The competition for great jobs is fiercer than ever. Research shows that, on average, 250 candidates apply for each job, but only five or six get an interview. And as technology advances, AI will put more jobs at risk. You need to do all you can to stand out and beat the competition. So, today, we’ll look at research-backed methods you’ve not heard of to maximize your chances of success.

Tip #1 – Be a purple cow

You’re driving down a country road, passing farm after farm of regular brown cows, and then suddenly you see a purple one. What do you do? I bet you’d want to park up and take a closer look. The purple cow isn’t so attention-grabbing because it’s a little bigger or a different shade of brown.

You notice it because it’s unexpected and different from the others. The purple cow is a metaphor that author and business guru Seth Godin uses in his book Purple Cow. Godin says that today, businesses can’t rely on traditional marketing and advertising to sell their products. The old ways don’t work anymore. They’re not enough. Every business uses the same tactics and techniques. So instead, to succeed, businesses need to be remarkable. They need to stand out. They need to be different. Like a purple cow. According to Seth Godin, we can apply this idea as much to job seeking. Recruiters sift through hundreds or thousands of brown cows when assessing candidates. To give yourself a shot and set yourself apart from the 99%, think about what will make someone look twice.

It could be anything. Everyone has something that makes them different, so lean into who you are. Be bold and show hiring managers your personality. You could send a video CV to make it interactive or use graphics or bold colours to make your qualifications stand out. You could even get creative with your cover letter and write it as a short story, poem, or social media post, if that would impress the company you want to work at. Another way to be memorable is to do something most people don’t think about and show how great your work is instead of telling. Successful job seekers include projects they’ve worked on in their applications or create a website or blog that recruiters can check out themselves.

To stand out, you could even do a project like what you’d be doing on the job. A kind of mock project to show your initiative, creativity, and skills. A final option is to list your unusual and impressive skills or knowledge. Maybe you can recite pi to 25 digits. Perhaps you recently posted a video on TikTok that went viral. Maybe you know everything there is to know about Formula One or World of Warcraft. Whatever it is, there could be someone on the other side of your application who shares your passions or wants to learn more. And this could be your edge.

Tip #2 – Harness the power of weak ties

You’ve probably heard that when job seeking, it’s not what you know, but who you know.

While we take this for granted, it wasn’t always this way. In the 1970s, a professor at Stanford conducted a study on job hunting. He took almost 300 men in the US and asked them about how they got their current positions. The researcher found that what he called weak ties played a much more important role in helping people find work than their strong ties. Strong ties are the people we know best – friends, family, and close colleagues. In contrast, weak ties are people who are part of different social circles and professional networks. A 2022 follow-up study of 20 million LinkedIn users over five years reached the same conclusion. Our weakest connections help us get the jobs we want, and our strongest connections help the least.

So how is this? Why are people we don’t know very well so powerful for us when job-seeking? Well, according to the weak tie theory, the reason is that the strong ties are too similar. They might be of a similar age or live near us and share our values and interests. But, weak ties are often unlike us. They might work in a different industry or city, or have skills we don’t. This means that weak ties give us ideas and information we’d never get from strong ties. They connect us to people and opportunities we wouldn’t usually be exposed to, opening doors and making intros. People we’re close to tend to have all the same skills and pursue the same roles. If they’re struggling to find their dream jobs, it’s because of the same reasons you are.

They won’t have the knowledge and advice that weak ties have, and these are what’ll help you get ahead. We should always be building our professional and social networks, in person and online, throughout school and at work. When job-seeking, we should think hard about who we know who might be able to help offer guidance and reach out to them. People are always more open to helping than we imagine. And, of course, the best way to strengthen ties is always to give back whenever someone asks for your advice.

Tip #3 – Tell a great story

Since the beginning of time, humans have been sharing information via stories. It’s how we’re wired. Before writing, it was our only way to communicate. And still today, our brains process stories much more easily than facts and data. There’s a reason we find it hard to not keep binging our favourite shows, but get bored looking at spreadsheets.

Stories make us feel good. Storytelling releases chemicals in our brains, like dopamine and oxytocin, associated with pleasure and bonding, making listening to or watching stories enjoyable. A part of the brain called the limbic system plays a central role in processing emotions, forming memories, and reducing stress. Stories activate our limbic system, making us more emotionally invested in them and helping us store them as long-term memories. Yet, we process data and factual information more analytically. They don’t stimulate the same brain areas, instead activating parts of the brain associated with logical reasoning and problem-solving. Despite the power of stories, 99% of job seekers don’t use them. They all do the same thing, presenting their experience and qualifications in a dry, factual way. Brain expert John Medina says that often the main reason that one candidate gets a job over another is that the successful candidate weaved emotion into their resume and interview.

Recruiters aren’t as rational as they think they are. They’re human too. They have emotions, and these emotions will influence what they think of you. Telling stories will release feel-good chemicals in their brains. They’ll feel more positive about you, and be more likely to remember you. And they won’t know why. Telling a story in your application or interview isn’t as hard as it might sound. Think about how your skills and experience fit into a narrative that makes sense, and how the job you’re applying for slots into this story. Let your passion for the job come through, and include setbacks and challenges to make your story more relatable. Talk about how you built your skills and strengths, and not about what they are. And, make sure your stories are genuine. Made-up stories always do more harm than good.

Applying for jobs is tough. You need to put yourself in the best possible position to stand a chance of succeeding. The good news is that 99% of job seekers do the same thing, turning in predictable applications and never thinking outside the box. Give these tips a try next time you’re looking to move jobs and let me know how it goes in the comments.