Okay, well, there’s a simple lesson, drawn from the world of internet marketing, more specifically, pay per click advertising that’ll put you miles above everyone else who graces the resume slush pile or the interview chair.

What’s the secret?

Relevance!

For those who don’t know what pay-per-click is, it’s the little ads you see on the side of a google search page. Advertisers post those ads and then pay every time someone clicks on one. Rule of thumb—the more relevant an ad is to what a person is searching on, the more likely they are to click on it.

So, after a bazillion or so tests, advertisers realized that if you actually insert the specific keyword phrase that was searched on into the ad, preferably in the headline, that ad would trigger relevance sirens and more people would click on it. And, once they clicked though to a landing page, if you then also began that page with that same phrase, the clicker would be even more likely to then continue to read and buy your stuff.

If you match exactly what someone is searching for, it’s like you’ve read their mind. You’ve given them the most relevant solution possible. And, once they’re on your page, you confirm they’re in the right place by repeating the phrase.

Relevance resonates because it’s like saying, “here’s what you were looking for, on a platter!”

Same thing applies to resumes and interviews.

Rather than sending out batches of mass resumes. Target a smaller number of positions, read the job descriptions carefully to determine the most importance keyword phrases, needs and qualifications in it. Then, tailor your resume to begin with and strongly emphasize those very phrases.

Once you’re actually in the interview, then, just like our internet marketer did on their landing page, focus immediately back in on the critical phrases and ideas from the job description and keep them in the front of your mind as you frame answers to questions.

Big warning – This will work if you actually have the relevant skills, abilities and ideas. If you say you do on your resume, but you really don’t, your conversation will quickly betray and you’ll likely end up labeled inauthentic at best and a liar at worst.

In the pay-per-click world, a giant relevance gulf between the ad and the landing page will get you labeled a spammer by google and “slapped” with massively higher costs as punishment. In the job hunting and interview world, it’s no different. And, by the way…people talk!

So, if you really wish you had something to offer that you don’t have, go out and get it.

But, don’t be someone you’re not.

Kapish?

In addition to it being a lot of fun (we did it in a Panera’s restaurant, so it’s got that NPR people in the background feel), we covered a lot of ground about how solopreneurs, small businesses and Career Renegades can leverage social media to generate income, accelerate research and market an idea.

Click here to listen to/download the 30-minute audio now