of the skills that I'd like to possess or obtain that I may not yet have and start to target companies and positions that would allow me to benefit and to get those skills.

So definitely taking that time to plan is important.

Probably draft out a list of about 10 to 15 companies that I really think are great organizations that I'd love to join.

And then from there, I would take the time to make sure that my ducks are in a row before I go and I start making submissions. and by that I mean getting a polished up resume.

I'm still shocked at how many CV's we get on a daily basis that are poor.

They're not well put together. They're not proofread.

And they're certainly not going to win in a market such as this one.

Another thing that I would probably, the other thing that I'd say is, once your CV has been properly put together and outlined, then it's time to move on to your online presence.

You know, your LinkedIn profile, all of your social media, Facebook, Instagram.

Make sure that everything on there is nice and professional, but on LinkedIn in particular, there's a lot of great articles that I've written about, on how to make your profile as good as possible.

So pictures, headshots but also obtaining recommendations.

A lot of people fail to do that on their profiles, and I look at their profiles and it's missing a lot of great recommendations.

And those recommendations can certainly go a long, long way.

So, once you've got all of your ducks in a row, I think at that point it's then time to start applying Absolutely, and what other people say about you is so much more compelling than what you say about yourself...

So getting those recommendations such a simple way of really boosting your credibility as a candidate. In terms of standing out from the crowd, what are some of the things that you see candidates do that really make a difference?

What are some of the things you would recommend people spend their time doing?

I think the thing that attracts a recruiter or even a hiring authority to a candidate is somebody that's taken the time to truly understand what it is that they're applying for.

Again, not just going in and applying blindly, being able to talk about why this job is the right job for me and showcasing maybe my past skills and how those attributes might be helpful.

Again, making it a far more targeted rather than just a blind blanket approach is probably going to be a good thing.

As of late, we're also seeing great people come in with video applications.

I know this is something that's relatively new.

It's still relatively in its infancy. and it's typically a part of the application process.

A lot of companies will ask you to produce a video about yourself. But why not create one in advance? I mean, we all have telephones.

We all have the capacity to record ourselves.

Create a nice little plan as well as a killer video application to send along with your resume.

That's just one idea right there that can help get your foot in the door.

Networking - networking in general, is a great thing.

I mean, you may already know certain people within the organizations that you'd like to target, and there's nothing like somebody coming in and referring you internally into an organization rather than you just applying and being on a pile of resumes, you can get sort of highlighted by an internal employee, which is a good thing.

And needless to say, of course, using a recruiter is a great advantage because we as recruiters have access to a lot of positions that may not be posted.

A lot of companies use our service exclusively, and they use it for confidential reasons.

So when you're engaging with a recruiter, you typically will get visibility into a market that is not necessarily available publicly.

So that's another little strategy and tip that you can use,

Last thing, and you know something that most people don't even think of doing...

And I actually picked this one up from Reid Hoffman in his book, "The Alliance Strategy", is contacting your previous manager.

You never know, maybe there's an opportunity within a previous enterprise that you've worked for that you might not be aware of.

And you know, I'd kind of couple that in that call with maybe asking for a recommendation.

I mean, you could make it a two-part call.

You can say something like this, "Hey, Tony, I'd love it if you could maybe write me a recommendation. I'm currently on the market, and by the way, I really enjoyed my time with Social-Hire. I'd love to see if maybe there are some opportunities that might be available. I know that maybe we wouldn't go back to doing the same job as before, but are there any other opportunities that you think I might be a good fit for?"

And thirdly, birds of a feather typically flock together.

Are there, any other hiring managers within your scope that you think could put my skills to use?

I mean, that could be a great three-part call right there where you're hitting three things all at the same time by calling your previous manager, and I'm sure you're going to get something out of it.

I mean, there's a value to be had in any call that you make.

So it's all about having the right motive, the right direction, a plan, and of course, the willingness to do the work.

What I'm really taking from this Greg is focus on quality rather than quantity of applications and do the things that are going to help move the probability of success in your favor.

So if you can get your application to jump to the top of the pile by using connections you've got by leveraging previous managers, whoever.

That is going to really, really help you.

So thanks for these insights today.

Really, really useful.

I know you've written lots of posts on LinkedIn with additional advice for job seekers.

So I'd definitely recommend checking out Greg's profile to get access to those Greg If people want to know more, is there a website you'd like to share? A phone number?

Would you like people to contact you on LinkedIn?

Yeah, of course.

You can reach me on LinkedIn bilingualsource.com or of course, [email protected]

I'm always happy to be of service.

I hope that this can have an impact in somebody's life.

Maybe they can get an idea from this and, help advance their career, especially at a time like this, when a lot of people are suffering.

Absolutely. Thanks so much for your time today, Greg.

Really useful insights and have a great rest of week everyone.

Good luck in your job search.

Thank you, Tony. Have a great day.

  Back to Market Updates blogs