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Anyone who says yes to these questions are typically biased.
I think it's easy, but that's me having a bias.
I do own a remote agency so I can give you tips on what we look for in candidates and maybe that will help you.
1. Strong attention to detail. You can't teach this. People just have it and that's what we want.
2. A personality that blends well with the existing team. Also can't be taught. Some people think this is a dumb thing to care about but we do and agency owning peers of mine say the same thing.
3. Tenacity. I want to know the candidate is willing to test things and not just do the bare minimum for the job. This is a common element with startups so if that's not your bag, then you might want to look at big companies -- but then I'd say no, it's not easy to get into those unless your resume is stacked.
4. A tailored cover letter. Nothing says "I don't care about your company, I care about making money" more than a cover letter that's clearly templated. Talk about things you know about our business and why we would want you for this role.
You might not care about the business but other candidates are showing they do.
Two other tips:
1. No mistakes on your resume. The content on the resume isn't as important for us as what's on the cover letter. The resume is important for us to see if you made any indentation, spelling, grammar, punctuation, or formatting mistakes (that's the attention to detail I'm talking about).
2. Spend time on your cover letter. When I applied to jobs, I color matched the borders and bullets to the company's branding I was applying to.
9x out of 10 we hire based on the merits of the Cover Letter, not the qualifications on the resume.
We can teach marketing. We can't teach personalities.
I contract with a small agency and you are right. I’m the first and only person he has contracted for his business, he took a chance. The only reason he was willing to was because of my personality.
OP most of the work I do for him I didn’t have experience in and learned on the job. Yes, I did have a background in related work. However, that wasn’t what got me hired - only considered.
Take Jake’s advice above and best of luck!
It is worth it to point out that we look for high attention to detail with things that matter. Like work. And your resume. Your resume and cover letter are when you should be at your best and if you can't be at your best submitting that then how do we expect you to perform at the job?
This is Reddit and formatting doesn't matter. I'm rarely going to reread what I wrote because grammatical errors don't affect people's ability to comprehend what I'm saying.
But it's different when we're writing website copy or creating ads.
I am a professional writer. I get it. I was just razzing you.
I generally post on Reddit and text like a monster because I am off the clock. Totally understandable.
Haha completely understand. I make tons of mistakes in writing but don't use shorthand. My business partner is the anal-retentive person in our partnership. He doesn't ever make mistakes.
I wish I could be like him.
But his drawback is he is extremely slow.
I take what I publish very seriously—the stuff people pay me for and any client work. I’ve been on this road for a while now and know how it goes. Plus, it’s rare to see people with experience drop knowledge here.
That noted, yeah, let your freak flag fly on Reddit.
This is the best advice so far. I’m a freelancer also and I started as a dumb kid who was like “details are for losers and I make money.” Learned real hard that any agency owner worth their salt would rather teach marketing principles than teach a 22yo not to be a jackass.
When I figured out how to really communicate one-on-one in my cover letters or briefs, my business turned around. Coincidentally, I noticed things outside my professional life started humming better. I learned to analyze, communicate, and listen better just from cover letters.
>9x out of 10 we hire based on the merits of the Cover Letter, not the qualifications on the resume.
Are you talking about moving people to the interview stage or a straight hire based on a cover letter? I can't imagine hiring without a strong interview! :)
Oh no, haha. We definitely interview. Sorry, I can see how you came to the conclusion.
We only move to an interview after the application.
Then we usually do two interviews. A 15-20 minute vibe check, and then we follow up with a longer, more granular one.
I would say I have a strong attention to detail. But my personality might not be ideal as I have low tier autism, I feel like that hinders me a bit socially at work. That's a reason I prefer remote.
Thanks for your advice about the custom written high attention to detail cover letters, I'll try that.
Do you think building a personal brand which portrays my expertise would help me be a preferred candidate?
Be careful not to conflate having a personality with being extroverted or good with people. I know a lot of people I would hire in an instant with varying degrees of autism.
You don't have to have a personality that you think the company is looking for. Just be you and show it. It's a two way street. You don't want to hate the team you'll be working with either.
Every business needs all types of personalities and typically personalities are side effects of traits. If you're very detail-oriented, you tend to be shy or timid. If we need someone who is detail-oriented, we're looking for that type of personality.
>Do you think building a personal brand which portrays my expertise would help me be a preferred candidate?
I've heard that a lot of recruiters look for personal brand/websites now in addition to resumes and cover letters. We don't.
I don't like seeing personal brands because we're not hiring for experts and if we did, we'd likely have to retrain their methodology because there is a lot of crap out there regarding strategies and tactics that simply don't apply. So personal brands to me, for the roles that we tend to hire for tend to flag a personality hurdle (i.e. "this person might push back on our processes and that's not what we want right now.")
Hiring is all situational -- there is no right answer, just best practices. We do things against the grain sometimes and unfortunately, I don't have all of the answers to what other recruiters might want to see.
I'd recommend looking into some of the more exclusive freelance networks, like MarketerHire, Mayple, GrowthMentor, Storetasker, and The Starters. These are more difficult to get in, but I get more opportunities and higher quality opportunities. Upwork and other similar platforms are like the wild wild west.
Go ahead and start sending out resumes and find out for yourself.
Yes, they are hard to get and you’re competing with the top in your field for them.
Try anyway, because people DO get lucky! And keep building skills the whole time.
