This happened to Judy, recently – and perhaps it has happened to you too.

Judy showed up for another job interview recently. It was for a project manager at a nearby company – less than a ten-minute drive from home.

Judy prepped hard for it. She walked in confident. She asked great questions. She knew how to tell her story well. And, this time around, she knew she had made a great impression.

Folks often ask me how to best answer this question:        

"Why do you want this job?"    

Here's what I advise:

Imagine a lucky charm.

It was made especially for job interviews. It's small, round, red, and gold, and you can keep it in your pocket. It gives you instant confidence.

Even better, it makes you a more attractive candidate in the eyes of your interviewers and boosts your perceived value to their organization.

Have you always wondered why your messages often get ignored by hiring managers or someone in your network? Perhaps you need to switch your approach when it comes to building a relationship with people, especially if you want to be of service to them.

When you're reaching out to a hiring manager, or a recruiter, or a respected peer in your field who you want to build a relationship with, it's important that you do so with a "sharing" mentality and NOT a "begging" mentality.

Looking for a job takes time and effort. You don’t just wake up one day, hand in a resume and expect a call back in no time, unless you’re really lucky. To make you stand out among the rest of the candidates, I’d like to share how to give yourself a powerful advantage when applying for your dream job.

What is it?

A lot of folks don't believe me when I tell them this, but...

Did you know -- when you apply for a job online, many companies use software robots that scan through your application, cover letter, resume, etc. and look for certain job-related keywords?

If your resume doesn't match what it's looking for, it gets tossed.

Do you always find yourself writing an email to a hiring manager or any influential people but always end up getting ignored? Do your messages always end up being unread no matter how much effort you have put into composing it?

Have you always had this goal of moving up the career ladder through the years? If so, now’s probably the right time to evaluate your actions in order to get closer to your goal of being promoted.

Let's talk about recruiters.

I respect who they are and what they do. You should too. However, I want you to take a note of what I'm about to say and never forget it:

Recruiters are not your friends.

Last week, I received this reply from Valerie (to the "HR spies" email):

Wow. It's time for self-evaluation. Am I likeable? I see why maybe I didn't receive the job. How does one learn to become the chameleon? You don't want to present yourself as stuffy, controlling or out of the loop.           

I appreciate the webinars, contacts! John, Lauren and everyone. Remember I'm hungry. God bless you and thank you.