The Best Advice Job Seekers (Almost) Never Take

There is a lot of advice out there for how to write a killer resume or to ace an interview. But there is one piece of advice job seekers need more than ever to take their career to the next level, yet most people never heed it.

Most job seekers have one of two possible reasons motivating their job search: they are unemployed or they have a job but want a better one.

Knowing who you are and how you are hardwired doesn't limit your options.

How to find a job

The methods for finding a job regardless of reason are typically the same. Sign up on job boards like ZipRecruiter™ or eRep.com/jobs/, register with a state employment agency, contact recruiters, and the oldest method of job search known to humankind: tap your network (ask everyone you know).

First comes the resume. There is a metric ton of advice for how to write a good resume. Promises of "Write a killer resume" abound with a lot of advice, most of it solid. There are even a few trends here and there for what's fashionable. "All the cool job seekers are doing this one hot trick to take their resumes to the next level."

Second is the job search itself. Perusing job boards, calling recruiters, visiting company web sites looking for that "We're hiring!" link, and asking all your friends, "Know any companies that have openings?" — the most tedious part of the process is also the mandatory one. Great jobs never land in your lap from the heavens deus ex machina-style.

Next comes the interview. Sit up straight. Dress to impress. Be ready to explain why you have a gap in your work history. Practice your answers to common interview questions.

"What is your greatest weakness?"

Some advice for job seekers even goes into how to negotiate your salary. "The first person to name a number always loses the negotiation." Some aspects of salary negotiation even get into legal (and illegal) territory. For example, it's illegal in Oregon for an employer to ask about your previous salary history.

All of these phases of your job hunt have their share of guidance to improve your odds of not just getting a job, but for getting the job that's best for you. None are guarantees but they all increase your chances.

There's one piece of advice a small but growing number of job seekers are discovering that really sets their job search apart. This critical step comes before all the rest and sets the tone for how your resume, job search, and interview will go.

What is it?

How to find the best job

Even before you touch your resume or begin looking at job boards, you need to answer one critical question:

How are you hardwired?

TOP TIP → If you don't have a fundamental understanding of your personality's DNA, your entire job search will be little more than a glorified exercise in trial and error.

Even if you're unemployed and desperately need to find a job now, any job, that meets your minimum pay requirements, you still need to know the way your emotional hardwiring lines up with the nature of the role.

What happens after you accept the first job offer that comes along, only to find out that the fundamental requirement of the role is creativity yet you're a fundamentally analytical person or vice versa?

This disconnect between the worker's psychometric profile and the needs of the role happens far more often than not. In fact, it is estimated that 70% or more of workers today are disengaged from their job. A common cause is their core personality is misaligned with the role.

What happens if you start your job search armed with the knowledge of what kind of work makes you happy and engaged?

You will experience two benefits when you begin with this fundamental understanding of how you are emotionally hardwired:

• You don't waste time pursuing jobs that will be dissatisfactory (to both you and your employer).
• Your job search will be properly focused on jobs where you will have a high likelihood of success.

Knowing who you are and how you are hardwired doesn't limit your options. In fact, it improves your odds of not only finding a job, but finding a job that makes you happy.

One of the best pieces of advice every job seeker should take when writing their resume is to make sure it speaks to the needs of the job opening. If the job description says, "We are seeking a highly analytical and detail-oriented applicant" yet your resume screams, "I'm the creative type!" would your resume get the attention of the hiring manager and motivate them to call you in for an interview?

Probably not.

A resume misaligned with the needs of the job listing will be ineffective at best.

If you go after a job for which your personality is misaligned, any success you have in that role will require effort that wears you out and feels like you're a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

On the flip side, if you have a clear understanding of the kind of activities where you are naturally inclined, represent your strengths in your resume and pursue jobs that match up to your emotional hardwiring, your odds go up for landing that job. Once in that role, you will feel engaged, almost as if that job was custom-made just for you.

Even if the paycheck is the same, wouldn't you rather work in a job that makes you happy down to your very core?

FINAL TIP → To gain this understanding of how you are emotionally hardwired, take the Core Values Index™ psychometric assessment. It costs less than $50, takes about 8 minutes to complete, and can transform your job search — and perhaps your entire career — for the better.

Go to erep.com/core-values-index/careers/ to learn more.

Core Values Index™ and CVI™ are trademarks of Taylor Protocols, Inc.