With the soaring unemployment rates and the scarcity of job openings, I hate to see the throngs of applicants lining-up for a single job vacancy. In my recruitment days, when this occurs, I would sometimes just scan for the applicants’ pictures to thin their ranks. I know that is not fair.
However, on the recruitment side, when you are required to fill a vacant position within five working days, you cannot afford to waste time by conducting initial interviews or even testing more than a hundred applicants. You need to come up with a short list as soon as possible.
Nonetheless, if you are going to ask me, what could make a job applicant stand out among the rest? There is one -professional certifications relevant to the job.
While experience, education, and other traits matter, core training on specific job requirements is indispensable. For example, if you are looking for an IT personnel or staff, you will naturally prefer someone who has Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MPCD) credentials or MCPD Training. Of course, you would want that this professional certification would come from a bonafide Microsoft certification training provider.
As I have always told my staff, job security is a myth. It only exists as long as your company exists and is profiting. When crunch times come, you will wake-up the usual time but with not place of work to go. So what do you do? Take this: while you are still at the umbrella of your current employment, develop new skills through professional certification programs. Who knows, you might need that added arsenal when you join the ranks of the unemployed.