Conversation is easy with almost anyone, as long as the people talking have something in common. In your job search, including your resume, correspondence, and interviews, you must speak the language that is common to your field of interest. The employer speaks to you in that language in the form of job descriptions and job postings. Your response is in the form of your resume and, later, your interview.

Courses and seminars are another way of learning the criteria for success in your field. If you can devote the time to an internship, or even arrange to spend time shadowing someone who performs your chosen job function (sometimes called an externship), you can learn through day-to-day experience.

A good way to focus and state your goals to meet the employer's criteria is to check out a few professional publications. After just a few articles, you should start to notice some common factors. The terminology of the field should become clear, but you should also be able to tell something about individual job functions. Look for interviews or profiles of successful people in the field. What qualifications did they bring to their jobs? Even more general information, such as articles about processes or innovations in the field, should still contain clues. What you're looking for is the collection of characteristics that people share who already work in your chosen field. It is likely that those will be on your employer's list of qualification criteria.

Now is the time to think about the qualification criteria associated with job titles that raise your curiosity. Take out a pad or open a new Word document. For each job function that interests you, list the job title, field, and function. Think about the qualification criteria for each. If you were a prospective employer screening resumes, what would you look for? Jot down every qualification you think of. Don't write vague statements like “experience within the field and related education.” Be specific and behavioral. FIGURE 4-1 lists some sample criteria for an entry-level Assistant Account Executive. Notice how each can be worked into a resume or used in follow-up correspondence and in your interview. Together, they form the basis of your common conversation with your potential employer.

Figure 4-1: Sample Criteria