5 Small Things That Make a Big Difference to Hiring Managers

You apply to your dream job and breeze through the first round of interviews. HR loves you, the fit seems great, and they email you the very next day to come in for another round a week later.

This time, you meet with 3 more managers and spend nearly 5 hours learning about the company. Things go even better than the previous round, and you find out that you are one of the finalists for the position.

A week later you’re sitting at your desk (admittedly, dreaming of the moment when you’ll get to give your notice) when you see a call from the company coming in on your mobile phone. You sprint to a private conference room, breathlessly answer the call, only to have your HR contact tell you "I am SO sorry. You were a really fantastic candidate, it was incredibly close, and this was a really difficult decision. But in the end, unfortunately we’ve decided to make an offer to the other finalist."

Devastating, right?

So in a scenario where there might be 500 resumes, funneled down to 50 and then 10, and then narrowed again to the top 3-5 candidates, everyone is going to be good. You’re all going to have a solid education. You’re all going to have relevant work experience. You’re all going to do pretty well on your interview.

This means the decision on who to hire could come down to something very, very small. So why not make sure you have that edge? Here are some tips.

5. Get a Wardrobe Update
Yes, the suit you bought 4-5 years ago to wear to your buddy’s wedding is "fine." It still fits you pretty well, you washed the dress shirt you usually wear with it, and you’re wearing your lucky tie.

But what if you invested in a brand new suit in the latest style and had it tailored to fit your 2014 body, not your 2009 body? What if you bought a brand new white dress shirt that is so crisp that it makes the new suit look even better? What if your old tie wasn’t really lucky? It was just old.


4. Pay for a Professional Headshot
How about your LinkedIn page, your Gmail account, and your Skype avatar? Do you use a professional headshot photo, or that halfway decent picture someone took from their phone?

3. Create a Stylish Resume
For conservative fields like finance, it could be an interesting font, a shaded box, or a very small splash of color. For more creative fields, it could be as extreme as infographic elements worked into the layout. In an increasingly design-centric world, could this small tweak set you apart?

2. Don't Just Say It, Show It
Truth: Once a hiring team starts going round after round of interviews with multiple candidates over several weeks, they all start to run together. The winning candidate might just be the person who does something memorable and sticks out in the mind of the hiring manager.

1. Control Your Personal Brand
If there’s one thing you can be certain of, it’s this: At some point during the hiring process and before you’re given an offer, the hiring company will Google you.