Fresh From The Oven
The Fresher Formula is a simple but very effective way of searching and landing a job. Before I divulge the formula, let’s go through a typical scenario.
You graduate and are supposed to find a job now. But you got to have a resume if you want to win some interviews. You don’t know much about resumes, since you never had to use them or were taught about it in college. To create one you take the path of least resistance; you conveniently get hold of one from your classmate, friend or a senior. You promptly copy and paste the format and other details into your blank white Word document. You change the names and other details and voila! You have a resume.
But what you don’t know is, it plays a very important role in job portals like Naukri, TimesJobs et al. If your resume is not LASER targeted and lacks certain keywords, it will not be seen by many recruiters. Why? Because Naukri will pick better targeted resumes first and yours will probably languishing on page 8 or worse.
You wait and wait for interview calls but you don’t get any. But finally you get one, you get excited. You Google for interview questions; you memorize them and go to the interview the next day. Since you don’t get many interviews you are concerned now, you want to make sure you do well and don’t waste this rare opportunity. With all these negative thoughts right before the interview you start sweating, get nervous, your mouth goes dry and can’t even talk loud enough. In all this mental chaos you forget the answers and screw up the interview. You are more frustrated than ever now, you reach home slumped wondering how to face your parents, what do you tell them? You wait again hoping for a call for another interview.
You might have faced some of this or all of these instances. This is the WRONG way of job hunting and interviewing!
Over the last 9 years, I have developed a system to create resumes that impress interviewers and recruiters and also that get better visibility on job portals. And acing the interview is also part of the system. Now some of you might realize on how to do well in these two departments. But you might be failing due to lack of confidence, communication skills or bad command of English which can wreak havoc on your psyche.
These three main elements are addressed in the formula.
- Mindset: Once you have confidence and charisma you can succeed in an interview even if you were not able to answer some questions. It is not always the most qualified person who gets selected. Personality also matters. And this is covered by me in the book.
- Resume: A well written and targeted resume is a MUST to get your foot in the door. It will help you book more interviews.
- Interview Strategy: Most of the candidates – freshers and experienced folks alike just memorize the technical and aptitude questions, head straight to the interview. Which is not wrong, but the problem is everyone else is doing the same thing. You are not the only one to have the internet and know how to use Google. EVERYONE is doing it. So how do you stand apart? By showing you have the right attitude, passion and interest for the job you are interviewing for. By doing this you can outdo the most qualified candidate most of the time. Do it right and it will raise eyebrows, you will get noticed at the interview.
Basically the mantra of Fresher Formula is to stand apart from thousands of freshers to get noticed and grab the employer’s attention. I show you how to do this. And it is easy; easier than bribing a corrupt politician! OK maybe not that easy! It takes a little work, but doable. To quote Dr. Kelso from the show Scrubs “Nothing in this world worth having comes easy“. Keep that in mind and put in some hard work, you will be rewarded with a job!
You might find some of the text in the book repetitive, but it is deliberate to imprint it in your mind, since these principles are important.
Ready? Let’s do this!
P.S. If you have never watched Scrubs, you should watch it. It is a very well written sitcom about doctors and a great way to improve your vocabulary, slang and spoken English. It is a win-win!
I know you just read the P.S. You will find out why I am making it a big deal in the ‘Cover Letters’ chapter.
Chapter 2 : The New You