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Key Insights from an Ex-Amazon Leader on Landing Your Next Job, and The Essential Digital Skills for the Future Workforce

Launch #22

Author

James Cooper
July 08, 2023

What’s in this letter 📧

  • Dad joke of the week

  • Join our free community

  • Why you’re not getting the job according to an Ex-Amazon Leader

  • Skills needed to adapt to continued digitization of the economy, according to SHRM

Estimated read time: 5 minutes

Dad joke of the week (scroll to the bottom for the answer)

How do you make a tissue dance?

Join the job seeker community!

Join our job seeker community to stay in touch, ask questions, and get feedback from myself and other industry professionals.

Why you’re not getting the job, according to a former Amazon leader

Brandon Southern is the former head of analytics at eBay, Amazon, and GameStop. According to him, being relatable, not just qualified, could be the key to landing your next job.

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It is natural to take the job description or interviewers' questions at face-value and simply provide answers to their questions.

Brandon Southern

Many candidates overlook this, focusing solely on ticking the boxes in the job description. However, presenting your skills and experiences in a way that directly relates to the job at hand is crucial for getting the job - you’ve got to relate to what the recruiter has in mind.

In an example he provides, suppose you're interviewing for a data analyst position requiring three years of experience in building Tableau dashboards. You've got five years of experience working with already established dashboards and processes, but what if the interviewer is looking for someone who's built dashboards for a newly formed team – an aspect not shared with you? This is where relatability comes into play.

To succeed, your answers should resonate with the interviewer, making them believe you're a perfect fit for their unique situation. Collect detailed information about the job, team, working environment, and related business challenges beforehand. "During your recruiter call, your goal is to become as familiar as possible with the job...," advises Brandon. With this understanding, you can tailor your responses to mirror the job's context, increasing your relatability and chances of getting hired. Preparation should focus on relatability as much as qualification.

Read the original article at Business Insider here.

What are the skills needed to adapt to the growing digitization of the economy and the workforce?

SHRM Research and the Aspen Institute surveyed 844 HR professionals across 8 U.S. cities with notable Latino populations to identify the digital skills organizations need now and in the future.

What they found was that over the next five years, demand for digital skills will continue to rise, with the three expected to experience the most demand growth being data analytics, social media skills, and computer literacy.

Access the original survey here.

Answer to the joke…

You put a little boogie in it!

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About the Author

I’m James, Cofounder of Final Draft Resumes. I’ve been in the career consulting space for 13 years, and before that, I was a recruiter for AECOM.

I’ve helped thousands of job seekers, from industries like software engineering, IT, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and more generate job opportunities through well-written resumes that translate unique backgrounds into coherent narratives.

If you’re struggling with your resume for whatever reason, reach out - I just might be able to help!

If you’re more of a DIY person, then check out Resumatic, my free-to-try resume builder.