5 Things Hiring Managers Want From Job Seekers

By Arnie Fertig

Has your job search only been met with frustration in 2014? Wouldn't it be great to start the new year with a new job?

Let's assume you have all the experience, knowledge and skills necessary for role you seek. You might think that's all that should be important. But then your applications get ignored, and the answers you do get amount to a pile of rejections. You might ask yourself: "What's wrong with this system?"

Step back, and use this season to get a better sense of the process in which you are engaged. Try looking at it from the vantage point of human resources screeners and hiring mangers. When you forget your own frustrations and focus instead on how to make those of the hiring manager disappear, you'll turn your résumé and your presence into presents that every hiring manager will prize.

The intent here isn't to garner pity for those who control the hiring process, but rather to understand the world as they experience it and use this understanding to create a professional persona that will be both refreshing and valued.