JOBS w/ Mike Dunn & Katie Mills, SHRM-SCP – Want the Job? Make Yourself Stand Out (Here’s How)

When you’re job hunting, the biggest mistake you can make is blending in.

In today’s competitive job market, it’s not enough to meet the qualifications—you need to find or create something that makes you unique. Why? Because the people doing the hiring are under pressure—and standing out makes their lives easier.

1. Put Yourself in the Interviewer’s Shoes

Imagine you’re the corporate recruiter or hiring manager. The department is down three people. The team is missing deadlines. The company is bleeding money—maybe $200,000 in lost revenue per open role. The position pays $60,000, but the true cost to the company (with benefits and overhead) is closer to $80,000. And the real cost of waiting? Much higher.

Now you—the interviewer—have screened 20 candidates. On paper, they all look the same. You’re frustrated. You just want to hire someone qualified and safe. You throw up your hands and think:

“Will someone please stand out so I can justify my decision?”

That’s the hidden truth: every hiring manager needs to be able to document why they chose you. Especially if things don’t work out. The interviewer wants candidates who make that easy.

2. From the Job Seeker’s Perspective: Help Them Help You

Here’s the mindset shift: Your job is to make their job easier.

If you can make a hiring decision feel like a no-brainer, you win.

That means demonstrating you’re the most promising or the least risky hire. Ideally, both. But how do you do that? With evidence they can use to justify hiring you—and protect themselves later if needed.

Try these tactics:

• Get unique or extra training. A relevant certification or online course can make you look proactive and up-to-date.
• Show proof of your past value. Bring documentation—presentations, KPIs, testimonials, or project summaries—to show what you’ve accomplished.
• Highlight recognition. Awards, promotions, and LinkedIn endorsements are third-party proof that you’re worth betting on.
• Know the company’s goals. Research their current-year strategy or key initiatives. Then show how hiring you helps them get there. If a candidate ever told me that in an interview, I’d high-five them on the spot.

Final Thought

Most people apply, interview, and hope to be picked. But hope is not a strategy.

If you were in the interviewer’s position, wouldn’t you want someone to make your decision obvious

Be that person. Stand out with proof. Make the decision easy. Win the job.

Meet The Authors:

Mike spent 24 years as a Major Accounts Manager for a Fortune 50 IT company before launching three businesses that focus on job creation, workforce development, and customer service:

GameChangingBusinessSkills.com: “A good job solves a lot of problems.” Get the free list of 170 job titles ranked “first to worst” in chart form as of 5/3/25. These charts help non-college grads, recently downsized workers, single parents, seniors, and real estate professionals land jobs and grow in their careers. The goal? Help people land a median-paying CSR 1 job (~$40,230 as of 5/22/25 -salary.com) and teach insider tips to get
promoted fast. The value proposition is: “IF” this focused video training, certificate, and 6 months of job leads help you get a CSR 1 job at this median salary.com posted rate, the “payback is less than the four full days on the job.” Less than one week. Want the ranked job list from first to worst? (free for now). Click the category for the appropriate free download:

• Jobs for High Grads (FYI, the median Salary is $38,075 as of 5/20/25 per Salary.com < 1-year exp. & HS diploma)
• Parents of HS grads page to provide 5/3/25 job ranking charts 170 most posted job titles from first to worst to start the conversation with current data to help with decision making
• Jobs for Single Moms
• Jobs for Downsized Workers
• Jobs for Seniors
• Backup job for struggling Jobs for RE Brokers.

(*) Disclaimer – The “Customer Service Representative Certificate” online video course with six months of job leads for six months is the best & most effective entry-level jobs course on the market. However, legally, we can guarantee you will get a job at the median salary.com US rate or even get a job.

SUTATaxSavings.com: “B2B” Specializes in helping downsizing companies reduce their (SUTA) State Unemployment Tax liabilities. If companies don’t save more than our fee, we refund the difference. The value proposition: huge upside for the company and former employees with a zero financial risk guarantee.

NearshoreElite.com: “B2B” Operates a secure, bilingual inbound contact center in a prime location in Mexico. The value proposition: we deliver a 50% to 100% ROI for clients through top-tier 24/7 customer service with a far lower costly average turnover rate, improving the benefits of better customer retention and customer satisfaction.

Katie Mills, SHRM–SCP

Katie is a passionate HR professional with deep involvement at both the local and national levels of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). She brings real-time insight into hiring trends, workplace culture, and the evolving expectations of employers in today’s labor market.

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