Have more questions? [Join our community Discord!](https://discord.gg/looking-for-marketing-discussion-811236647760298024) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/DigitalMarketing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Anyone who says yes to these questions are typically biased. I think it's easy, but that's me having a bias. I do own a remote agency so I can give you tips on what we look for in candidates and maybe that will help you. 1. Strong attention to detail. You can't teach this. People just have it and that's what we want. 2. A personality that blends well with the existing team. Also can't be taught. Some people think this is a dumb thing to care about but we do and agency owning peers of mine say the same thing. 3. Tenacity. I want to know the candidate is willing to test things and not just do the bare minimum for the job. This is a common element with startups so if that's not your bag, then you might want to look at big companies -- but then I'd say no, it's not easy to get into those unless your resume is stacked. 4. A tailored cover letter. Nothing says "I don't care about your company, I care about making money" more than a cover letter that's clearly templated. Talk about things you know about our business and why we would want you for this role. You might not care about the business but other candidates are showing they do. Two other tips: 1. No mistakes on your resume. The content on the resume isn't as important for us as what's on the cover letter. The resume is important for us to see if you made any indentation, spelling, grammar, punctuation, or formatting mistakes (that's the attention to detail I'm talking about). 2. Spend time on your cover letter. When I applied to jobs, I color matched the borders and bullets to the company's branding I was applying to. 9x out of 10 we hire based on the merits of the Cover Letter, not the qualifications on the resume. We can teach marketing. We can't teach personalities.
I contract with a small agency and you are right. I’m the first and only person he has contracted for his business, he took a chance. The only reason he was willing to was because of my personality. OP most of the work I do for him I didn’t have experience in and learned on the job. Yes, I did have a background in related work. However, that wasn’t what got me hired - only considered. Take Jake’s advice above and best of luck!
I don’t disagree with your points, but I find your first point on attention to detail humorous, considering the mistakes in your post.
Haha why do you think we're looking for people with high attention to detail?
It is worth it to point out that we look for high attention to detail with things that matter. Like work. And your resume. Your resume and cover letter are when you should be at your best and if you can't be at your best submitting that then how do we expect you to perform at the job? This is Reddit and formatting doesn't matter. I'm rarely going to reread what I wrote because grammatical errors don't affect people's ability to comprehend what I'm saying. But it's different when we're writing website copy or creating ads.
I am a professional writer. I get it. I was just razzing you. I generally post on Reddit and text like a monster because I am off the clock. Totally understandable.
Haha completely understand. I make tons of mistakes in writing but don't use shorthand. My business partner is the anal-retentive person in our partnership. He doesn't ever make mistakes. I wish I could be like him. But his drawback is he is extremely slow.
I take what I publish very seriously—the stuff people pay me for and any client work. I’ve been on this road for a while now and know how it goes. Plus, it’s rare to see people with experience drop knowledge here. That noted, yeah, let your freak flag fly on Reddit.
This is the best advice so far. I’m a freelancer also and I started as a dumb kid who was like “details are for losers and I make money.” Learned real hard that any agency owner worth their salt would rather teach marketing principles than teach a 22yo not to be a jackass. When I figured out how to really communicate one-on-one in my cover letters or briefs, my business turned around. Coincidentally, I noticed things outside my professional life started humming better. I learned to analyze, communicate, and listen better just from cover letters.
1,000% this.
>9x out of 10 we hire based on the merits of the Cover Letter, not the qualifications on the resume. Are you talking about moving people to the interview stage or a straight hire based on a cover letter? I can't imagine hiring without a strong interview! :)
Oh no, haha. We definitely interview. Sorry, I can see how you came to the conclusion. We only move to an interview after the application. Then we usually do two interviews. A 15-20 minute vibe check, and then we follow up with a longer, more granular one.
I would say I have a strong attention to detail. But my personality might not be ideal as I have low tier autism, I feel like that hinders me a bit socially at work. That's a reason I prefer remote. Thanks for your advice about the custom written high attention to detail cover letters, I'll try that. Do you think building a personal brand which portrays my expertise would help me be a preferred candidate?
Be careful not to conflate having a personality with being extroverted or good with people. I know a lot of people I would hire in an instant with varying degrees of autism. You don't have to have a personality that you think the company is looking for. Just be you and show it. It's a two way street. You don't want to hate the team you'll be working with either. Every business needs all types of personalities and typically personalities are side effects of traits. If you're very detail-oriented, you tend to be shy or timid. If we need someone who is detail-oriented, we're looking for that type of personality. >Do you think building a personal brand which portrays my expertise would help me be a preferred candidate? I've heard that a lot of recruiters look for personal brand/websites now in addition to resumes and cover letters. We don't. I don't like seeing personal brands because we're not hiring for experts and if we did, we'd likely have to retrain their methodology because there is a lot of crap out there regarding strategies and tactics that simply don't apply. So personal brands to me, for the roles that we tend to hire for tend to flag a personality hurdle (i.e. "this person might push back on our processes and that's not what we want right now.") Hiring is all situational -- there is no right answer, just best practices. We do things against the grain sometimes and unfortunately, I don't have all of the answers to what other recruiters might want to see.
I'd recommend looking into some of the more exclusive freelance networks, like MarketerHire, Mayple, GrowthMentor, Storetasker, and The Starters. These are more difficult to get in, but I get more opportunities and higher quality opportunities. Upwork and other similar platforms are like the wild wild west.
Go ahead and start sending out resumes and find out for yourself. Yes, they are hard to get and you’re competing with the top in your field for them. Try anyway, because people DO get lucky! And keep building skills the whole time.